Justify My Love Clashes With Moira in Dance Smartly

Nine fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, will vie for the top spot in the CA$200,000 Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T), a 1 1/16-mile test over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course Aug. 20 at Woodbine.

Justify My Love , trained by Paulo Lobo for her breeder, Stud Rio Dios Irmaos, and Bonne Chance Farm, arrives at the Dance Smartly off a sharp score in the $100,000 Indiana General Assembly Distaff Handicap at Horseshoe Indianapolis July 8. Her winning time for 1 1/16 miles over "good" ground was 1:43.91. 

Video: Indiana General Assembly Distaff H. (BT)

A grade 2 winner in Argentina, it was the first stakes triumph since the 6-year-old mare came to North America for her 2022 campaign. 

"She is doing really well," Lobo said. "She has been pointing to this race since she won in Indiana. She's had three good workouts for me and now she's ready for this start. She is a happy horse."

Sired by the Japanese-bred and -raced Agnes Gold , the gray/roan will get her first test on the world-renowned E.P. Taylor Turf Course, a course that Lobo believes will suit Justify My Love.

"I think this course will be a good one for her to race on," said Lobo. "That long stretch is something she will appreciate."

Sporting a record of 5-2-2 from 15 starts, Justify My Love contested her first eight races at San Isidro in Argentina, where she won three times and posted six top-three finishes.

She finished sixth in her first two North American races, at Kentucky Downs in September and at Keeneland in October, before a victory at Churchill Downs Nov. 19.

Her racing passport also includes a stop at Gulfstream Park, where she finished seventh in the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational Stakes (G3T) in January.

"I've always liked this horse," said Lobo. "When she ran in Florida, she got sick after the race, so that was probably the reason she didn't run well that day. We brought her back and she's hitting her peak right now. She's feeling really good."

Adam Beschizza, who won this year's Alywow Stakes and Ontario Colleen Stakes (G3T) with Mohawk Trail , will be in the irons Sunday. The multiple graded stakes-winning jockey will also partner Midnight in Malibu  in The King's Plate later in the card.

Other starters include Moira , Canada's reigning Horse of the Year; Chad Brown trainee and stakes winner Salimah ; multiple graded stakes winner Il Malocchio ; and last-out stakes winner Miss Dracarys .

The CA$150,000 Bold Venture Stakes (G3), a 6 1/2-furlong Tapeta race for 3-year-olds and up; the CA $125,000 Soaring Free Stakes, at 6 1/2 furlongs on the E.P. Taylor Turf for 2-year-olds; and the CA$125,000 Catch a Glimpse Stakes, at 6 1/2 furlongs over the E.P. Taylor Turf for 2-year-old fillies, are also featured on The King's Plate card.

Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable, and Gary Barber's Candy Overload  is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the Bold Venture. Winner of the Kennedy Road Stakes (G2) last fall at Woodbine and the Forego Stakes in February at Turfway Park for trainer Mark Casse, the late-running 5-year-old gelded son of Reload   was second last out in the Pink Lloyd Stakes at Woodbine June 4.

My Dear Stakes winner Living Magic  races on turf for the first time in the Catch a Glimpse for trainer Phil Schoenthal.

Dancing Duchess , second to Living Magic in the My Dear and also untested on grass, is cross-entered in the Catch a Glimpse and in the Soaring Free, a race in which debut winner Rhapsody  is the 3-1 favorite.