Pink Lloyd Aiming for Fourth Kennedy Road Victory
By Nick Costa, Trackside with Trackman
The six-furlong Grade 2 event with a
purse of $175,000 is named after Canada’s
champion colt
from 1970-1973.
This
year’s running of the Kennedy Road features the defending champion, Pink Lloyd,
who also won this race in 2017. Canada’s Champion Male Sprinter the last three
consecutive years, Pink Lloyd, has won 10 of 11 starts over the last two seasons,
and is undefeated in 4 starts this year, including winning the Jacques Cartier
for a record fourth time.
The
eight-year old is having another terrific season and a third Kennedy Road
victory would assure him a fourth consecutive Sovereign Award for Champion
sprinter honors.
Another notable participant seeking to nail down the top sprinter award for 2020 is, Silent Poet. The five-year old gelding is Woodbine’s top turf sprinter, having won 4 of 5 grass starts this year, including a pair of Grade 2 stakes.
Post time is slated for 5:28 pm E.S.T.
Let’s have a look at the field from the rail out.
PP–HORSE–Jockey/Trainer – ML
1-SOUPER STONEHENGE–Emma Jayne Wilson/Mark Casse - 12-1 Lightly-raced runner has quietly advanced through preliminary allowance conditions and now finds himself facing a tall task against some tough foes in his first stakes try. He’s won confidently and comfortably each time, so you can’t blame connections for trying to find out if this gelding can take it to a higher level.
2-RIDE A COMET–Patrick Husbands/Mark Casse – 5-2 - Brings a two-race winning streak to the race, including a rallying score over this synthetic surface last out. That was his first start in over two years when he was last seen winning the G2 Del Mar Derby. Obviously, his last was strictly a prep for this, and he sure looked good. Has talent, is a multiple-stakes winner, so don’t underestimate his chances.
3–ESKIMINZIN–Darryl Holland/Carlos Grant – 20-1 - Strung together back-to-back wins on turf to kick-off the second half of the year, but hasn’t repeated that winning form on either grass or synthetic since then. Last time out, he dueled between rivals throughout, then was steadied by the sixteenth pole and tired. Faces a tougher assignment here.
4-SILENT POET–Justin Stein/Nick Gonzalez – 2-1 - Fresh off a gate to wire score in last month’s Neartic Stakes. The multiple graded stakes winner has won 9 of 14 turf races, but also owns a victory on the Woodbine polytrack, plus 3 of 4 in-the-money synthetic finishes. Big chance.
5-DIXIE'S GAMBLE–Luis Contreras/Josie Carroll – 15-1 - Made his only appearance of the year three weeks ago when finishing fifth on the grass in the Overskate Stakes, a race he won last season when held on the main track. He closed out his 2019 campaign in this event, and he did quite well to recover from a slow start to end up fourth.
6-ROARING FORTIES–Kazushi Kimura/Dan Vella – 20-1 - This colt seems to possess a versatile running style. Like to be up close when going a route of ground, but prefers to come from off the pace when sprinting. If he employs that latter style, he’ll need pace help, lots of luck and prayers, as it appears on paper he is outclassed.
7-PINK LLOYD–Rafael Hernandez/Bob Tiller – 7-5 - What can you say about this win machine? He knows where the wire is and how to get it done. The elder statesman of the group has won 26 of 32 lifetime starts. In addition to three-time top sprinter honors, he was twice named Champion Older Male Horse (2017, 2019) and Canadian Horse of the Year (2017). He remains in top form, so his foes will have an arduous task trying to keep him from winning this race for a third time.
ANALYSIS: Championship honors for sprinter of the year is on the line in this Grade 2 contest, and it’s extremely difficult to look past the top two marquee names.
Fan favorite Pink Lloyd is having another terrific season and has racked up all his 26 victories on the Woodbine all-weather surface, while Silent Poet, returns to the Tapeta track since 2018. He did some good running on the synthetic stuff early in his career, but turned into a turf monster since switching over to the sod and has vastly improved.
Looking at the running styles of the entrants, there doesn’t appear to be much pace, and that could be a big advantage to Silent Poet, who does his best running and winning while racing on or near the lead. He can dictate his own terms on the front end like he did in his last two races and that will make it tough to run him down.
However, running down opponents is what Pink Lloyd does best and he’s done it 26 times in his career. He possesses competitiveness, late drive, determination, readiness, stamina, endurance and courage. All the attributes of a champion - which he is - It isn’t easy to keep coming up with superlatives to describe Pink Lloyd, he has completely dominated the sprint stakes at Woodbine for several years.
If one questions the 11-week layoff, let it be known, that off similar rest periods, he demonstrated he can be at the top of his game and win comfortably. From my sentimental side, I’d love to see him win again.
Ride a Comet returned after a two-year layoff, showing no rust and scored an impressive win. Turning back to six furlongs is a concern because he does like to come from well back, so he may be at the mercy of the pace.
Dixie’s Gamble was done in by a slow start and lacked room on the turn in this race last year, but still managed to rally and be part of the superfecta. On speed figures, he isn’t as fast as the other three, but should be able to earn a share.
WAGER: The above four horses in a superfecta box. If the 2-1 morning line on Silent Poet holds or rises, a win wager is warranted. In addition, I’ll add a fist pump should Pink Lloyd do it again.
Good luck, and as always, enjoy the race!!
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