Who do you like?
$500,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes (Grade 1)
Post – Horse – Trainer – Jockey
1. Kitten's Roar - Michael Maker - Jose Ortiz
2. Fourstar Crook - Chad Brown - Javier Castellano
3. Quidura - H. Graham Motion - Junior Alvarado
4. Rainha Da Bateria - Chad Brown - Julien Leparoux
5. Sassy Little Lila - Brad Cox - Florent Geroux
6. Nezwaah - Roger Varian - Andrea Atzeni
7. Rain Goddess - Aidan O'Brien - Ryan Moore
8. Blond Me - Andrew Balding - Oisin Murphy
9. Puca - William Mott - Joel Rosario
http://www.woodbineentertainment.com...6-f853f9abec34
TORONTO, October 11 – A star-studded field of nine fillies and mares will contest the $500,000 E.P. Taylor (Grade 1) Stakes, just prior to Sunday’s featured Pattison Canadian International at Woodbine Racetrack.
The richest mare in the field with almost $780,000 banked in purses, five-year-old Blond Me is a two-time Group 2 winner campaigned by trainer Andrew Balding and owner Barbara M. Keller.
The Tamayuz daughter’s latest Group 2 success in the Betfred Middleton Stakes over 1-5/16 miles at York, Great Britian and a second behind the talented Winter in Goodwood’s Group 1 Nassau Stakes over 1-1/4 miles are her top performances this year. A subsequent start, which came in the Group 1 Qatar Prix Vermeille at Chantilly, France is best ignored according to handler Leanne Masterton, who said, “She was hampered badly, and he [jockey Oisin Murphy] pulled her up.”
Following a 2015 victory in the Taylor aboard Curvy, jockey Ryan Moore will sport the colours of Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith once again in the 71st renewal of the race as three-year-old filly Rain Goddess looks to up her game.
A two-time Group 1 runner-up earlier in the season, the Galileo miss was a half-length winner in the Group 3 Snow Fair Stakes at Curragh, Ireland at the end of August and finished third in her next assignment there, the Group 2 Moyglare Jewels Blandford Stakes on September 10.
Rain Goddess is trained by Aidan O’Brien, who also campaigns Idaho, the Pattison Canadian International morning line favourite, for the same connections.
Returning Taylor contender Nezwaah, who was seventh but just two lengths off the 2016 winner, beat Rain Goddess for her first Group 1 stakes win in the Pretty Polly over 1-1/4 miles on the turf at Ireland’s Curragh two starts ago with regular jockey Andrea Atzeni aboard. A winner in half of her 10 career starts, the four-year-old filly by Dubawi is trained by Roger Varien and owned by Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum.
Graham Motion trains two Pattison Canadian International contenders (Erupt, Messi) and will have a shot at the E.P. Taylor too with the highly-regarded four-year-old filly Quidura. Since winning her North American debut last September, Gestut Faehrhof’s homebred daughter of Dubawi and Group 1 stakes winner Quetena has finished no worse than third facing graded stakes company in five subsequent starts.
. Quidara kind of hits the breaks about a quarter in and Rainha inherits the lead.
