Lightly raced but full of heart, Touch'n Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) would not let the filly go in the final yards and bravely got by Elysian Fields (Hard Spun) to prevail by the slimmest of margins, determined by a photo.
Last seen finishing fifth in the Kings Plate S. won by familiar face Paramount Prince (Society's Chairman)–where the runner-up here again played bridesmaid–and gone since then, Touch'n Ride was content to track from fifth in a packed field of 14 as the speed went on its way. Cruising along in the second flight among cover down the backstretch, Kazushi Kimura was forced to wait for room behind a three-strong wall of leaders at the half-mile, but found his seam entering the top of the stretch. Locking horns with Elysian Fields as she bravely fought off his challenge, and the pair drifting far into the course midway home, it took the length of the stretch and a photo to separate them, but succeed he did, beating her by a nose. Paramount Prince faded to next to last while Prince of Wales S. runner-up Kaukokaipuu (Mr Speaker) finished seventh. A rider's claim of foul from Sahin Civac, aboard Elysian Fields, afterwards was disallowed by the stewards.
“It feels amazing,” said Kimura, who notched his first win in the series. “I've always tried to win the Triple Crown and I've finally made it. Last week, I got on him in the morning and he was a very nice horse on the turf. I was quite comfortable staying behind Paramount Prince, the King's Plate winner [during the race].”
Added conditioner Layne Giliforte: “It's nerve-racking when you watch a horse get herded out like that…I had a great feeling going into the race and for him to come through the way he did and Kazushi to give him the ride that he did, it's fantastic.”
With his victory here, Touch'n Ride continuous something of a familial tradition, joining elder brother Neepawa (Scat Daddy) as a winner of the Breeders' S. He's also a half-brother to SP Niigon's Spin (Hard Spun) as well as a 2023 half-sister by American Triple Crown hero, Justify. Niigon's Touch went to Twirling Candy for 2024.
🏆#4 TOUCH'N RIDE ($10.20) battled with Elysian Field in the final furlong, but narrowly bested that foe to win the $400,000 Breeders' Stakes at @WoodbineTB!
Touch'n Ride was piloted by @kazushi0096 for trainer Layne Giliforte and Chiefswood Stables Limited. pic.twitter.com/1lXfDk4Zxl
— TVG (@TVG) October 1, 2023
Sunday, Woodbine Racetrack
BREEDERS' S., C$403,000, Woodbine, 10-1, (C), 3yo, 1 1/2mT, 2:27.56, fm.
1–TOUCH'N RIDE, 126, g, 3, by Candy Ride (Arg)
1st Dam: Niigon's Touch (SW, $204,615), by Niigon
2nd Dam: Laser Touch, by Touch Gold
3rd Dam: Laser Hawk, by Silver Hawk
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O/B-Chiefswood Stables Limited (ON); T-Layne S. Giliforte; J-Kazushi Kimura. C$240,000. Lifetime Record: 4-2-0-1, $238,513. *1/2 to Neepawa (Scat Daddy), SW, $307,222.
2–Elysian Field, 123, f, 3, Hard Spun–Elysian, by Smart Strike. ($50,000 Ylg '21 FTKOCT; $70,000 2yo '22 OBSOPN). O-Team Valor International and Gary Barber; B-Anderson Farms Ont. Inc. (ON); T-Mark E. Casse. C$80,000.
3–Twowaycrossing, 126, g, 3, English Channel–Double Guns Girl, by Langfuhr. 1ST BLACK TYPE. O/B/T-Roger L. Attfield (ON). C$40,000.
Margins: NO, 4, 3/4. Odds: 4.10, 3.55, 51.65.
Also Ran: Philip My Dear, Tito's Calling, Wickenheiser, Kaukokaipuu, British Artillery, Tiburon, Sammy Stone, Simcoe, Hemlo Gold, Paramount Prince, Midnight in Malibu. Scratched: Enjoythesilent, Greystone, Legal Catch, Over and Ollie.
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