Avie’s Flatter can step forward

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Following a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes here Sept. 16, Avie’s Flatter will look to record his first career stakes victory in Sunday’s $225,000 Cup and Saucer Stakes for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds over 1 1/16 miles on turf.

Avie’s Flatter won his career debut by 2 1/2 lengths in a fivefurlong sprint Aug. 12 on Tapeta and then stepped up to Grade 1 company in the Summer. He was pinched back at the start, but overcame his tough beginning to finish fourth.

“He got a lot of out of the race,” trainer Josie Carroll said. “I was happy to get a good mile into him before the Cup and Saucer. He ran a real creditable race. He’s started figuring it out. I think he’s a very nice horse.”

Carroll also has entered Ojiisan in the Cup and Saucer. The son of Stormy Atlantic was an impressive 4 1/4-length debut winner Sept. 7 in a six-furlong sprint on Tapeta. Ojiisan will make his turf debut in the Cup and Saucer, but Carroll likes the way he’s been training on the grass.

“He breezed exceptionally well on the turf,” she said. “I don’t think the [distance] will be a problem for him.”

Trainer Mark Casse has entered two horses – Flying Curlin and Tricky Magician – with jockey Jerome Lermyte named on both. Flying Curlin, a half-brother to graded stakes winner Leavem in Malibu, would be making his career debut and appears to be working well.

The Cup and Saucer field also includes two fillies, Bold Script and Kitten’s Girl. Dixie Moon defeated the boys to win the Cup and Saucer in 2017, and the filly Hard Not to Like won this event in 2011.

KEY CONTENDERS

Avie’s Flatter, by Flatter Last 2 Beyers: 69-70

◗ Leading rider Eurico Da Silva retains the mount. Da Silva and Carroll have a 62 percent strike rate from 13 starts together in the last two years, a run that includes five stakes wins.

◗ Avie’s Flatter will add Lasix for the first time in this start.

Just Like Larry, by Langfuhr Last 2 Beyers: 58-60

◗ Just Like Larry will enter the Cup and Saucer as a maiden, but he has hit the board in both of his races.

◗ In his most recent start, he was second behind Nashtrick, who subsequently ran third in the Summer Stakes.

Bold Script, by Speightstown Last 3 Beyers: 74-61-60

◗ She enters the Cup and Saucer with the best last-race Beyer Speed Figure in the field for a third-place effort behind La Pelosa in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes on Sept. 16.

◗ She won her career debut July 14, a race that produced a pair of next-out winners.

Kitten’s Girl, by Kitten’s Joy Beyer: 66

◗ A 3 1/2-length debut winner in a seven-furlong turf sprint Sept. 7.

◗ She’s a half-sister to Canadian champion Up With the Birds, who was a Grade 1 winner on turf.