Halo Again looked to be coming up empty heading for home in this lucrative event for Canadian-breds, but he found another gear when it mattered to get up narrowly for the same trainer/jockey combo who took the Breeders' S. here this summer. The $600,000 KEESEP yearling cruised by 4 1/4 lengths first out at Churchill going seven panels Oct. 27, but earned just a 56 Beyer Speed Figure–the slowest last-out figure of anyone in the field. Breaking from the rail here, the bay drafted from the pocket through modest splits. Not seeming to respond at first to rider Rafael Hernandez's encouragement heading for home, Halo Again was one paced under a busy ride in upper stretch, but he kept plugging away down along the fence and squeezed inside of pacesetting Green Growth (Bayern) late to narrowly beat Malibu Mambo to the wire.
The winner's half-sister Inflexibility showed her affinity for longer trips over the local surfaces, taking the 10-panel Wonder Where S. on the lawn after finishing third in both the Woodbine Oaks and Queen's Plate. His dam, who is out of a full-sister to champion Ashado, GISW Sunriver and GSW Saint Stephen, produced another Speightstown colt Mar. 5 before being bred back to Justify for 2020. Halo Again is the 175th stakes winner out of a daughter of leading broodmare sire Unbridled's Song.
CORONATION FUTURITY, C$225,000, Woodbine, 11-23, (C), 2yo, 1 1/8m (AWT), 1:51.82, ft.
1–HALO AGAIN, 122, c, 2, by Speightstown
1st Dam: Halo's Verse, by Unbridled's Song
2nd Dam: Ballado's Halo, by Saint Ballado
3rd Dam: Goulash, by Mari's Book
($600,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. O-Winchell
Thoroughbreds LLC and Willis Horton Racing LLC; B-Anderson
Farms Ont. Inc. (ON); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Rafael Manuel
Hernandez. C$135,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $137,725.
*1/2 to Fundamental (Arch), GSP-US, SP-Qat, $460,598; and Inflexibility (Scat Daddy), MSW & MGSP, $539,690
2–Malibu Mambo, 122, c, 2, Point of Entry–Polyantha Rose, by
Tiznow. O-Stronach Stables; B-Adena Springs (ON); T-Kevin
Attard. C$45,000.
3–Muskoka Gold, 122, c, 2, Lea–Lunch Hour, by Medaglia
d'Oro. ($185,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP). O-Conrad Farms; B-William
D. Graham (ON); T-Mark E. Casse. C$22,500.
Margins: HD, 3/4, HF. Odds: 3.35, 7.35, 1.80.
Also Ran: Green Growth, Tomcat Black, Northern Thunder, Pleasecallmeback, Kunal.
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