Count Again at best for Northern Dancer

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Gail Cox won her first career Grade 1 race with Sam-Son Farm homebred El Tormenta in last year’s Woodbine Mile, and will saddle Count Again and Say the Word for Sam-Son Farm in search of her second Grade 1 in Sunday’s $300,000 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes over 1 1/2 miles on the E.P. Taylor turf course at Woodbine.

Sam-Son Farm has won the Northern Dancer Turf a record seven times, but its last victory came in the 2004 edition with Strut the Stage when the race was called the Niagara Handicap. The race was renamed the Northern Dancer Turf in 2006.

Count Again enters the Northern Dancer off a victory in the Grade 3 Singspiel Stakes over 1 1/4 miles on turf Sept. 19. Count Again has shown improvement in his last two starts, since stretching out in distance, recording a 95 Beyer Speed Figure in the Singspiel and a 93 Beyer in a secondlevel allowance two starts back on Aug. 29.

“He ran great,” Cox said of Count Again’s race in the Singspiel. “It was exactly what he wanted to do, which is to go a distance. A mile and a sixteenth was always a little short for him.”

Say the Word also exits the Singspiel, where he finished a closing third. Cox said added distance has also been to Say the Word’s liking this season.

“He was closing ground and he didn’t have the easiest of trips,” she said of the Singspiel. “I think he’ll love this distance.”

KEY CONTENDERS

Count Again, by Awesome Again

Last 3 Beyers: 95-93-83

◗ Count Again figures to come from off the pace in the Northern Dancer, and may get a similar trip to his Singspiel effort from his outside draw.

◗ He’s had a productive career through just six starts, having always finished in the money with three wins.

Say the Word, by More Than Ready

Last 3 Beyers: 93-93-74

◗ Prior to his third-place finish in the Singspiel, he recorded a 51-1 upset in a 1 3/16mile allowance at Saratoga on Aug. 14.

◗ He has run 1 1/2 miles on this turf course before. He finished second in the Breeders’ Stakes in 2018.

Admiralty Pier, by English Channel Last 3 Beyers: 96-98-98

◗ The blinkers come off for the Northern Dancer following a sixth-place finish to Starship Jubilee in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.

◗ He figures to be the controlling speed. He will be racing beyond 1 1/16 miles for the first time in his career.

Nakamura, by Animal Kingdom

Last 3 Beyers: 92-92-96

◗ He’s seeking his first win at 1 1/2 miles on the grass. In five previous starts at the distance, he has two runner-up finishes and a third-place effort.

◗ One of those runner-up finishes came in the Grade 3 Sycamore Stakes at Keeneland in October 2019.

MICHAEL BURNS Count Again improved when sent 1 1/4 miles in his last two races. The Northern Dancer will be his first at 1 1/2 miles.