Ben Lomond carries top weight

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Last Saturday’s record openingday handle of $6.9 million on 11 races was followed up by $6.4 million bet on 13 races on Sunday.

Woodbine will try to keep the ball rolling on the third day of the meet with another appealing card Friday. Post time has been rolled back to 4:50 p.m. to accommodate the first “Racing Night Live” broadcast from 7-9 p.m. on TSN in Canada.

Ben Lomond is the 121-pound highweight in Friday’s $50,000 Welcome Back Handicap, a 5 1/2-furlong Tapeta starter for 3-year-olds and up who raced for $20,000 or less in 2020-21 while starting at least once at Woodbine.

Ben Lomond was claimed by owner-trainer Robert Tiller for $19,000 late in 2019. He evolved into a capable turf sprinter last year, taking 1 of 6 starts while capping his season with a fourth-place finish in an allowance in September.

Daisuke Fukumoto will ride Ben Lomond, who has a record from of 3-6-2 from 27 starts on the local Tapeta.

Hitters Park won a 5 1/2-furlong dash for $20,000 claimers with an 83 Beyer Speed Figure on the Tapeta in October. The veteran went to the sidelines after two lackluster performances on dirt and turf in January at Fair Grounds.

“He’s probably a turf horse more than anything, but he’s going great right now,” trainer Marty Drexler said.

Samurai Queen will try to outrun her former stablemate O’Kratos and Red Frog for the early lead.

Samurai Queen ran big first time out last year, winning a $7,500 conditioned claimer by nine lengths with an 80 Beyer Speed Figure. She went on to take two of her next four starts, including a 5 1/2-furlong allowance.

The classy 6-year-old O’Kratos was claimed from his last race for $25,000 in November. Like Samurai Queen, he’s been working fast on the Tapeta.

◗ Last year’s leading rider and Sovereign Award winner Rafael Hernandez will be sidelined for three to five weeks after going down in a spill on Super Jade in Saturday’s nightcap, according to agent Tony Esposito.

“We thought he should have a check up, and they found a small fracture of the second vertebrae, I believe,” Esposito said. “It’s very minimal.”

Hernandez worked horses on Sunday morning before winning the second race on Kudura, his first of 10 mounts on the 13-race Sunday card.

Leo Salles was handed a 10-day ban for the incident after the stewards concluded that his mount drifted into the path of Super Jade while they clipped heels entering the stretch. Salles was suspended from June 21-30 and was also suspended from July 1-3 for another incident during opening weekend.