Code Warrior Back at Woodbine for Ontario Fashion

Already a dual grade 3 winner this year, Zilli Racing Stables' Code Warrior is among a dozen distaffers set to contest the $125,000 Ontario Fashion Stakes (G3) Oct. 28 at Woodbine.

Trained by Mike De Paulo, Code Warrior is back at Woodbine, where she won the Hendrie Stakes (G3) and Seaway Stakes (G3) this year. She heads into Sunday's six-furlong main track feature after a demanding seventh-place run in the Sept. 17 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes (G2).

"Last time, we were on the lead and set some pretty fast fractions, and she had just run the fastest she'd ever run in her life," said De Paulo, referencing Code Warrior's Aug. 26 Seaway effort. "We had to ship her, and she gave up some weight to some of those horses, so there were a bit of difficult circumstances around that race.

"She's on her home ground now, and she's had a couple good works and is doing good. She's had a little break, a little freshening, and hopefully we can get lucky."

The Society's Chairman  mare, who is 3-for-7 this year for De Paulo, opened her 5-year-old campaign with a win in the Abundantia Stakes at Gulfstream Park. She has a 7-4-3 record from 22 starts and $404,242 in earnings.

Jesse Campbell will retain the mount on Code Warrior after partnering up with the mare for her past two starts.

Trainer Josie Carroll will send out a dynamic duo of distaffers, with Moonlit Promise attempting to defend her title in the Ontario Fashion and last year's Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) runner-up Ami's Mesa looking to return to the winning form that earned her Sovereign Award accolades in 2017.

Ivan Dalos' homebred multiple graded stakes winner Ami's Mesa will have regular rider Luis Contreras aboard for her first start at Woodbine this season. Moonlit Promise, owned by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings and Windsor Boys Racing, will be ridden by Eurico Rosa da Silva, who guided the 5-year-old Malibu Moon  mare to her second Sweet Briar Too Stakes score last time out.

Moonlit Promise's initial Sweet Briar Too score kicked off a three-race win streak last fall that included the Ontario Fashion and Bessarabian Stakes (G2).

Dalos also owns Ontario Fashion contender Silent Sonet, who won the July 1 Zadracarta Stakes over seven furlongs on turf and finished fourth in the Sweet Briar Too for trainer Nick Gonzalez.

The field also includes Jessica Krupnick and the graded stakes-placed My Miss Tapit, both recently acquired by trainer Norm McKnight and owner Breeze Easy, and shipper Marquee Miss, who won Remington Park's Flashy Lady Stakes last time out for trainer Ingrid Mason and Rags Racing Stable.