By Alan Carasso
Lethal in almost any spot, but especially on the turf south of the border, trainer Chad Brown ships in two of the three top choices for Saturday’s GII Canadian S. as he looks for his first winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf qualifier.
Dacita (Chi) (Scat Daddy) has won 60% of her 15 career trips postward, including a trio of Group 1 scores in her home country and a barnstorming defeat of Tepin (Bernstein) in her stateside debut in the 2015 GII Ballston Spa S. The chestnut snapped a three-length skid with a 3/4-length defeat of stablemate and subsequent GI Beverly D. S. heroine Sea Calisi (Fr) (Youmzain {Ire}) in the GII New York S. June 10 an earned a breakthrough North American top-level tally last time in Saratoga’s Diana S. July 23. The 2-1 morning-line selection is joined in the gate by Rainha Da Bateria (Broken Vow), who put a scare into the field in the Diana at 28-1, rallying stoutly to miss by a head.
Though she owns but two career wins from 21 starts, Steip Amach (Ire) (Vocalised) is the 5-2 morning-line second favorite. The 14-1 upsetter of this year’s G3 Amethyst S. for trainer David Smaga, the 4-year-old exits third placings in the G1 Prix Rothschild July 31 and again in the G1 Darley Prix Jean Romanet, both at Deauville.
Woodbine-based runners have annexed the last two runnings of the Canadian S., including Ontario-bred Strut the Course (Strut the Stage). The 6-year-old is a Tapeta allowance winner in three tries this term and exits a runner-up effort to former Canadian Horse of the Year Lexie Lou (Sligo Bay {Ire}) in the GII Dancer Smartly S. over track and distance July 3.
