Summer Sunday, Jean Elizabeth Return in Whimsical

Sovereign Award champion female sprinter Summer Sunday, owned by Anne and William Scott, makes her 5-year-old debut vs. Jean Elizabeth and eight others in the $125,000 Whimsical Stakes (G3) at six furlongs June 21 at Woodbine.

A seven-time winner from 11 starts trained by Stuart Simon, Summer Sunday comes off a year in which she won three of six starts, including the Royal North Stakes (G2T) en route to Sovereign Award honors.

Bred in Ontario by Trinity West Stables, the daughter of Silent Name  out of the Millennium Allstar mare Dancing Allstar arrives at the Whimsical off a series of Tapeta and dirt training works, all at Woodbine.

The latest, at five furlongs, breezing over the dirt training track, timed in 1:03 2/5, came June 13. 

"She's doing very well," said Simon. "We're looking forward to seeing her run this year. Obviously, it was a big thrill for us to see her win the Sovereign. She had a really good year."

Summer Sunday closed out last season with a second in the Seaway Stakes (G3) to Whimsical rival Alnilah and a fourth in the Ontario Fashion (G3), which she lost by three lengths behind winner Jean Elizabeth.

"She's always been a very professional horse," praised Simon. "Whatever the surface, distance or running style, she does everything you ask of her. You love having a horse like that in your barn." 

Jean Elizabeth, who owns a 14-4-2 record from 20 starts, is no stranger to success at Woodbine. The 5-year-old daughter of Adios Charlie , trained by Larry Rivelli, who co-owns the mare with Richard Ravin and Vince Foglia's Patricia's Hope, took back-to-back stakes at the Toronto oval in 2019. 

Bred in Illinois by Rivelli and Ravin, Jean Elizabeth won the Sweet Briar Too Stakes in September and followed it up with a victory in the Ontario Fashion Oct. 19. The Sweet Briar Too triumph marked the start of her current seven-race win streak.

Her latest triumph came in the Feb. 22 Lightning City Stakes on the grass at Tampa Bay Downs. Under Albin Jimenez, Jean Elizabeth set a stakes record for five furlongs in :55.09.

"She's doing really good," said Rivelli. "I've got her here with me at Keeneland. I gave her a little time off after her last race. I had her training and I stopped. I turned her back out and brought her back. I figured this would be a good spot to get her back up and rolling. My goal is to run her in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T), if she continues on with her winning ways, and run her in all those stakes at Woodbine on the synthetic. She loves it up there. I think her preference, if I had to prioritize it, would be synthetic, turf, and dirt, last. She loves the Tapeta at Woodbine."

First race post time on Sunday is set for 1 p.m., with the Whimsical scheduled as the afternoon's seventh race.

Entries: Whimsical S. (G3)

Woodbine, Sunday, June 21, 2020, Race 7

• Grade III
• 6f
• All Weather Track
• $125,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 4:09 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Jean Elizabeth (IL)	David Moran	124	Larry Rivelli	9/5
2	2Ode to Joy (KY)	Jerome Lermyte	117	Arnaud Delacour	20/1
3	3Summer Sunday (ON)	Rafael Manuel Hernandez	124	Stuart C. Simon	2/1
4	4Western Curl (ON)	Gary Boulanger	117	Mark E. Casse	20/1
5	5Charmaine's Mia (KY)	Steven Ronald Bahen	117	Michael K. McDonald	20/1
6	6Gamble's Candy (ON)	Luis Contreras	119	Josie Carroll	10/1
7	7Ellyb (KY)	Patrick Husbands	117	Arnaud Delacour	15/1
8	8Painting (KY)	Kazushi Kimura	117	Josie Carroll	12/1
9	9Alnilah (ON)	Emma-Jayne Wilson	119	Terry Jordan	6/1
10	10Foxxy Belle (ON)	Justin Stein	117	Norman McKnight	10/1