Attfield Confident Are You Kidding Me Ready for Eclipse

Sovereign Award champion and millionaire Are You Kidding Me will attempt to make a return to the winner's circle in the May 20 Eclipse Stakes (G2) at Woodbine.

The winner of three of the past four editions of the Eclipse Stakes, the 9-year-old son of Run Away and Hide  will take on five others as their elder in the 1 1/16-mile event for 4-year-olds and older, including Town and Country Racing's favored Third Day and last year's Ontario Derby (G3) third Mr Ritz.

Trained by Roger Attfield, Are You Kidding Me captured the Eclipse in 2015, 2016, and 2018, just missing by a neck in the 2017 running of the $175,000 race.

"He's doing great," said Attfield, who has won a record eight runnings of the Eclipse. "He's a great old boy. He's healthy and well. He's been a delight, around for a long time for us now. He's a fixture."

In last year's race, the Kentucky-bred owned by Michael Riordan, Ron Kirk, and John Bates stopped the clock in 1:43.14.

"He trained so well in the winter," said Attfield after the 2018 score. "I gave him a lot of time for a quarter crack—a lot more than he actually needed—but the whole idea was really to have him for the summer here. He trained so very well, I would have been surprised if he got beat in the prep, and then he trained off of that race well. Of course, this is the first time also he hasn't had to carry a lot of weight in this race, so he was delighted to win it himself."

Canada's champion older horse of 2015 and 2016 arrives in the Eclipse off a ninth-place finish in a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance April 5 at Keeneland. Attfield expects his veteran star to rebound Monday afternoon.

"I gave him that one race in Keeneland to help him get to this race," Attfield said. "His last work (five furlongs in :59 4/5 May 15) was great—very encouraging for me to go on to this race. He might have missed a step or two in age, I don't know, but he's not showing it at this moment.

"He's run a lot of good races aside from (the allowance at Keeneland). It's the beginning of the year, he's fresh, and we always have him fit enough. He's still feisty and he still has a lot of energy, but he's always been an easy horse to be around. He's just a real competitor. He goes into this race with a lot of desire."

Entries: Eclipse S. (G2)

Woodbine, Monday, May 20, 2019, Race 7

• Grade II
• 1 1/16m
• All Weather Track
• $175,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 4:10 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Mr Ritz (GB)	Eurico Rosa Da Silva	118	Josie Carroll	4/1
2	2Avie's Mesa (ON)	David Moran	116	Josie Carroll	12/1
3	3Souper Tapit (FL)	Patrick Husbands	118	Mark E. Casse	6/1
4	4Third Day (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	116	Brian A. Lynch	2/1
5	5Decorated Soldier (KY)	Jesse M. Campbell	120	Norman McKnight	9/2
6	6Are You Kidding Me (KY)	Rafael Manuel Hernandez	122	Roger L. Attfield	5/2