Pink Lloyd headlines reslotted Shepperton

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Three-time Canadian champion sprinter Pink Lloyd will try to win the $100,000 Shepperton Stakes for the third time at Woodbine on Thursday. The 6 1/2-furlong event attracted five other Ontario-sired runners after it was carried over with four from Sunday.

Pink Lloyd won his season opener comfortably over three rivals in the Grade 3 Jacques Cartier, on Thursday, June 25. In an unprecedented move, that race was carried over from the previous Saturday to highlight a new horse racing show on TSN in Canada. On July 1, Woodbine put out a revised track rule whereby the race office can cancel, carry over, or reschedule any stakes at its discretion.

Pink Lloyd races for Entourage Stable. Co-owner Frank DiGiulio Jr. said he’s just glad that Pink Lloyd is racing after another delay to the venerable 8-year-old’s schedule.

“In other years, they would have let the race go with four horses,” DiGiulio said. “This year, they’ve decided to carry stakes over. The fact that he’s running on a Thursday when it’s on TV, if that’s helpful to promote racing, I’m all for it, but in my mind, it should have gone on Sunday with a fourhorse field. These races are on the schedule. Unless they’re overnight stakes, any race where there’s a payment made, I believe it should be run [as scheduled], regardless of how many are in.”

DiGiulio said postponing races can be disadvantageous to Pink Lloyd’s trainer, Robert Tiller.

“He trains a horse to peak on a certain day,” DiGiulio explained. “If the race is a week or five days later, it throws things off. The last time, [Pink Lloyd] was able to overcome it because he’s a really good horse, but it’s not really fair to any trainer. Horses aren’t like race cars, that if they’re ready one day, they’ll be ready five days later. [Tiller] works backwards from when the race is.

He’ll gear a horse up to be at its best on a certain day. I think most trainers do that.”

Pink Lloyd will break from post 1 under Rafael Hernandez as the 128-pound highweight.

Not So Quiet is among Pink Lloyd’s opponents on Thursday. He came on late for third in the six-furlong Jacques Cartier after racing in second early and then dropping back at the half. Off a 1 1/2-year layoff June 6, the Mark Casse-trained son of Silent Name won his seasonal bow in a second-level allowance over Souper Success, who also runs in the Shepperton.

Souper Success broke slowly and raced wide when a dull sixth most recently in a sixfurlong turf sprint. He won last year’s Woodstock Stakes on the Tapeta before running competitively in several other 3-yearold stakes.

Rounding out the field are Silent Jimmie, Magical Man, and Dun Drum.

The Shepperton goes at 6:43 p.m. as the seventh on an eight-race card.

MICHAEL BURNS Pink Lloyd, winner of the 2019 Shepperton Stakes, seeks his third win in the race on Thursday.