Four-year-old filly Fev Rover has been described as “well-travelled.”
That’s like saying the Maple Leafs are in the midst of a minor Stanley Cup drought.
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One of nine fillies and mares entered in Saturday’s Grade 1 $750,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack, Fev Rover has competed in five different countries on 10 different racecourses in three years of racing. She is Irish-bred, owned and trained by Americans, and raced exclusively out of Canada this year. Her jockey, Patrick Husbands, is from Barbados.
So, if experience amounts to anything, don’t sleep on Fev Rover in the prestigious E.P. Taylor. Fev Rover is 3-4-1 in 13 career starts with earnings of $444,900 — a very nice filly. Not the favourite heading into Saturday’s headline event, but, next to the great Moira, a local favourite certainly worth considering at the betting window.
“She’s a real pretty filly, definitely was a good buy,” Fev Rover’s trainer Mark Casse told the Toronto Sun.
American owner/breeder Tracy Farmer acquired the bay daughter of Gutaifan for $971,704 at last year’s Tattersalls December Mares Sale in England and sent her overseas to Casse. Fev Rover made her North American debut in the July 24 Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T) at Woodbine, falling 1 3/4 lengths shy of the more seasoned Wakanaka after leading for most of the journey. In her next race, on Aug. 21, Fev Rover recorded a gutsy nose victory in the Grade 2 Canadian Stakes over the race favourite Crystal Cliffs.
“She showed a lot of grit in the race. A lot of grit,” said Casse, who won last Saturday’s Breeders’ Stakes with Sir for Sure at Woodbine, the third and final jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown.
Before being bought by Farmer, Fev Rever was one of the leading fillies in Europe, finishing in the money in a number of Graded Stakes and winning the Grade 2 Shadwell Prix du Calvados at Deauville, France as a two-year-old and the Irish Stallion Farms E.B.F. Star Stakes at Sandown Park the same year. As a three-year-old, Fev Rover finished third in the Grade 1 QIPCO One Thousand Guineas Stakes at Newmarket, England.
Still, most eyes on Saturday will be on the hugely-popular filly, Moira, who romped to victory in the 163rd running of the Plate on Aug. 21, a seven-length tour de force that came three weeks after a 10¾-length, head-turning performance in the Woodbine Oaks.
The there-year-old will be chasing history as no filly has ever turned the Plate-Taylor double. Trained by Kevin Attard for X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables LLC and SF Racing LLC, Moira, a bay daughter of Ghostzapper-Devine Aida, will be testing out the turf for the first time.
“Obviously, it’s a big step up and on a surface she’s never run on before, but she’s always responded to every challenge,” said Attard. “We were very happy with her work on the course and after we talked about our options, we made the decision to run here.”
Bred in Ontario by Adena Springs, Moira became the eighth filly to win the Oaks-Plate double, joining such greats as Dance Smartly, Flaming Page, Holy Helena, Inglorious, and Lexie Lou. Moira is undefeated in three starts this year, and is 4-1-0 from five career starts.
Another entry of note in Saturday’s E.P. Taylor is the three-year-old, German-bred filly Mylady. Bred and owned by Gestut Karlshof, the daughter of The Grey Gatsby (IRE)-Minoris (FR) heads into her first start outside of Germany off a third-place finish, just three-quarters of a length behind the winner, highly regarded Toskana Belle, in the Group 1 German Oaks on Aug. 7. Trained by Markus Klug, Mylady (GER) sports a record of 3-1-1 from seven starts.
“I think she is the best horse I have ever sent over here,” said owner Holger Faust, part of German-based connections who have raced starters at Woodbine in the past, including 2019 Grade 1 Pattison Canadian International runner-up Alounak. “The thing about her is that she runs all the classic races in Germany, and unfortunately, we found out in the German Derby that she does not stay the distance, the 12 furlongs.
“In the German Oaks, we tried her out at 2,200 metres, and she came, she was there, but in the last furlong she struggled and was just following the first two horses,” Faust told Woodbine Entertainment. “So, after that, we had the impression that maybe the 10 furlongs suits her best because her three wins have all been in that range. Now, we feel we have found the perfect distance for her.”
Faust, also the manager of Darius Racing, believes the grey will appreciate the long turf stretch at Woodbine.
“She’s a very honest filly and a very easy-to-handle filly because she’s run on many different courses, left-hand, right-hand, and they all suited her,” he said. “She’s run every type of ground.”
Other notables entered in the E.P. Taylor include Chad Brown trainees Lemista (IRE) and Rougir (FR), as well as graded stakes winner Adventuring, and Flirting Bridge (IRE), conditioned by Brendan Walsh. The E.P. Taylor Stakes, a 1¼-mile turf test for fillies & mares, three-year-olds and upward, is only one of a series of major races at Woodbine on Saturday. Also on tap is the Grade 2 $250,000 Nearctic, a six-furlong grass engagement for three-year-olds and upward, the Grade 3 $150,000 Durham Cup, a 1 1/16-mile main track test for three-year-olds and upward, the $150,000 Woodbine Cares Stakes, for two-year-old fillies, and the $150,000 Ontario Racing Stakes, for two-year-olds. Both will be run at 5 furlongs.
SBuffery@postmedia.com
Twitter @Beezersun
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Queen's Plate champion Moira racing in E.P. Taylor Stakes
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Sir for Sure's Breeders' Stakes win all about redemption