Pink Lloyd, Da Silva Team Up For One Last Victory In Kennedy Road

TORONTO, ON – The dynamic duo of Entourage Stable’s Pink Lloyd and jockey Eurico Da Silva teamed up for one last victorious ride and found the winner’s circle for the 18th time together in Saturday’s $175,000 Kennedy Road Stakes (G2) at Woodbine.

Breaking from post 6 as the 3/5 favorite under Da Silva (who will retire at the end of the current meet), Pink Lloyd steadied slightly and took back to last down the backstretch. Richiesinthehouse raced a head inside of O’Kratos early on the front end while posting opening fractions of :22.61 and :45.21.

Tipped out to commence a rally as he passed the 5/16 pole, Pink Lloyd responded sharply when asked and began circling the field with gusto. Running five-wide as he straightened for home, the bettors’ choice usurped new leader Extravagant Kid easily and began inching clear under a hand ride.

Da Silva stood in the saddle and cheered as he and Pink Lloyd crossed the wire for the final time. The Robert Tiller-trained winner finished 1 1/4 lengths the best in a final time of 1:08.72 for the 6-furlong sprint over the fast synthetic surface.

“I want to thank this horse for all the good feelings he gave me,” Da Silva said. “Yesterday was not easy for me and today was a tough time because I know it was my last time riding him. All I can say is, I’ve never had so much great feelings from a horse like I did with him. And you see today, there was so much (traffic) in front of me, I just took him back and I said, ‘Boy, we need to go outside.’ I went probably six-wide in the turn. You know, there’s only one horse that can do it; his name is Pink Lloyd.”

Though unable to hold off the winner in the stretch, Extravagant Kid finished 1 1/4 lengths ahead in second. Malibu Secret won the three-way photo for third by a nose over Dixie’s Gamble, with Reconfigure just a neck behind them in fifth.

Richiesinthehouse, Eskiminzin, and O’Kratos completed the order of finish. Boreal Spirit was scratched.

Pink Lloyd’s win, his second in the Kennedy Road following similar success in 2017, improved his career record to 28-22-1-1 with $1,326,455 earned. The 7-year-old gelded son of Old Forester was declared a non-starter last time out in the Bold Venture Stakes (G3) after bolting early from the gate and waited two months before returning to the races.

“This all boils down to teamwork,” Tiller said. “There’ll never be another one like this horse. My owners have been terrific. They were willing to wait. I felt after his last race he needed a rest; he got it and we had a couple interruptions in between – they were very hard on my grey hair and made it even greyer – but, you know what, this is 19 stakes out of 22 wins, so that’s pretty amazing, and it seems like it ain’t over yet. We’re really blessed to have him.”

Pink Lloyd returned $3.50 to win, $2.70 to place, and $2.10 to show. Extravagant Kid brought back $3.60 to place and $3.10 to show, while Malibu Secret paid $6.10 to show.