Dance Smartly the Likely Final Start for Fev Rover

Reigning Canadian Horse of the Year Fev Rover  headlines a three-stakes day of racing at Woodbine Oct. 5 when the 6-year-old Gutaifan  mare likely runs for the final time in the CA$200,000 Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T) at 1 1/16 miles on turf.

Later this fall, she will go through the auction ring as Hip 253 as part of Gainesway's consignment to The November Sale at Fasig-Tipton Nov. 4.

She comes off a distant third at Woodbine behind Full Count Felicia  and Moira  in the Sept. 14 E. P. Taylor Stakes (G1T), a race she won commandingly in 2023.

"It was weird,” said Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, who had watched Fev Rover settle behind the runaway leader and eventually give up the pace in the closing stages. “I don’t know what to think. Maybe the ground was a little too hard for her?”

The Mark Casse trainee will have to defeat Resolute Racing's Princess Calla , a South African import by Flower Alley  who will look to fire fresh after a seven-month layoff for her new trainer, Chad Brown. 

Princess Calla last raced in the March 2 H F Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes (G1) in South Africa, where she finished a nonthreatening third. The 2023 South African Horse of the Year will make her first start in North America. Earlier in 2024, she finished first in the Majorca Stakes (G1) at Kenilworth.

Chad Brown also trains the Klaravich Stables-owned Tax Implications , who most recently finished second in an allowance optional claimer at Saratoga Race Course. In June, she won the Eatontown Stakes (G3T) at Monmouth Park. 

Lac Macaza Faces Truly Quality In Singspiel 

A couple of races before the Dance Smartly at Woodbine Saturday, Lac Macaza  will try to put back-to-back wins together in the CA$175,000 Singspiel Stakes (G3T) at 1 3/8 miles on grass. The 5-year-old gelding won the Niagara Stakes last month, defeating five runners in Saturday's field of 14—Palazzi , Spinzar , Dancin in Da'nile , Stone Age , and Eyes On the King . 

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” trainer Julia Carey said of his chances in the Singspiel. “He seems to be just as good as he was going into his last race.

“He’s gotten better as he’s gotten older. This has been a prime year for him.”

The Goldie Stables and Discovery Racing-owned runner will have a home-track advantage against United States stakes-winning invaders Truly Quality  and Highland Chief . The latter, a grade 1 winner in 2022 , will look to bounce back from a winless year in 2024 after spending 2023 on the sidelines. He most recently finished third in the Sept. 18 Presious Passion Stakes at Monmouth Park. 

Flag of Honour Looks to regain form in Nearctic 

The Australian-born Flag Of Honour  faces 10 opponents in the CA$250,000 Nearctic Stakes (G2T), a six-furlong turf sprint that is the last of Saturday's three stakes at Woodbine. The Carey-trained 5-year-old son of American Pharaoh, owned by R.M. Wanless and Mrs. J. M. Wanless, ran seventh in the Connaught Cup Stakes (G2T) July 20. Before that, he had won the June 1 Jacques Cartier Stakes (G3) on Woodbine's synthetic Tapeta surface. 

Fellow graded stakes winners War Bomber  and Patches O'Houlihan , a winner of 10 of his 12 career outings, lead the opposition.