Nine fillings and mares, including winner Queen’s Plate Stakes Moira will be competing for the top prize October 8 in the CA$750,000 EP Taylor Stakes (G1T) in a star-studded card at Woodbine.
Trained by Kevin Attard for X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables and SF Racing’s Moira, a daughter of Ghostzapper , will move away from synthetic surfaces for the first time in a 1 1/4 mile race on Woodbine’s EP Taylor turf. She worked once to prepare for Saturday’s race.
She’ll also be chasing history as no dirt has ever been a Plate-Taylor double to date.
Raised in Ontario by Adena Springs, Moira won the plate’s 163rd run on August 21, a seven-week tour de force that came three weeks after a 10 3/4 turn in Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser.
With the win, Moira became the eighth person to achieve the Oaks-Plate double, participating in such blockbusters as Dance Smartly, Flaming Page, Holy Helena , Inglorious and Lexie Lou .
Moira, who has won all three games in 2022, is now 4-1-0 after five starts of his career.
“Obviously, it’s a huge step forward and on the surface she hasn’t run past, but she’s always up to the challenge,” Attard said. “We were very pleased with her work on the course, and after we talked about our options we decided to run here.”
In a matchup that started at the age of 2, she won the Princess Elizabeth Stakes and finished second in the Mazarine Stakes (G3), earning a Sovereign nomination for the 2-year-old young champion.
Moira was even more impressive in her sophomore campaign.
“She’s had a great year and hopefully that will continue,” Attard said. “We are very fortunate to have such a talented horse.”
X-Men Racing is a team of racing friends created by famous agent Donato Lanni. The group included Lanni, Robert LeBlanc, Steve Heimbecker, Clay Horner, David Anderson, John Fielding, Alexandra Verret, Daniel Plouffe, Gabriel Dimiele and American Nick Pelligreen.
Attard is also 4 years old Munnyfor Ro in the Taylor EP.
Standing in Moira’s way is a group of salty grass talent, including the chubby 3-year-old boy My queen .
Raised and owned by Gestut Karlshof, daughter of Gray Gatsby started her first time outside Germany with a third-place finish, just three-quarters of the length in the August 7 German Oaks (G1) match.
Coached by Markus Klug, Mylady displayed a 3-1-1 record in seven starts.
Travel well Fev Rover will make her third consecutive start at the Toronto oval.
Coached by Mark Casse, the 4-year-old daughter of Gutaifan kicked off Saturday with a breathtaking victory in Canadian Stakes (G2T) on Aug. 21. An earlier race, the bay, owned by Tracy Farmer, finished second behind. Wakanaka in Dance Smartly Stakes (G2). Fev Rover is 3-4-1 from 13 starts.
Other notables include trainee Chad Brown Lemista and Rougir as well as classified bet winners Adventure trained by Brad Cox, and Flirting Bridge moderated by Brendan Walsh.
EP Taylor is the final stake event in Woodbine’s lucrative Ladies of the Lawn Series, offering bonuses to owners whose horses finish 1-2-3 based on points earned in the program.
Item: EP Taylor S. (G1T)
HoneysuckleSaturday, October 8, 2022, Race No. 9
- IT class
- 1 1/4
- Turf
- $750,000
- 3 yo & up Fillies and Mares
- 5:39 pm (local)
This press release has been edited for content and style by the BloodHorse Staff.
