Northern Dancer Right Spot for Wigmore Hall

California shipper Bourbon Bay and European invader Wigmore Hall are among eight older horses entered in a wide-open edition of the $500,000 Northern Dancer Turf presented by VTech (Can-IT) Sept. 18 at Woodbine.

The 1 1/2-mile race is the second of three graded races on a Woodbine card that is headlined by the $1 million Ricoh Woodbine Mile (Can-IT). Post time is scheduled for 4:34 p.m. EDT.

None of the eight entered in the Northern Dancer won in their last start, but David and Jill Heerensperger’s Bourbon Bay was beaten only a head in the Aug. 28 Del Mar Handicap (gr. IIT) as the 7-10 favorite. The Neil Drysdale trainee won the Cougar II Handicap (gr. III) on Polytrack in his previous start to notch his fifth lifetime graded stakes win. The 5-year-old gelded son of Sligo Bay also won the San Marcos (gr. IIT) earlier this season at Santa Anita.

He has a pair of career starts at Woodbine, including a third-place finish in an allowance contest. Joe Talamo will have the mount once again on Bourbon Bay, who is the 123-pound high weight. Drysdale won this race in 2009 with Marsh Side.