Saturday Spot Plays for Woodbine

A huge day of racing will take place at Woodbine on Saturday. The Woodbine Mile (Can-G1) is the feature and will be accompanied by a trio of additional graded races – Northern Dancer Stakes (Can-G1), Canadian Stakes (Can-G2) and Bold Venture Stakes (Can-G3).

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While my stakes selections will be given in a separate posting, I have highlighted some horses of interest in other events on the card.

RACE 2

SILENCIUM (#6) (5-2) – First timer from a strong stable and sharp barn who unveils a juvenile on the meet’s biggest day is the angle here. The Robert Tiller trainee is a Stronach homebred who is the first registered foal out of a winning dam. The Silent Name colt has trained steadily in preparation of today and top jockey Eurico Da Silva will ride. If the youngster takes early money, he likely will be very live.

RACE 3

VIVACITAS (#2) (6-1) – I backed this one off the bench last time when she faded to be fifth in a seasonal debut. The Roger Attfield trainee is a half-sister to a multiple stakes winner on the lawn and improvement is expected in just a third lifetime showing. The Bernardini filly was third to subsequent Grade 2 starlet Road to Victory on this lawn in her debut.

RACE 6

CODE WARRIOR (#2) (2-1) – The dark bay mare has won graded races in her last two races on this synthetic strip. The Society’s Chairman five-year-old is controlling speed in the field. The Ontario-bred will not be a great price, but she looks like a single on a tough card beneath Jesse Campbell.

RACE 7

NOW PLAY NICE (#8) (10-1) – This Roman Ruler filly comes in with fine turf form for David Cotey. The four-year-old is zero-for-15 on the main surface at Woodbine, but she has never been better, and my take is that the bay is simply a more dangerous runner going two turns. Skye Chernetze rides and could sit a dream voyage just off the tempo while clear throughout.

RACE 12

OCULIST (#7) (4-1) – The Mike Maker-trained daughter of Orb ran a winning race in defeat at the level most recently. The dark bay sophomore makes a third run since coming to this barn and looks best to me with even minor improvement. The speedy Kentucky-bred picks up Eurico Da Silva and looks like a most logical “get-out” horse.