Stacked Deck Aims for Kennedy Road Defense

Bruce Lunsford's homebred Stacked Deck, Canada's champion sprinter in 2015, will aim to defend his title in the $200,000 Kennedy Road Stakes (Can-II) against a field of eight challengers in the six-furlong test over the main track at Woodbine Nov. 20.

The Kennedy Road has become a rite of passage for Stacked Deck, as the 5-year-old First Samurai   gelding finished sixth in the 2014 edition of the race and capped off his 2015 campaign with 2 3/4-length score in this spot a year ago. The dark bay runner has won one of his prior four starts this season, that coming when he bested fellow Kennedy Road entrant Puntrooskie by 1 1/2 lengths in the Sept. 11 Ontario Jockey Club Stakes going six furlongs at Woodbine.

Trained by Barbara Minshall, Stacked Deck most recently finished second to Calgary Cat—who went on to run fourth in the Nov. 5 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT)—in the Oct. 16 Nearctic Stakes (Can-IIT).

Puntrooksie, a $40,000 claim for trainer and co-owner Don MacRae, became a graded stakes winner July 23 with his victory in Woodbine's Bold Venture Stakes (Can-III). Freshened since his runner-up finish in the Ontario Jockey Club Stakes, the 5-year-old In Summation   gelding comes into the Kennedy Road off back-to-back bullet works.