TORONTO, ON – Undefeated 3-year-old filly Lorena led all the way to win the $125,000 Fury Stakes and keep her perfect record intact for trainer and co-owner Stu Simon on Saturday at Woodbine.
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Leading the field of Canadian-bred fillies through a 1/4 in :23.57 and 1/2-mile :46.82, Lorena turned back her late challengers to win the 7-furlong sprint in 1:23.94 in rein to the hot-handed Gary Boulanger.
Through the turn, Lorena rebuffed Owen’s Tour Guide, who also entered the Fury with a 2-for-2 record, and then held the late-rallying Astrological at bay down the stretch to defeat that foe by 3/4 of a length. Less than a length behind, Curlin’s Catch completed a 2-3 finish for trainer Mark Casse.
Il Malocchio finished 4 lengths back in fourth with Bodacious Miss, Owen’s Tour Guide, and El Bayern rounding out the field.
“I thought that she broke well, and she seemed to make the lead rather easily,” said Simon, who co-owns the Souper Speedy-Negotiable filly with Brent & Russell McLellan and former jockey Gerry Olguin. “She was setting sensible fractions and looked comfortable, so I wasn’t worried about where she was at.”
Simon said he is still mulling over whether the Ontario-bred filly will head to the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks presented by Budweiser, scheduled for Sunday, August. 1 at Woodbine.
“I hate to put too much on a young horse’s plate, so we’ll take it under careful consideration,” he said.
“She’s an awfully good filly,” he added. “She ranks right up there with all of them. I think we’ve been fortunate to get some good young horses and it’s worked out well.”
Lorena paid $3.90 to win as the 4/5 favourite.
It was a banner day for Boulanger, who had a grand slam on the 11-race program.
“It’s everything that we work for and that we want,” said the veteran reinsman, who picked up the mount on Lorena when making his comeback from injury this season. “Everybody wants to do well, especially coming back from injuries, but sometimes it’s harder to get back into that light. I’ve been fortunate to be involved with some great people that have given me the opportunities, like Stu and everybody else, and it’s a lot of fun just getting back.”
