E.P. TAYLOR STAKES

(Grade 1)

SENT to post as the 2/1 favourite in the field of 12, Curvy the three-year-old Galileo filly trained by David Wachman made the most of her second North American start, taking the $500,000 Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine last Sunday.

A group winner in the Gallinule Stakes and at Royal Ascot in the Group 2 Ribbesdale at Royal Ascot she raced well back in ninth early on, over seven lengths back in the 10 furlong turf test, as Rosalind set the early pace through the first six furlongs.

Still ninth at the mile marker, Curvy surged through a gap when it opened in the stretch to win by a length and a half under jockey Ryan Moore. Talmada took second for the Roger Varian stable and Rosalind hung on for a game third-place effort.

Owned by the Irish partnership of Michael Tabor, Mrs John Magnier, and Derrick Smith, Curvy made her US debut at Belmont Park two weeks previously, when she ran fifth in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Stakes on soft ground.

“She’d won a Group 2 at Royal Ascot but the ground at Belmont was too soft for her,” Moore commented post race. “She has been a very impressive filly, she started the season off in handicaps and she has just progressed. She has kept on improving.”

Devonshire

Willie McCreery’s Godolphin filly Devonshire did not get a clear run up the rails but couldn’t quicken late and finished seventh under Patrick Husbands.

Bred in Great Britain by Norelands and Hugo Lascelles, out of the Inchinor mare Frappe, Curvy was purchased by M.V. Magnier from Lofts Hall Consignment at Tattersalls October Sales for 775,000gns.

PATTISIONS CANADIAN

INTERNATIONAL

(Grade 1)

SENT off favourite, the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Cannock Chase rallied strongly in the stretch to provide Ryan Moore with a Grade 1 double on the day when winning the $1 million Canadian International at Woodbine Racecourse last Sunday.

Owned by Rabbah Bloodstock, Cannock Chase is a four-year-old American-bred colt by Lemon Drop Kid. Canadian runner Up With The Birds finished second, with Rabbah Bloodstock-owned Sheikhzayedroad third for David Simcock and Martin Lane and Kaigun fourth in the mile and a half turf event.

There was little movement in the Canadian International until the field turned for home off a slow pace. Up With The Birds took aim at the lead in mid-stretch but had to contend with Cannock Chase, who at one point had dropped back to 10th.

Cannock Chase flew by and had a length and a half to spare from Up With The Birds at the finish. A fast-closing Sheikhzayedroad, who rallied from last in the 11-horse field, finished a length back in third.

“He had a good turn of foot today and he’s a good horse at this distance,” said Bruce Raymond, racing manager for Rabbah Bloodstock, representatives for owner Saeed Suhail.

“The owner picked him out at Newmarket [yearling sales] for £400,000 and it was a good buy. Ryan Moore, he’s the best. We’re lucky to have him.

“Michael (Stoute) has done a very good job with him,” followed Raymond. “The horse had a few problems, but since he has been stepped up to a mile and half, he has been doing well. He’s a very good horse at this distance.”

Moore, who won a historic third consecutive Canadian International, said Cannock Chase was brought along slowly by Stoute and has developed into “a very good horse.”

“I’m very lucky. I get to ride very good horses,” said Moore after he had secured his record-breaking win. “It worked out well today. I thought this horse was impressive. As soon as he got a bit of room, he quickened and he won easy.”

Martin Lane completed a one-three for Rabbah Bloodstock horses aboard Sheikhzayedroad, and said: “I had a wall of horses in front of me going around the bend so I had to switch wide, which is never ideal, but he galloped all the way to the line. He was game, as he always is. He ran a very good race. With a bit further, we might have got second but looking at the winner, that’s the best we could have done on the day.”

NEARTIC STAKES

American-based Irishman Brendan Walsh, secured another graded stakes win in just his fourth year of training, when By Bye Bernie secured a hard fought victory in the $300,000 Grade 2 Nearctic Stakes at Woodbine.

The five-year-old gelding by Bernstein just missed by a neck, in the Kentucky Downs Turf Dash Stakes, last time out in September when sent off at odds of 55/1.

Things were different this time around as Bye Bye Bernie and Rafael Hernandez emerged victorious at 22/1.

Bye Bye Bernie settled in on the rail on the turn of the six-furlong turf test, a few lengths off leaders Spring To The Sky and Excaper for the first half mile.

Both front-runners retreated in the stretch as Bye Bye Bernie angled out, rallied, and then outlasted a group of fast finishers.

Four horses were within a length of the winner at the finish and the final winning margin was just a head, over good turf.

Summation Time got up for second, with Coolmore’s The Great War, always prominent, just a nose back in third. Terror for David Simcock finished fifth, beaten less than a length for Andrea Atzeni.

“The key to him is the trip,” Cork native, Walsh commented. “Your typical American races - five or five and a half is a little short and the mile stretches him out - so we ran him six and a half (furlongs) at Kentucky Downs and he ran great, and the six here is probably the minimum to get his optimal performance. He got it today.”

It was the first stakes win for Bye Bye Bernie and his fifth in 25 starts.