Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Canoodling making step up to Grade 1 level in Gamely
ARCADIA, Calif. – After two wins in Grade 3 races this year, Canoodling has earned a start in a Grade 1 race on turf in the $400,000 Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on May 30.
The level of competition and distance of the Gamely will be a test for Canoodling, who won the Megahertz Stakes in January and the Wilshire Stakes on May 1 from the front. Those races were at a mile on turf.
“The distance situation is a question,” trainer Mike Puype said Sunday. “She’ll be the speed of the race.”
Owned by B4 Farms, Canoodling has won 8 of 16 starts and has earned $342,023 racing in California, New Mexico, and Texas. The Grade 3 stakes wins earlier this year are the most prestigious of her four stakes wins. In her only other appearance in a Grade 1 race, Canoodling finished fifth of seven in the La Brea Stakes for 3-yearold fillies at seven furlongs on dirt on Dec. 26.
Canoodling will be part of a small field in the Gamely, led by the six-time stakes winner Going Global. Other expected starters are England’s Rose, who was third in the Wilshire; Going to Vegas, who was second in the Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf on March 26; and Ocean Road, who was sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar last November.
Puype said the ongoing disruption to national equine travel caused by the absence of the Tex Sutton charter airplane service has affected the Gamely, which normally would have shippers from a few prominent stables from other circuits. Tex Sutton’s service was disrupted in May 2021 after its lease expired on a cargo plane.
“This isn’t your typical Grade 1,” Puype said. “Transportation
arrangements have made it hard for people to come in. What do I lose by taking a chance?”
Ocean Road, who won an allowance race at Keeneland in April in her 2022 debut, is being sent to California for the Gamely via Federal Express, trainer Brendan Walsh said.
On Wednesday, Ocean Road will be shipped via van from Walsh’s base in Kentucky to Indianapolis where she will be flown to Southern California.
Brickyard Ride to Triple Bend
Brickyard Ride will have his second start of the year in a graded stakes next Sunday in the Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita in an attempt to extend his winning streak to five races.
Trainer Craig Lewis and owner and breeder Sonny Pais had four race options at Santa Anita on Saturday and Sunday, two of which are stakes for California-breds. Lewis said the $200,000 purse of the Triple Bend at seven furlongs was a deciding factor.
“It’s quite demanding to win five in a row,” Lewis said. “We’re hoping he’s up to that.”
Brickyard Ride, 5, has won 12 of 22 starts and earned $740,977. Earlier this year, Brickyard Ride won three stakes for statebreds – the California Cup Sprint at six furlongs in January, the Tiznow Stakes at a mile in February, and the Sensational Star Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course in March.
Brickyard Ride won the Grade 3 Kona Gold Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs as the 2-5 favorite on April 30, his second graded stakes win of his career.
The Triple Bend is the main race on next Sunday’s card. Other candidates include American Theorem, who finished ninth of 10 in the Kentucky Cup Classic at 1 1/8 miles on the synthetic track at Turfway Park on April 2; Exaulted, unraced since a third in the 2021 Triple Bend; and Shaaz, who will have his stakes debut.
Shaaz, trained by Michael Petersen and trained by Sean McCarthy, is unbeaten in three starts, including an allowance race at seven furlongs on Feb. 5 in which he finished second but was promoted to first after a rival caused interference.
Shaaz won an allowance race at a mile on April 2, leading throughout.
A $1.1 million purchase as a 2-year-old, Shaaz was previously trained by Bob Baffert, who is currently in the midst of a 90-day suspension for a medication violation found in a post-race test taken from Medina Spirit, after he finished first in the Kentucky Derby in 2021.