Noholdingback Bear back home with De Paulo

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Noholdingback Bear, Canada’s champion male sprinter of 2016, has returned to trainer Mike De Paulo’s barn at Woodbine after a brief stint with trainer Brian Lynch in New York.

Noholdingback Bear shipped back to Woodbine last Wednesday night. De Paulo said he was pleased to have Noholdingback Bear back in the barn and was going to evaluate his condition before deciding on his next race.

“We’re just going to assess him right now and come up with a plan,” he said. “I’m waiting to take a peek at him with the vet and go over him, and then we’ll come up with some kind of strategy.”

Noholdingback Bear raced twice for Lynch this spring at Belmont Park. He finished second in the Diablo Stakes over six furlongs on dirt May 7 and was steadied at the break and finished seventh in the Grade 2 True North Stakes over the same distance June 9.

Noholdingback Bear is the Woodbine 6 1/2-furlong track record-holder on Tapeta, is a graded-stakes winner on dirt, and is stakes-placed in his lone start on turf.

“This horse can run on anything,” De Paulo said. “He’s run well on the dirt. He’s only run once on the grass, and the race he ran was at Gulfstream Park. I think he handles the grass real well. He’s bred to handle grass on his mother’s side. I don’t think there’s a surface that he can’t run on.”

Calgary Cat eyes Highlander

Calgary Cat most recently finished a narrow third in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup over seven furlongs on turf here June 3 and will shorten up for the Grade 2, $250,000 Highlander Stakes over six furlongs on turf as part of the Queen’s Plate card July 2, trainer Kevin Attard said.

Calgary Cat was 9 1/2 lengths off the lead with just three furlongs left to run in the Connaught Cup but closed well down the lane under jockey Luis Contreras. He was involved in a three-horse photo finish with winner Tower of Texas and runner-up Commute, losing by a head.

“He ran really well,” Attard said. “He was a little farther out than I would have liked to have seen him, but he came running, and that’s all you can ask for. He ran hard.”

Calgary Cat is among the 18 nominees for the Highlander, which had its base purse increased by $50,000 this year and now offers a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 4. Other nominees include Commute; Grade 3 Churchill Downs Turf Sprint winner Green Mask, who ran second in the Highlander last season; Grade 2 Shakertown Stakes winner Holding Gold; last year’s Highlander Stakes winner, Passion for Action; and Pink Lloyd, a three-time stakes winner on Tapeta this season.

New turf endurance series

Woodbine’s racing office announced a new turf endurance series last Friday.

The four-race series will begin July 22 at 1 3/8 miles, followed by races at 1 1/2 miles on Aug. 19, 1 5/8 miles on Sept. 23, and 2 1/4 miles on Oct. 22. Horses will accumulate points based on their finishing position in the races, and the horse with the most points at the end of the series will be named the Woodbine Turf Endurance Series Champion and receive a $15,000 bonus.

Horses will receive 10 points for finishing first in any series race, 7 points for finishing second, 5 for third, 3 for fourth, and 2 for fifth. All other horses in each race will receive one point.

The races will be open to 3-year-olds and up who have started for a claiming price of $25,000 or less in 2016 or 2017, or horses can enter for a $40,000 claiming tag. Horses eligible for the conditions can run in any of the series races, but preference will be given to those horses who have earned points.

Woodbine will offer a $45,000 purse for each race, and bonuses will be available for Ontario-bred and Ontario-sired horses.