Summer Stakes: Ahead by a New Century (GB)

TORONTO, September 14, 2024 – New Century (GB) and Al Qudra (IRE), both invading from England, came from well back early to end clear of their eight rivals as the 1-2 finishers in Saturday’s bet365 Summer Stakes at Woodbine.

The Summer, a Grade 1 one-mile turf race, offered a purse of $500,000 and an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, a one-mile race which will be run at Del Mar on November 1.

Groot, a 45-1 chance, had set the early pace with Winterberry in hot pursuit through a quarter in :22.60 and a half in :45.54 on the firm going.

Dream On had come on to take charge through three-quarters in 1:09.27. Al Qudra, ninth early, had moved into sixth place with New Century just over a half-length back in eighth.

“I was at the back, he was a bit keen the inside,” said Oisin Murphy, who rode New Century for Qatar Racing LLC.

The pair were both in high gear once the field settled into the stretch and were finishing strongly when they traded bumps in the late going.

“The inside horse (Dream On) ducked out, and William (Al Qudra’s rider, William Buick) and I tried to have one smooth challenge down the centre of the track,” said Murphy.

New Century, who is trained by Andrew Balding and travelled here with assistant trainer Leanne White, returned $8.80 as the second choice while prevailing by 1 ¼ lengths over his even-money rival.

Dream On held for third, three-quarters of a length behind the runner-up, with First Resort, Cairo Caper, Winterberry, Forty N Five, Special Session, Groot, and Coolcollected completing the order of finish.

There were 17 horses entered for the Summer but five Mark Casse trainees – Ready to Battle, Vixen, Will Reign, Thread, and Nitrogen – were cross-entered in the Summer and competed in that filly race earlier on the card. Latin Fever (IRE), also conditioned by Casse, was entered but scratched from both races while Dewolf, trained by Kevin Attard, opted to await Sunday’s restricted Bull Page.

“The Qatar racing team with Andrew found this race, and obviously it made sense timing-wise for the Breeders’ Cup,” said Murphy. “Now he’s going to have to be sharper at Del Mar, but he has the class, and hopefully he can step up again.”

“You know, he’s done everything right since he’s been here,” added White. “He traveled over on the plane well. He’s eaten everything and he’s drank really well.

“His training has been good, a little bit greener on the track the first day, but then, you know, he wasn’t bothered by horses galloping past him. I took him on the turf on Thursday, and just let him stretch from the two-pole, and he gave me a lovely feel.”

New Century was making his first start in graded stakes company after winning the listed Stonehenge, a Salisbury stakes which was run over one mile of turf on August 14. The colt by Kameko out of the Street Cry mare, Potent Embrace, had won his maiden over seven furlongs on the grass at Doncaster before ending second behind Al Qudra in the listed Pat Eddery in his first encounter with Al Qudra.

“He’s a small horse, and he’s fairly light on his feet,” said White. “He sort of skips over the ground.”

The Balding stable had not been seen here since 2019, when Pivoine finished fourth in the Canadian International, but had enjoyed success in Woodbine’s 2017 E.P. Taylor Stakes with Blond Me (ridden by Murphy) and won the Canadian International in 2003 with Phoenix Reach.

Bill Tallon, for Woodbine Communications