Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Simon making stakes plans
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Yorkton recorded his first graded stakes victory in the Grade 3 Bold Venture Stakes on Sept. 15, and will look to carry his form over to the turf when he makes his next start in the Grade 2, $250,000 Nearctic Stakes over six furlongs, trainer Stuart Simon said.
Yorkton ran in last year’s edition of the Nearctic, finishing seventh over a turf course labeled good. Simon said the condition of the turf was a factor in the result, and noted he scratched Yorkton from the Grade 2 Play the King Stakes on Aug. 25 when the turf that day came up yielding.
“He doesn’t like it when it’s soft,” he said. “He’ll run on the turf as long as it’s quite firm.”
The 4-year-old son of Speightstown recorded his sixth victory and fourth stakes win in the Bold Venture. Yorkton has now won 2 of his 5 starts this year, and also ran second in the Grade 3 Vigil Stakes on July 29.
Yorkton recorded a careerbest 103 Beyer Speed Figure in his Bold Venture win, besting the previous top Beyer of 96 he earned in the Vigil. Simon said Yorkton has shown strong improvement in recent months.
“He’s been training really well,” he said. “In the last month or two, he’s really matured. He’s really come into his own and he ran a big race off of that.”
The Nearctic is scheduled for Oct. 13.
Rose’s Vision to run at Belmont
Simon traveled to Belmont Park to win the English Channel Stakes with Dragon Bay in 2016, and will look to win the race for the second time in three years with Rose’s Vision later this month.
The $100,000 English Channel Stakes, run at a mile on turf for 3-year-olds, is scheduled for Oct. 27.
Rose’s Vision returned to the work tab on Friday for the first time since his neck victory over Have At It in the Better Talk Now Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 27, breezing four furlongs in 48.20 seconds on the dirt training track.
“He had run a big race there,” Simon said. “It was hot when he ran. We just felt he needed a little bit of a freshening. He’s come back and he worked great here the other day. He has time for three more breezes and each one will be a little more meaningful in getting ready for the English Channel.”
The win in the Better Talk Now was Rose’s Vision’s first stakes win. The 3-year-old son of Artie Schiller has had a busy campaign, recording 3 wins in 8 starts in 2018. He’s also run second in a pair of local stakes in the Plate Trial and Toronto Cup, and finished 14th in the Queen’s Plate.
Simon has high hopes for Rose’s Vision heading into next season.
“I really think he’s going to be a nice older turf horse,” he said. “He’s a turf mile, a mile and a sixteenth horse. Hopefully, at the end of the day, he’s a Woodbine Mile horse for next year.”
Seguimi pointing for Frost King
Simon also has a promising 2-year-old in the barn, Seguimi, who won his maiden going one mile and 70 yards here on Sept. 26.
Simon said Seguimi would be pointed to the $100,000 Frost King Stakes for Ontario-sired 2-year-olds over seven furlongs on Tapeta on Oct. 31. While the cutback to one turn isn’t ideal at this point in the year, Simon said he felt Seguimi would be able to handle it.
“I wish it was two turns, but what are you going to do?” he said. “It is what it is. He’s kind of got some natural speed. He’s going to be better off going two turns, but he does have tactical speed. I think going seveneighths he’ll stay in touch with them pretty good.”
Seguimi is a half-sibling to a pair of 2-year-old stakes winners, including Flameaway, who won the Grade 3 Bourbon Stakes, and Ellan Vannin, who won the Ontario Lassie Stakes. Simon believes that with a bit more racing luck, Seguimi could have been a stakes winner himself in the Simcoe back on Aug. 29.
“In his first start, he missed the break and hit the gate so hard,” he said. “The first race is a complete write-off. In the sales stake, he had the one hole and he was stuck behind and never got to run until the eighth pole. I think he’s going to be a pretty nice horse next year.”
Seguimi was an $85,000 yearling purchase by owners Anne and William Scott at the 2017 Canadian premier yearling sale. The son of Victor’s Cry was bred in Ontario by Phoenix Rising Farms.