Gamble's Ghost Gets Outside Post in Trillium Stakes

Multiple graded stakes winner Gamble's Ghost will look to add another to her résumé in the $125,000 Trillium Stakes (G3) going 1 1/16 miles over Woodbine's all-weather track. She drew the outside post in a field of 10 fillies and mares for the June 17 stakes.

Trained by Josie Carroll for Ontario-based owner/breeder Ivan Dalos, Gamble's Ghost is one of the most accomplished mares in the field, boasting $584,931 in earnings and four stakes wins, including a trio of grade 3 races. Her most recent graded score in the Nov. 4 Maple Leaf Stakes (G3) capped a three-race win streak at Woodbine. She finished her 2017 campaign in mid-December with a fourth-place finish in Gulfstream Park's Rampart Stakes (G3). 

The Ghostzapper  mare returned this year with a third-place finish in a May 21 allowance race over the same course and distance as the Trillium, six lengths behind My Arch Enemy and 5 1/2 lengths behind Ickymasho, both of whom she will face again Sunday. 

"Initially, we were a little disappointed. But when we looked at the race card on the day, we saw that it was a very speed-biased track and she is a closer, so her style really didn't fit with the race," said Carroll of the 5-year-old mare's season debut. "It's probably a better race than it looks on paper. She came out of it well, and she's headed into this race well, so we're optimistic. She put in a big year last year, and we're hoping to come back to form this year."

Eurico Rosa da Silva, who was aboard for her past two Woodbine starts, will team with Gamble's Ghost once again. 

"She's a filly that comes from off the pace anyway, so hopefully she can just break, tuck in, and make a run," said Carroll, who will also send out the season-debuting Silhouette from post 7 with Luis Contreras picking up the mount for Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings. 

Silhouette, a 4-year-old daughter of Smart Strike, was a winner over seven furlongs and 1 1/16 miles on Woodbine's Tapeta surface during her six-race sophomore campaign, which ended at the end of September.  

"She showed a lot of promise last year," Carroll said. "She had a minor setback that caused us not to run her over the winter, and she's been coming back very well. We're eager to try her in stakes company. She was consistent last year. I think this year she's a bigger, stronger filly. I think she's grown up a lot this year."

Owned by Gary Barber, My Arch Enemy is one of three Trillium entries from the Mark Casse stable. Barber's 3-year-old filly Miss Mo Mentum will be looking for back-to-back grade 3 wins after defeating recent Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser winner Dixie Moon by a neck in her Canadian debut May 19 in the Selene Stakes (G3). The Uncle Mo  miss took a liking to the Tapeta with a last-to-first effort in the 1 1/16-mile race with Patrick Husbands aboard.

"When this horse comes to the (synthetic track), it's a whole different scenario," Husbands said after winning the Selene.

Casse's other contender is Stonestreet Stables' Malibu Bonnie, who will move off the turf after a four-month layoff.

The field also includes the Irish-bred Michael Doyle trainee Grizzel, last year's Selene winner who started her season with three turf tries, including a fifth-place finish at Woodbine in the May 27 Nassau Stakes (G2T).