Summer Sunday Heads Seaway Stakes Field at Woodbine
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Photo: Michael Burns
Summer Sunday wins the Royal North Stakes at Woodbine
Anne and William Scott's Summer Sunday is in search of her fourth straight stakes score in the $125,000 Seaway Stakes (G3) Aug. 25 at Woodbine.
A 4-year-old Ontario-bred daughter of Silent Name , Summer Sunday rolls into the seven-furlong feature as the even-money favorite for the test on the all-weather track.
The Stuart Simon trainee kick-started her hat trick with a victory in the May 11 Ballade Stakes and followed it up with a pair of graded triumphs in the June 9 Hendrie Stakes (G3) and, most recently, the July 21 Royal North Stakes (G2T), going six furlongs on turf.
Summer Sunday has seven wins—all at Woodbine—from nine starts.
"Everything seems good with her, just as good or even better than she's been all year," Simon said. "Hopefully we get a fair chance. I think she'll show up and be the same horse she's been."
Summer Sunday debuted in the summer of 2017, winning her first start, a 5 1/2-furlong main track maiden race at the Toronto oval, by five lengths.
"Before her first race, I knew she could really run," Simon recalled. "And after that first win, how she did it so easily, I thought, 'Well, we do have a nice horse on our hands.' And she's continually progressed and progressed. By the end of her 2-year-old season, her numbers had just kept going up."
Summer Sunday raced just twice last year, finishing ninth in the Beaumont Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select (G3T) at Keeneland and then winning the Fury Stakes three weeks later back at Woodbine.
"She had her setback last year, but we gave her lots of time," Simon said. "She trained so well in Florida over the winter. We were really happy with that."
After a fifth-place finish at Keeneland in April, Summer Sunday began her winning streak.
"Horses that continue to win like that get so much confidence," he continued. "They seem to conduct their everyday business and everything with more and more style. They are like a human athlete that gets on a roll—they just get so much confidence. She's always been such a professional-acting horse, and she just seems to do her thing and do whatever you ask of her, regardless of the surface, running style, or distance. I don't think you ever get tired of connecting with a horse like that."
Six other fillies and mares are entered in the Seaway. Among them is Hendrie and July 13 Ontario Matron Stakes (G3) runner-up Katie Baby, who missed by a head in her previous outing. Trained by Catherine Day Phillips, the 4-year-old Curlin filly began her season with a five-length score in a May 5 allowance at Woodbine.
Trainer Norman McKnight has entered Devine Mischief for Breeze Easy. The 4-year-old Into Mischief filly has one win this year, the seven-furlong Dance to Bristol Stakes April 20 at Hollywood Casino At Charles Town Races by a neck.
Woodbine, Sunday, August 25, 2019, Race 8Entries: Seaway S. (G3)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Double Medal (FL)
Justin Stein
113
Michael P. De Paulo
20/1
2
2Summer Sunday (ON)
Rafael Manuel Hernandez
124
Stuart C. Simon
1/1
3
3Alnilah (ON)
Patrick Husbands
117
Terry Jordan
6/1
4
4Mystic Nile (KY)
Luis Contreras
117
Steve Attard
20/1
5
5Katie Baby (ON)
Eurico Rosa Da Silva
117
Catherine Day Phillips
3/1
6
6Now Play Nice (KY)
Kazushi Kimura
117
Ashlee Brnjas
20/1
7
7Devine Mischief (KY)
Jesse M. Campbell
117
Norman McKnight
9/2
