Hard Edge Looks for Winning Edge in Whimsical

Hard Edge  chases her first added-money win May 13 in the $150,000 Whimsical Stakes (G3) at Woodbine.

Trained by Stuart Simon, Hard Edge will take on seven rivals, including multiple graded stakes winner and multiple 2022 Sovereign Award finalist (female sprinter, older main track female) Our Flash Drive , in the six-furlong Whimsical, a main track event for fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and upward.

A daughter of Hard Spun  , Hard Edge went 2-3-1 from seven starts in 2022. Overall, the Chiefswood Stables' homebred is 3-5-2 from 11 career outings, with $220,890 in earnings.

The 5-year-old mare, who owns a 2-2-0 mark from four efforts at six furlongs, capped off her most recent campaign with a 3 3/4-length win over the distance on Woodbine's all-weather main track last November.

The Whimsical will mark Hard Edge's first start of the year. ​

"You wish they were all like her," praised Simon. "She's so easy to train and is very laid-back in her training. But every time the gate opens, she answers the bell. If they were all like her, it would be an easy game. She can be a little aggressive around the barn. She's not a pet, but she's just a good eater, a good doer, and does everything right. She's never too hard on herself."

Hard Edge debuted in September 2021, finishing second in a 6 1/2-furlong race on Tapeta. She followed it up with a third and a second before breaking her maiden that December courtesy of a gritty head score at 6 1/2 panels on the synthetic.

Her only previous stakes appearance came in last year's Sweet Briar Too Stakes, where she was fourth, only 1 3/4 lengths behind eventual champion female sprinter Hazelbrook , in the 6 1/2-furlong Tapeta tilt for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up.

"She's been working well leading up to this. Usually, she's not a great workhorse in the morning, but she has been this spring. She seems to be as good or better than she ever has. So, we're looking for a big race," said Simon.

Regular rider Eswan Flores gets the call.

The field is completed, in post order, by Mark Casse's stakes-winning pupil Miss Speedy ; 3 Sons Racing homebred Forest Drift ; grade 2 victress Our Flash Drive; Tequesta Racing's winner Owen's Tour Guide ; Frog Stakes runner up in March Baby No Worries ; fellow Casse grade 3-placed trainee Ambassador Luna ; and Louisiana-bred Basalt Street  for trainer Kevin Attard.