Grade 2 bet365 Dance Smartly: Canadian champion Fev Rover (IRE) looks to go out on a winning note / Stage set for strong edition of Grade 3 HPIbet Singspiel
TORONTO, October 3, 2024 – Fev Rover (IRE), through no lack of trying, has failed to fetch the top prize in four starts this season.
Now, in what looms as her final career appearance, the reigning Canadian Horse of the Year will look to go out a winner in Saturday’s bet365 Dance Smartly (G2T), a $200,00 race for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles over the E.P. Taylor course, which has lured a solid field of 12.
Fev Rover, a 6-year-old who races for Tracy Farmer, is catalogued for the Fasig-Tipton November Sale in Kentucky and could head into that auction on a high note with a victory in the Dance Smartly, a race in which she finished second in 2022.
Her appearances this season have included a close second behind the redoubtable Moira in the Aug. 11 Beverly D. (G2T) at Colonial Downs, the race in which she had become a Grade 1 stakes winner when it offered that status the previous year.
In her latest outing, here on Sep. 14, Fev Rover was the defending champion in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor, a 1 ¼ mile turf race in which she ended a well-beaten third behind runner-up Moira and that one’s stablemate Full Count Felicia, who had opened a lead which at one point measured 19 lengths through walking-horse fractions.
“It was weird,” said Casse, who had watched Fev Rover settle behind the runaway leader and eventually give up the pace in the closing stages. “I don’t know what to think. Maybe the ground was a little too hard for her?”
Sahin Civaci takes over aboard Fev Rover for the Dance Smartly and Casse has no concerns about the cutback in distance.
“She’s pretty versatile,” said the trainer.
Graham Motion brings a strong hand into the Dance Smartly with Mission of Joy and Sparkle Blue both offering graded stakes credentials.
Mission of Joy, a 4-year-old, was bred in Ontario by Sam-Son Farm, but has not raced here since finishing up the track in her debut on the main track just over two years ago.
Racing exclusively on turf since then, Mission of Joy has won Grade 3s at Tampa Bay Downs and Churchill Downs and finished a close third in two Grade 1 events.
The most recent was a half-length defeat behind a pair of Chad Brown trainees in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Just A Game over one mile on the grass. She is winless in five starts this year, however, and comes into the Dance Smartly off a no-show effort in the one-mile Ladies Turf (G3) at Kentucky Downs.
“I’m trying to get her back on track,” said Motion. “’She trains very well, but she obviously didn’t handle Kentucky Downs very well. She’s been knocking heads with some pretty nice horses. So, I think that makes her competitive up there, even though it’s a pretty deep race.”
Sparkle Blue fared better in the Ladies, finishing fourth in her second start over the quirky Kentucky Downs course after a second-place finish in the same race the previous year.
“She ran well at Kentucky Downs,” said Motion. “She’s a hard-knocking, blue-collar type that we’ve had a little luck with.”
The 5-year-old has five stakes wins on her resume, two of them graded.
Brown has a pair of Dance Smartly hopefuls in Princess Calla (SAF) and Tax Implications (GB).
Princess Calla (SAF) was a multiple Group 1 winner in her homeland and makes her North American debut here while Tax implications took the Eatontown (G3T) at Monmouth Park this spring.
Also coming in from south of the border are Nadette (FR) Mouffy, and Canisy.
Nadette is trained by Neil Drysale, who sent out Miss Dracarys to upset last year’s Dance Smartly at the direct expense of odds-on Moria.
Fourth in this Summer’s Beverly D., Nadette then failed to make much of an impact in the Ladies Turf. Earlier, the 5-year-old had romped in the Beverly D. Preview at 1/1/16 miles on the grass, her second stakes win after success in Santa Anita’s one-mile Wiltshire (G3T) this spring.
The other shippers are seeking their first graded stakes scores.
Mouffy also failed to show up in the Ladies but had been a smart winner over 1 1/16 miles of Aqueduct turf in her previous start, the listed Perfect Sting Stakes.
Canisy, conditioned by Arnoud Delacour, finished a well-beaten second behind Nadette when last seen in the Beverly D. Preview.
Rounding out the field are Millie Girl, who was last year’s Sovereign Award winner in the main-track older female category; Queen Macha; Spansive; and Dolce Sopresa.
Millie Girl failed to fire last out in Belmont’s Grade 2 Flower Bowl but yielding turf and a glacial pace did her no favours. Prior to that, the 6-year-old Catherine Day Phillips trainee had run well here in two Grade 2 turf stakes, the 1 1/8 mile Canadian and the one-mile Nassau.
Field for $200,000 bet365 Dance Smartly (Race 8)
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – Princess Calla (SAF) – Patrick Husbands – Chad Brown
2 – Millie Girl – Ryan Munger – Catherine Day Phillips
3 – Canisy – Jorge Vargas, Jr. – Arnaud Delacour
4 – Dolce Sopresa – Fraser Aebly – Josie Carroll
5 – Nadette (FR) – Julien Leparoux – Neil Drysdale
6 – Mission of Joy – Declan Cannon – Graham Motion
7 – Mouffy – Vincent Cheminaud – Jonathan Thomas
8 – Tax Implications (GB) – Luis Contreras – Chad Brown
9 – Fev Rover (IRE) – Sahin Civaci – Mark Casse
10 – Queen Macha – Jose Campos – Martin Drexler
11 – Spansive – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard
12 – Sparkle Blue – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Graham Motion
Bill Tallon, for Woodbine Communications
Stage set for strong edition of Grade 3 HPIbet Singspiel
TORONTO, October 3, 2024 – Highland Chief (IRE) seemed ready for a solid North American career after becoming a Grade 1 stakes winner in Belmont’s Man O’War over 1 3/8 miles of turf back in the spring of 2022 and adding Keeneland’s 1 ½ mile Sycamore (G3T) that fall.
