Desert Encounter wins the battle in Canadian International
It turns out Bullards Alley's upset of the Grade 1 Canadian International last year was an anomaly. The race lived up to its name Saturday as Desert Encounter out-dueled Thundering Blue for a win in the $800,000 feature at Woodbine.
Both the top contenders hail from Europe, with the winner stalking the runner-up throughout. Quite a stretch battle ensued as Thundering Blue, a flashy gray, looked best before chased down by Desert Encounter, who was sprinting on the outside.
The final time for 12 furlongs on turf was 2:28.88.
"I followed Thundering Blue all the way around," said jockey Andrea Atzeni. "I thought he was the horse to beat."
It turns out he was, and now eight times in the last nine years the Canadian International has been won by an overseas entrant.
“I had a great trip,” said Fran Berry, who rode Thundering Blue. “It didn’t go quite as quickly as I had envisioned through the first two turns. It was quite steadily run until we turned to the backstretch, then the race got going, but I was always comfortable. I knew I had a good bit of horse and I was prepared to stay in and ride the rail until we got into the stretch. When I picked it up, we got a perfect split right at the right time. That’s when I said, ‘It’s game over, I’m going to win here,’ but I couldn’t believe (Desert Encounter) joined us as quickly as he did and then went by us.
“My horse raced well, but (Desert Encounter) just had a kick that surprised me.”
He was off at 8-1 with Thundering Blue the race's 3-1 favorite. Chad Brown-trained Focus Group ran third with Woodbine-based Tiz a Slam fourth in the field of 11.
“David Simcock has been here on a few occasions,” Desert Encounter's racing manager, Philip Robinson, said. “He loves it. I think he’s had this race in mind for a long time for this horse. He said that this is the race for him. And he set out his program throughout the whole season to (prepare) him to come here. It worked out. He got it dead right.”
Bandua, newly in the care of former Doug O'Neill assistant Jack Sisterson, set the fractions and led off the turn before folding. Desert Encounter had plenty in reserve having rallied from next to last.
"He's a horse that needs to be ridden cold, really. He's a horse you can't put him into the race too early," Atzeni said. "The main thing for him is to just come out of his stall and get him to relax."
Desert Encounter won for the eighth time in 23 career starts. This marked his first score at the Grade or Group 1 level.