Amalfi Coast makes her turf stakes debut a winning one in Ontario Damsel

TORONTO, September 22, 2019 – Terra Racing Stable’s Amalfi Coast took an immediate liking to Woodbine’s E.P. Taylor Turf Course, making her grass debut a winning one in the $125,000 Ontario Damsel Stakes for Ontario-bred three-year-old fillies on Sunday afternoon.

The Kevin Attard trainee settled off the pace, second-to-last in the one-mile turf test, and took the inside route to victory for jockey Eurico Rosa Da Silva. As the stalkers fanned out turning for home, Amalfi Coast progressed along the rail and came through in the two-path outside of longshot leader Miss Ariel, who had set fractions of :24.25, :48.03 and 1:10.98. She struck the front with a furlong to go and won by 2-1/2 lengths in 1:34.67. Intanga Rose rallied gamely behind the winner, closing from the back of the seven-horse field to snag the runner-up honours three-quarters of a length in front of Miss Ariel.

“She was in a good spot. She was running very relaxed, but I was worried a little bit because I was behind a wall of horses there,” said Da Silva. “We chose to take the short trip, go inside, and everything worked out for us.

“She loved the turf. She ran a very, very good race. Another day I trained her and she was unbelievable, she trained so nice. She came to this race in great shape.”

Unraced a two-year-old, the chestnut daughter of Tapizar out of Include Katherine entered her first stakes engagement with a record reading 1-2-1 from five starts this year. She recorded her first win on August 2 going seven furlongs over the Tapeta.

“We had a few setbacks with her as a juvenile but got to the races this year and she was impressive from the first start,” said Attard. “She’s really kind of put things together and we’re hoping for a good future from her next year as well.”

With the move to the turf, Amalfi Coast has proven her versatility while adding the status of stakes winner to her resume.

“We were looking to get her on the turf. Her family on the dam side, we’ve had success with them on the turf. A half-sister Why Katherine, who was an accomplished turf runner, kind of always found the E.P. Taylor stretch a little long for her liking, but this filly here kind of has a different running style than she does and it suited her well today.

“It’s nice to have these options with her and she’s very versatile. Obviously, with this time of year coming around, the turf is going to be limited, so we’ll see what comes up next and take it from there.”

Amalfi Coast, let go at odds of 9-1, returned $21.10, $8.10 and $4.80. She combined with 5-2 second choice Intanga Rose ($4.50, $3.60) for an exacta that paid $72.90. Miss Ariel ($8.50) and her stablemate Weed Be Happy completed the $1 trifecta and superfecta worth $361.50 and $2,600.50, respectively.

Western Curl, 7-5 favourite Bold Script and Dream On Jilly completed the order of finish.

Live Thoroughbred racing resumes at Woodbine on Wednesday evening, with post time set for 6:45 p.m.