Souper Success faced tough foes in last

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Keyrace aficionados should be salivating over Souper Success in Thursday’s featured sixth race at Woodbine, a $40,000 claimer for 3-year-olds and up.

Souper Success took the Woodstock Stakes here in his 2019 season debut, the highlight of his career. The 6-year-old was mired in a slump before beating $20,000 claimers last Nov. 12. He went on to run second as the pacesetter for $40,000 on Dec. 3, while posting an 84 Beyer Speed Figure.

“We had a little issue with him that we straightened out,” trainer Mike DePaulo said. “The day he won for $20,000 he was like a different horse, and then he came back and ran good for $40,000.”

Souper Success ran into two buzzsaws in his season debut in a $20,000 starter handicap. Sent off at 7-2, he mounted a belated wide bid over an insidefavoring track to finish fourth behind Elektronic, who subsequently doubled up in an allowance with a 92 Beyer. Runnerup Fielder came back to beat a solid group of $25,000 claimers.

Souper Success breezed fiveeighths in a bullet 1:00 on the training track last Thursday. In a field without much speed, Gary Boulanger figures to put him on the lead through moderate fractions.

The six-furlong sprint attracted eight others, including Striking Moon, Dotted Line, Timeskip, and Speedy Hans.

Striking Moon is dropping from second-level allowance company for his second start off the sidelines and has a chance to end his slide. He was fourth behind the likes of Clayton, Artie, and Lenny K while earning back-to-back 84 Beyers in his two outings last fall.

Steven Bahen will get a leg up on Striking Moon from Ian Howard, who trains the 5-year-old for a partnership that includes his son Chris, the longtime equestrian operations manager for Evergate Stables.

Dotted Line won a sevenfurlong event for $40,000 claimers with an 83 Beyer on Nov. 11, after which he wound up eighth in the Steady Growth Stakes. The classy 5-year-old has worked encouragingly for his first start in 5 1/2 months, but trainer Sid Attard has low numbers with layoff runners.

Timeskip had a productive 2020 campaign for trainer Renee Kierans, which included consecutive thirds in graded stakes, but he had just a third-place finish to his credit from six starts last year. He raced wide throughout when seventh in his last race in the restricted Steady Growth, from which runnerup Full Extreme exited to beat $40,000 opposition.

Speedy Hans was claimed for $40,000 by trainer Mike Mattine last September, and the stretch-runner failed to fire in three subsequent allowances. The move back down to $40,000 could enable him to round out one of the exotic wagers.

Post time for Thursday’s seven-race card is 1:10 p.m.