Whimsical Dance, Sister Seagull to Duel in Wonder Where

This year's edition of the Canadian Triple Tiara concludes with the Sept. 11 running of the CA$250,000 Wonder Where Stakes at Woodbine.  At 1 1/4 miles on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course, the Wonder Where, for 3-year-old Canadian-bred fillies, drew six sophomores, including Sister Seagull , who captured the second jewel of the Triple Tiara, the Aug. 14 Bison City.

Moira , who won the Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser and later took the 163rd running of the Aug. 21 Queen's Plate is not in Sunday's race. She is expected to make her next start in grade 1 stakes company.

Whimsical Dance , a daughter of Distorted Humor , will make her first appearance in the series. Trained by Gail Cox, the Sam-Son Farm homebred arrived in style, winning her career bow in impressive fashion Aug. 21. 

Sent off at 20-1 in the 1 1/16-mile journey over the outer E.P. Taylor turf course, Whimsical Dance, under Declan Carroll, rallied wide on the turn and went on to score by 4 1/2 lengths despite lugging in down the stretch.

"She comes from a really nice family," noted Cox. "She's a half to Say the Word  and Rideforthecause , so she's related to some very nice horses, who I was also lucky to have trained.

"I had taken a very long time to run her because I didn't think she was ready. She was quite immature, mentally and physically. I just didn't want to run her until I thought she had a good chance to win or at least run really well. She just started to work better and better and learned how to be more independent. I wouldn't say that I thought she was definitely going to win, but I did think she would run well just based off pedigree. (Declan) said that down the lane she was just gawking at everything. But she ran great, and she's pretty talented."  

Now, the filly, unraced at 2, will step up to the stakes ranks and tackle a longer distance of ground. 

Swoop to Finish , a daughter of American Pharoah  , will return to the turf after a sixth-place finish in the Woodbine Oaks, run over Woodbine's synthetic Tapeta surface

Also a Sam-Son homebred, the dark bay has a career record of 1-1-0 from five starts, including a 1-1-0 record from three turf appearances. 

She made her debut last July, finishing second in a six-furlong E.P. Taylor Turf Course maiden special weight event, putting in a strong rally down the lane to secure the runner-up spot. Swoop to Finish closed out her rookie year with a fifth in a seven-furlong race over the E.P. Taylor surface one month later. 

Finishing fifth in her sophomore curtain raiser, Swoop to Finish broke her maiden next time out, a 2 1/4-length win over 1 1/16 miles on the Woodbine inner turf. 

"She won on the turf this year, and then we made the decision to run her in the Oaks. She just doesn't like the main track as much as she does the turf. She's not the same on it."

A win by Whimsical Dance or Swoop to Finish would give leading Oaks' owner Sam-Son Farm its ninth victory in the preeminent race for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.  

The race has also attracted the aforementioned Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry's Sister Seagull, who brings a record of 2-1-1 from seven starts, the two victories coming in her past three starts, which also includes the runner-up performance in the Oaks. The homebred daughter of Hard Spun   trained by Catherine Day Phillips is untested on grass.

Entries: Wonder Where S.

Woodbine, Sunday, September 11, 2022, Race 8

• STK
• 1 1/4m
• Turf
• $250,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 5:01 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Swoop to Finish (ON)	Emma-Jayne Wilson	121	Gail Cox	6/1
2	2Strega (ON)	Rafael Manuel Hernandez	121	Kevin Attard	4/1
3	3Sister Seagull (ON)	Antonio A. Gallardo	121	Catherine Day Phillips	9/5
4	4Devil's Bit (ON)	David Moran	121	Roger L. Attfield	8/1
5	5Whimsical Dance (ON)	Declan Carroll	121	Gail Cox	8/5
6	6Keep It Neat (ON)	Kazushi Kimura	121	Barbara J. Minshall	15/1