Pink Lloyd highlights card on Millions Sales Day

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Reigning Canadian Horse of the Year Pink Lloyd on Wednesday will headline Woodbine’s Canadian Millions Sales Stakes Day card, featuring six stakes races worth a total of $750,000 in purses restricted to graduates of the local yearling sale.

Pink Lloyd, a $30,000 purchase at the 2013 yearling sale, has been entered in the third race, the $100,000 Kenora Stakes over six furlongs on Tapeta for 3-year-olds and up.

Pink Lloyd had his 11-race winning streak snapped in the Shepperton Stakes two starts back on July 8, but he rebounded nicely to win the Grade 3 Vigil Stakes with a 101 Beyer Speed Figure in his most recent start on July 29.

Pink Lloyd will face just three rivals in the Kenora: Jacks Escarpment, The Young Lord, and stablemate Circle of Friends.

Race 2, $100,000 Halton

The stakes action will begin with the second race, the Halton Stakes for 3-year-olds and upward over 1 1/2 miles on the turf.

Johnny Bear won this race last season and returns on Wednesday. He followed his win in the Halton last year by winning the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes in his next start. He finished third in his most recent start in the Grade 2 Nijinsky Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on July 22.

English Illusion and Eminent Force were second and third behind Johnny Bear in last year’s Halton, and they face him again on Wednesday. English Illusion will make his first start for new trainer Sylvain Pion after being claimed for $45,000 out of the second leg of the Turf Endurance Series on Aug. 5.

King and His Court was cross-entered in the Halton and the Elgin Stakes later on the card. Ethical Funds and Mick the Conqueror round out the field of six.

Race 4, $175,000 Simcoe

Stolen Identity won his debut by 8 1/4 lengths on July 29, but will have to overcome a wide post to win the Simcoe Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs for 2-yearold colts and geldings. Stolen Identity will start from the outside in the 11-horse field. He earned a 66 Beyer Speed Figure in his debut.

Moon Magic was second to Stolen Identity in that 5 1/2-furlong sprint July 29, and makes his stakes debut in the Simcoe with leading rider Eurico Da Silva aboard.

Other key contenders include Souper Hot, who was fourth behind Muskoka Wonder in the Clarendon Stakes on Aug. 5, and Blessed Two, who rallied to be third behind Stolen Identity and Moon Magic after a slow start in that July 29 maiden race.

Race 5, $175,000 Muskoka

Sailing By and Moksgmol finished fourth and fifth in the Shady Well Stakes on Aug. 4, and both fillies seek their first stakes win in the 6 1/2-furlong Muskoka Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.

Sailing By set the pace in the Shady Well with Moksgmol tracking her.

Debut winner Speedy Soul could pose a threat after her victory from off the pace over six furlongs on Aug. 10. Ka Gee Gee is another horse to consider off a runner-up finish on turf against open company in her Aug. 1 debut.

First-time starter Silent Mistake, trained by Norm McKnight, will have to overcome the 14 post.

Race 6, $100,000 Elgin

Melmich tries to win the Elgin Stakes for 3-year-olds and upward over 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta for the fourth year in a row.

The 7-year-old has recorded three runner-up finishes in four starts this year, and finished fifth in the Grade 3 Seagram Cup Stakes in his most recent start on Aug. 12.

Kingsport will likely draw support at the windows following his upset of Pink Lloyd in the 6 1/2-furlong Shepperton Stakes. He’ll stretch back out around two turns in the Elgin, but he did win the Sir Barton Stakes at the 1 1/16mile distance in December. That race was marred by a spill that included Freitag, who will make his 2018 debut in this spot.

Race 8, $100,000 Algoma

In the final stakes of the night, Sugar Jones looks to record her first stakes win in the Algoma Stakes for fillies and mares over 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta.

Sugar Jones breezed through her allowance conditions last season with three straight wins at six furlongs, but she has lost seven straight since then, all stakes. She’ll switch back to Tapeta off back-to-back third-place finishes on turf in the Zadracarta and Victoriana stakes.

The Algoma could be the most wide open stakes of the evening, and includes Crumlin Queen, a two-time winner on Tapeta this season, and last-out winners Miss Sea and Fresh Princess, both of whom try to transfer their turf form to synthetic.

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