Muskoka Gold to All-Weather Surface for Grey Stakes

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Muskoka Gold to All-Weather Surface for Grey Stakes
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Photo: Michael Burns
Muskoka Gold wins Cup & Saucer Stakes

Just less than three weeks after winning the restricted Cup and Saucer Stakes on the Woodbine turf, Conrad Farms' Muskoka Gold will move to the Tapeta for his graded stakes debut in the $125,000 Grey Stakes (G3) for 2-year-olds Oct. 27 at the Toronto track.

In the Oct. 6 Cup and Saucer, Muskoka Gold dueled for the lead early, first with Goldmine Cat and then with Pleasecallmeback. After putting those two away, the son of Lea  opened a clear advantage in the stretch on his way to a 1 3/4-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile test.

The move to the Tapeta Sunday doesn't figure to bother Muskoka Gold, who just missed on that surface in his maiden debut Sept. 15 going 1 1/16 miles. Muskoka Gold finished second to Northern Thunder (also entered Sunday) in that race, which was moved from the turf to the all-weather surface. While it's just two starts, that suggestion of versatility makes sense for the first son of Lea to win a stakes as his sire won graded stakes on turf and dirt.

Trained by Mark Casse, Muskoka Gold is scheduled to start from the outside in the expected field of nine juveniles. Casse also will have the inside horse in the race in John Oxley's Finalist, a son of Tonalist  who won a seven-furlong maiden race Aug. 10 on the Gulfstream Park dirt. Finalist enters off a third-place finish in an allowance-level race Oct. 13 on the Woodbine turf.

The field features three promising shippers in Paul Braverman and Robert Murray's Inside Risk, a son of Street Sense  they claimed for $50,000 out of his debut win who enters off a sixth-place finish in the Hopeful Stakes (G1); Edward Seltzer and Beverly Anderson's Chaplu, a son of Flatter  who enters off a 3 3/4-length maiden win on the Keeneland turf; and Flaxman Holdings' Torres Del Paine, a gelding by Karakontie  who has earned stakes placings in his past two starts.

Trained by Graham Motion, New York-bred Torres Del Paine contested the early lead in the Laurel Futurity Sept. 21 with Benny Havens, put that one away in midstretch of the 1 1/16-mile turf race and dug in gamely, but then saw stablemate Irish Miss prevail by a head.

"He was very unlucky in the Futurity, running against my other horse," Motion said. "He was a little bit hampered by him, to be honest. That's not exactly what you want when you run an entry in a stake."

The Grey will be the first start on an all-weather surface for Torres Del Paine.

"He trained on the synthetic, and I don't know why he wouldn't handle it. This seemed like a logical spot," Motion said. "He is keen—tough in the morning. But he's a very kind horse. He's just tough to train, but he has plenty of ability." 

 


Entries: Grey S. (G3)

Woodbine, Sunday, October 27, 2019, Race 8

  • Grade III
  • 1 1/16m
  • All Weather Track
  • $125,000
  • 2 yo
  • 5:02 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Finalist (FL) Luis Contreras 115 Mark E. Casse 6/1
2 2Bel Bimbo (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Gary Boulanger 115 Michael P. De Paulo 20/1
3 3Inside Risk (KY) Rafael Manuel Hernandez 115 Thomas Morley 20/1
4 4Lookinatamiracle (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Leo Salles 115 Sandra Dominguez 12/1
5 5Northern Thunder (ON)Keeneland Sales Graduate Kazushi Kimura 115 Sid C. Attard 12/1
6 6Green Growth (ON)Keeneland Sales Graduate Eurico Rosa Da Silva 115 Catherine Day Phillips 4/1
7 7Chapalu (KY) Patrick Husbands 115 Arnaud Delacour 3/1
8 8Torres Del Paine (NY) Weston Hamilton 115 H. Graham Motion 8/1
9 9Muskoka Gold (ON)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jerome Lermyte 119 Mark E. Casse 5/2