Lady Speightspeare, Skygaze Capture Stakes at Woodbine

Lady Speightspeare  kept her perfect record intact after another impressive performance, this time in the CA$175,350 Bessarabian Stakes (G2) Nov. 13 at Woodbine.

Taking a cue from jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson, she collared frontrunning Our Secret Agent , who set splits of :23.47 and :45.65 in the seven-furlong race, and turned on the jets in the stretch. The 3-year-old daughter of Speightstown   then shook free for a four-length score in a time of 1.21.03, as Wilson delivered a series of pats to the filly just past the wire. Our Secret Agent held for second, one-length clear of La Libertee .

A homebred for Charles Fipke, the Roger Attfield trainee added a second graded stakes victory to her résumé. Last September at Woodbine, Lady Speightspeare took the Natalma Stakes (G1T).

The Bessarabian win was even sweeter for her connections after Lady Speightspeare was scratched at the gate in the Oct. 16 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1T) at Keeneland.

"I'd love to say that I was the engineer, but there were so many cogs to this wheel," said Wilson. "There were so many people involved in getting this filly to the winner's circle today. She was fractious in the gate at Keenland, we all know that. Roger's plan, and his tutelage, he's one of the best. He zoned in on her and in combination between the gallop crew and the gate crew, and everybody at the barn just getting her into the right frame of mind. She was on her "A" game today. It's truly a team effort. I get to ride around out there, but I mean, she's pretty spiffy. I think anybody can get her around there."

Sent off at odds of 5-1, Lady Speightspeare, now 4-for-4, paid $12.90 for the win.

"I'm pretty relieved, to be honest with you," offered Attfield. "She's very special. When we went to Keenland, and what happened there in the Queen Elizabeth, was so upsetting because she was so good and I really, really, liked doing that race. It was an important race, a grade 1 race. I got her back here and we had lots of options of different places to go. Emma's been great and it all came together. But the race itself, I wasn't really sure how well she'd handle the synthetic. She held it okay. We always thought that she was quite a bit better on the turf, I still think she is. But the main thing was to get this gate thing sorted out, and it seemed like we did today."

Attfield trained Lady Speightspeare's dam, Lady Shakespeare , who won the Grade 2 New York Stakes in 2010 for Fipke and was fourth in the 2009 Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup.

Bred in Kentucky by her owner, Lady Speightspeare is one of four winners out of Lady Shakespeare. Besides Lady Speightspeare, champion 2-year-old filly in Canada last year, the dam also has an active 2-year-old in Ready Lady  (More Than Ready  ), a first-out winner this year who later ran seventh in the Natalma Stakes (G1T). Unraced progeny of Lady Shakespeare include a yearling colt by More Than Ready and a Bee Jersey   weanling filly.

Video: Bessarabian S. (G2)

Skygaze Lands Maple Leaf

In other Saturday stakes action at Woodbine, Skygaze , under Patrick Husbands, took the CA$153,800 Maple Leaf Stakes (G3).

Trained by Mark Casse for owner Tracy Farmer, the 4-year-old daughter of American Pharoah   was full of run down the lane to notch her sixth career score and first graded-stakes crown in the 1 1/4-mile Tapeta test for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up.

Settled into third early by Husbands, the Kentucky-bred, sent off as the slight 3-1 choice, hugged the rail as Broadway Lady , another Casse trainee, led the field through early splits of :24.93 and :50.57.

As the field made the turn for home, Skygaze, under a perfect trip from Husbands, easily took command and then proceeded to dash away from her rivals down the lane, crossing the line a 4 1/2-length winner in a time of 2:03.65. Sister Otoole  was second and Merveilleux  was third.

"I was driving my Ferrari," said Husbands, who rode his 3,500th North American winner Nov. 12 at Woodbine. "She gives you everything she has to give you."

Bred by Normandy Farm, Skygaze, who won the Belle Mahone Stakes Sept. 12, paid $8.30 for Saturday's win. She is one of five black-type horses out of the Marquetry  mare Skyscape , a group that also includes graded stakes winner Sky Cape  (Najran ) and juvenile stakes winner Sunny Skies  (Animal Kingdom ), who also became graded placed. 

Farmer purchased Skygaze for $300,000 from the Gainesway consignment of breeder Normandy Farm at the 2018 September Yearling Sale at Keeneland.

Video: Maple Leaf S. (G3)