Now, the 7-year-old horse will look to get back to the winner’s circle in Woodbine’s HPIbet Singspiel Stakes (G3T) after missing all of 2023 and failing to find the range in five performances at five different racetracks this season.
Saturday’s $175,000 Singspiel, open to 3-year-olds and upward and run over 1 3/8 miles on the E.P. Taylor turf, attracted a robust field of 14, which includes three shippers from south of the border.
Graham Motion, who trains Highland Chief for Mrs. Fitri Hay, is hoping that he has found the spot in which Highland Chief can replicate some of his former glories.
“I think he’s been disappointing this year; I don’t think he’s come back quite as well as he was,” said Motion, who has watched Highland Chief finish in the money just twice this year with those efforts coming in listed stakes.
“His first couple of races, I could give him plenty of excuses,” said Motion. “He trains very well. I’ve been very happy with his training all year. This seems like a good opportunity to try something different on a different type of turf course.”
Motion is no stranger to success at Woodbine with his 20 stakes winners here including Sharaze in the 2016 Singspiel.
Palazzi is the defending champion in the Singspiel, which was run last year at 1 ¼ miles, but also enters Saturday’s renewal as a bit of a question mark.
Freshened after being unplaced in five post-Singspiel starts, Palazzi returned to action here June 1 with an upset victory in the Eclipse (G3) at 1 1/16 miles on the main track.
The 6-year-old gelding, trained by Mark Casse for Gary Barber, finished fourth in his next two starts on the Tapeta and most recently ran third in the Niagara, a listed turf stakes at 1 ¼ miles.
“He’s steady,” said Casse. “If the race sets up good for him, he comes running. If it doesn’t, then he doesn’t.”
Casse also will field a pair of supplemented entrants in Eyes On the King, who was part of an overly ambitious Niagara pace, and Like the King, who is coming off a sixth-place finish in the one-mile King Edward (G2T).
Lac Macaza, the “now” horse in the Singspiel, became a stakes winner in the Niagara after tracking the breakaway leaders from third place and getting a winning jump when those two faltered.
A 5-year-old Ontario-bred gelding, Lac Macaza was coming into the Niagara after ending second in a 1 ¼ mile turf allowance won by Stone Age (IRE), the other participant in the Niagara pace duel as the 8-5 choice.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Julia Carey, who conditions Lac Macaza for Goldie Stables and Discovery Racing. “He seems to be just as good as he was going into his last race.
“He’s gotten better as he’s gotten older. This has been a prime year for him.”
Stone Age, also returning in the Singspiel, finished second in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Turf and now is based here with trainer Pat Parente after being purchased by Copper Water Thoroughbred Company Limited earlier this year.
Truly Quality, trained by Jonathan Thomas, and Eldon’s Prince, conditioned by Saffie Joseph Jr., are the other Singspiel invaders.
Recently based in Kentucky, Truly Quality made a successful stakes debut in the Colonial Cup, a listed stakes over 1 ½ miles of turf, and should make his presence felt as he moves into graded company.
Eldon’s Prince, a 5-year-old horse who was bred in Canada by the late Bill Graham, will be making his first start in his native land and was a listed stakes winner on both turf and Tapeta two seasons back at Gulfstream.
Rounding out the local contingent will be English Conqueror, a proven marathoner who finished second in the 2021 Singspiel; Malibu Mambo, third in last year’s September 9 edition and a smart winner when making his first start since then in a turf allowance sprint three weeks ago; Spinzar and supplementary entrant Dancin in Da’nile, the respective fourth and fifth-place finishers in the Niagara; Dun Drum, an allowance upsetter on the main track last time out; and Loose Wire, making his stakes and turf debut after winning two of his first three starts.
Field for the Grade 3, $175,000 HPIbet Singspiel (Race 6)
1 – Palazzi – Sahin Civaci – Mark Casse
2 – English Conqueror – Rafael Hernandez – Darwin Banach
3 – Highland Chief (IRE) – Declan Cannon – Graham Motion
4 – Malibu Mambo – David Moran – Michael Doyle
5 – Loose Wire – Julien Leparoux – Kevin Attard
6 – Dancin in Da’nile (S) – Jose Campos – Gail Cox
7 – Stone Age (IRE) – Leo Salles – Pat Parente
8 – Lac Macaza – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Julia Carey
9 – Spinzar – Luis Contreras – Josie Carroll
10 – Eldon’s Prince – Keveh Nicholls – Saffie Joseph, Jr.
11 – Eyes On the King (S) – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse
12 – Like the King (S) – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse
13 – Dun Drum – Fraser Aebly – Ian Black
14 – Truly Quality – Vincent Cheminaud – Jonathan Thomas
Bill Tallon, for Woodbine Communications
.jpg "Lac Macaza and jockey Pietro Moran winning the Niagara Stakes on September 7, 2024 at Woodbine (Michael Burns Photo)")
.jpg "Palazzi and jockey Sahin Civaci winning the bet365 Eclipse Stakes on June 1, 2024 at Woodbine (Michael Burns Photo)")
.jpg "Fev Rover (IRE) and jockey Javier Castellano winning the E.P.Taylor Stakes on October 8, 2023 at Woodbine (Michael Burns Photo)")
