Cruden Bay Takes Thrilling Connaught Cup

Michael Lay's Cruden Bay returned July 20 from an 11-month layoff to secure a second consecutive victory in the $175,000 Connaught Cup (G2T) at Woodbine. Kehoe Beach, the lone filly in the race, set the pace early on with Cruden Bay at the back of the pack under Fraser Aebly tracking splits of :23.45, :46.05, and 1:09.47 before making his move near the top of the stretch. The Big Screen gelding showed a tremendous turn of foot while passing rivals six-wide down the lane, hitting the wire 1 1/2 lengths in front while covering the seven-furlong distance in 1:21.98 over a course rated good. Northern Invader was second with Piper's Factor third. "When we hit the head of the lane, I knew I started to smooch at him a little bit, and he started to pick up the bridle, and it was just whether we found our spot to go," said Aebly. "And he sure gave me everything he had when he found it." The Donald MacRae-trained 7-year-old gelding had not raced since last year's King Edwards Stakes (G2T) at Woodbine, where he finished fifth. Sunday's victory marked his eighth win from 24 career starts as he improved his bankroll to $528,706. "Around the three-eighths pole, I did say to Michael (Lay), I said, 'We got a lot of horse,'" said MacRae. "And when you know this horse, you know how hard he tries—it's just amazing. "I mean, we're a small team, but we bust our butts every day, and I'm so proud of everyone right now." Sent off at odds of 9-1, Cruden Bay paid $20.20 to win. He was bred in Canada by Spring Farm and purchased by Lay for $33,822 at the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society's 2019 Canadian-bred Yearling Sale. Ready For Shirl Gets Up Late to Win Canadian Stakes Charles Fipke's homebred Ready for Shirl earned her first graded stakes victory Sunday when she took the $200,000 Canadian Stakes (G2T). The daughter of More Than Ready narrowly defeated multiple South African group 1-winner Gimme a Nother (SAF) by a head. Gimme a Nother set slow fractions of :24.60, :49.37, 1:14.24, and 1:37.24 before relinquishing the lead to Ready for Shirl in the late stages. Trained by Roger Attfield, Ready for Shirl finished the 1 1/8 mile race in 1:49.57 under Emma-Jayne Wilson. Venencia (FR) rallied late to miss second by a neck with Scarlet Poppy fourth. "She's been training exceptional," Wilson said of Ready for Shirl. "Her last breeze last week on the training track turf was quite stellar, both physically and mentally. And so, she kind of telegraphed to us that she was going to showcase a big day today, and she showed up exactly as we expected. "It's absolutely fun," continued Wilson, who has made a strong return to the saddle in 2025 after suffering serious racing-related injuries last year. ​"It's fun to be back in the tack, it's fun to be back in the winner's circle. It's just fun to be here." Ready for Shirl came into the race off a game second in the Nassau Stakes (G2) June 28. “I remember saying her last work, it was as good as she’s ever worked for me,” dual Hall of Famer Attfield said about the 4-year-old filly. “She’s carrying more weight than she’s ever carried before and, since her last race, she’s put weight on. I’ve always had problems keeping weight on this filly, so she was indicating that she’s rounding into a really nice filly now.” Ready for Shirl paid $14.50 to win and boosted her career mark to four wins from 12 starts with earnings of $279,987.