Erupt is the Upset Winner of the Pattison Canadian International

Erupt (IRE) made his first start in North America a winning one when he closed down the stretch to win the $1,000,000 Pattison Canadian International (G1) at Woodbine. Sent off at odds of 12-1, the four-year-old son of Dubawi drew off to win the mile and a half turf contest by a length for the owner, Flaxman Holdings Ltd.

Right out of the gate, World Approval went to the lead as was expected. He was allowed to set dawdling fractions that were initially posted as 27.00, 54.07, and 1:19.84. Those fractions were later corrected to be a bit faster, but were still very slow. Dartmouth, who was representing Her Majesty the Queen of England, raced in second place in the two-path with The Pizza Man in third along the rail.  The eventual winner raced in fourth carefully covered up behind Dartmouth.

Little changed for the first mile or so, but as the field turned for home on the massive Woodbine turf course, World Approval faded out of contention even after the slow pace. At that point Dartmouth inherited the lead and Stephane Pasquier, the rider of Erupt, swung his French based colt, to the outside. Down the stretch it was clear that Erupt would be the winner as he crossed the wire in a final corrected time of 2:30.87.

“I was right behind the leader and when I asked him, he gave a very good turn of foot,” said Pasquier. “I didn’t have to ask him so much. I was a bit worried about my draw number outside, but voila! When you have luck, it is easy to win.”

Idaho (IRE), the 7-5 betting favorite, was ridden by Ryan Moore, who was looking for his fourth straight victory in the International. In the post-parade Idaho was on the muscle with his head bowed, but by the time he reached the gate he was hot and washed out looking. Idaho was never a threat throughout the race and finished in fifth position.

Big prices were common on this signature day of racing at the Toronto area racetrack and Erupt’s victory was no different paying $26.30, 9.50, 5.60 across the board. The $2 exacta with Dartmouth paid $77.60 and the $2 trifecta down to Wake Forest returned $593.70. The Pizza Man completed the superfecta, which paid $2,771.90.

Pasquier added, “I rode him every time. We won a Group 1 in France at three-years-old, but it was a difficult start to this year. Today he came back very easily and I’m happy to have found my horse again.”

Erupt, who had not won a race since July of 2015, won for the first time in his last eight starts. The victory upped his career record to 12: 5-1-1 with earnings of $1,257,485.

Asked about running in the Breeders’ Cup the jockey said, “I think after winning a race like this, we definitely have to go there.”