Amalfi Coast Upsets Sweet Briar Too

TORONTO, ON – Terra Racing Stable homebred Amalfi Coast significantly outran her 10/1 odds to pull off a sharp upset in Friday’s $100,000 Sweet Briar Too Stakes at Woodbine.

Amalfi Coast raced into stride as she exited post 7 under Justin Stein and settled into a mid-pack position along the rail under her own power.

O’Keeffe, Summer Sunday, and Victory Kingdom raced three-wide up front, posting opening fractions of :22.04 and :44.45 while Stein kept Amalfi Coast within close range.

A sizeable gap opened near the top of the stretch and Amalfi Coast surged through instantly, seizing the lead and running way from her rivals in a flash.

Confidently hand-ridden through the final furlong, the Kevin Attard trainee crossed 4 1/2 lengths clear while completing the 6 1/2-furlong fast synthetic in 1:15.35.

“There was a ton of speed in the race and I just got to sit off of them and wait for my chance to find an opening and pull the trigger,” Attard said.

Souper Escape outkicked the 8/5 favorite Painting for second by a 1/2-length.

Victory Kingdom, Magic Spell, O’Keeffe, and Summer Sunday completed the order of finish.

Fair Maiden and Nantucket Red were scratched.

Amalfi Coast’s win was her first of the year after failing to finish better than third in her 4 prior 2020 outings. The 4-year-old Ontario-bred Tapizar filly, who won 3 straight at the end of 2019 including the Bessarabian Stakes (G2), improved her overall record to 13-5-2-2 with $355,503 earned.

“Her last race was a little disappointing, but if you look back to her form sprinting on the synthetic, she’s been pretty consistent and ran against the best fillies around,” Attard said. “Rightfully so, she kind of deserved to be 10/1 today, but she showed that she’s a serious contender.”

Amalfi Coast returned $22.20 to win, $8.80 to place, and $4.20 to show. Souper Escape brought back $4.70 to place and $2.70 to show, while Painting paid $2.30 to show.