Bring Theband Home Set for Another Hit in Nearctic

The CA$250,000 Nearctic Stakes (G2T) Oct. 4 at Woodbine is not part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, but the connections of favored Bring Theband Home  understandably have a Breeders' Cup race on their minds.

Live Oak Plantation's 5-year-old homebred Into Mischief   gelding is riding a two-race win streak, having won the Harvey Pack Stakes and Troy Stakes (G2T) in blistering time this summer at Saratoga Race Course.

"He has started showing just what we thought he was early on," Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse said. "We always thought he was a pretty good horse. In all honesty, he was a little bit disappointing (early in his career), but he definitely loves Saratoga. We hope he loves the Woodbine inner turf as much."

He faces six rivals, including the 2023 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) winner, Patricia's Hope's Nobals .

Bring Theband Home seems most effective racing 5 1/2 furlongs or shorter, so the 5-furlong distance for the Nearctic this year appears beneficial. He faded to eighth in the 2024 Nearctic when the race was contested at 6 furlongs on the outer E. P. Taylor Turf Course at Woodbine. That course is no longer in use this season due to renovation.

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano travels from New York to maintain the ride on Bring Theband Home, on whom he is 4-1-0 in five rides. Bring Theband Home is 6-3-1 in 13 starts overall, with the Harvey Pack and Troy being his first stakes wins.

Nobals, trained in Illinois by Larry Rivelli, has won just twice in 10 starts since his 2023 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint victory. Eleven months ago, he beat 2024 Canadian Horse of the Year Patches O'Houlihan in the Kennedy Road Stakes (G2) on Woodbine's synthetic track.

Most recently, he finished seventh at Kentucky Downs in the Kentucky Turf Sprint Stakes (G2T).

Wathnan Racing's European shipper The Strikin Viking  and stakes-winning No Nay Hudson  head the rest of the opposition.

Caitlinhergrtness Aims to Transfer Tapeta Form to Turf in Dance Smartly

Three races after the Nearctic, nine older fillies and mares contest the 1 1/16-mile Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T) over the inner turf.

The 1-2-4 finishers from last month's Ontario Matron Stakes (G3) shift from Tapeta to grass for Saturday's CA$200,000 race.

WinStar Farm's Caitlinhergrtness , the Ontario Matron winner, has excelled on the Woodbine main track, winning the King's Plate Stakes over the surface in 2024. Her turf form has been less consistent. She underperformed in two starts over the outer E. P. Taylor Turf course, but she did score last year on the inner turf course, and was also grade 1-placed in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland over its turf.

Fraser Aebly picks up the ride on the 4-year-old daughter of Omaha Beach   for trainer Kevin Attard.

Charles Fipke's Ready for Shirl , who took the Canadian Stakes (G2T) for Hall of Famer Roger Attfield this summer before running a distant third in the E. P. Taylor Stakes (G1T), seems her greatest adversary.

The Dance Smartly offers a fee-paid berth into the $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G2T) at Gulfstream Park Jan. 24.