WOODBINE, ON – Can’t Buy Love kicked off the Woodbine season’s stakes action Saturday, rallying late to win the $125,000 Star Shoot 6-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies.
Justin Stein worked out the winning trip aboard the Michael Trombetta trainee in her Woodbine debut after she was claimed for $75,000 at Gulfstream Park over the winter by R. Larry Johnson.
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Polyanthus was joined on top by 2/5 favorite Drunk Dial, both coming off successful career debuts in 2020, and they traded blows through fractions of :21.69 and :44.09 with a quick-leaving California Lily stalking the pace and striking in the final furlong.
Meanwhile, Can’t Buy Love settled off the pace in sixth before launching wide into contention on the turn and surging to victory. The final time was 1:09.47.
“They were moving along, the field in front of me. The favorite actually broke bad to the outside and I had a chance to kind of make that horse have to do a little extra early and then she (Can’t Buy Love) just settled into stride and waited for her cue,” said Stein after the race. “I could tell she wanted to win, she was surging at those horses and she wanted to be at the wire first today.”
Sent postward at odds of 12/1 in the field of eight that include four Mark Casse trainees, the supplemented shipper Can’t Buy Love returned $27.30 to win.
Dirty Dangle nosed out California Lily in a place photo less than a length behind the winner, while the season-debuting Sweet Souper Sweet picked up fourth money for the Trombetta stable finishing ahead of early trailer La Libertee.
Polyanthus, Drunk Dial, and Magical Soul completed the order.
Bred in Kentucky by Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, the Twirling Candy-Pay the Kitten filly earned her first win of the season in her fifth outing and improved her lifetime record to 3-1-1 from 9 starts.
