Ageless Makes Grade in Royal North
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Photo:
WEG/Michael Burns
Ageless held off the rallying Sky Treasure, while equaling the course record, to capture Sunday's Grade 3 $153,700 Royal North Stakes, at Woodbine.
Trained by Arnaud Delacour for Roy and Gretchen Jackson's Lael
Stables, the five-year-old daughter of Successful Appeal captured her
third race in succession, while taking her first graded score with a
determined stretch run in the six furlong sprint over
the E.P. Taylor Turf Course.
Ageless, who arrived at the Royal North from turf sprint wins in
the Giant's Causeway Stakes at Keeneland and The Very One Stakes at
Pimlico, was making her first start in Canada with regular pilot Luis
Garcia along for the ride.
Goldstryke Glory set swift splits of :21.73 and :43.66 in the Royal
North with Youcan'tcatchme and Silent Treat tracking her early foot.
Ageless settled into fourth position for Garcia before surging beyond Goldstryke Glory with a sixteenth to run keeping plenty in reserve to stay off Sky Treasure for a half-length win.
Ageless covered six furlongs in 1:07.39, equaling the mark of Starticus set on July 5, 2008.
Garcia was pleased with the trip he engineered for the bay.
"She loved this course, it's very flat like Laurel," said Garcia of
the mare’s home course. "If you know how to wait with her, that stretch
run is perfect for her. If I went earlier it would have been too long,
so I tried to wait for as long as I could
before I asked her to punch."
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