Gas Me Up, Simcoe Notch First Stakes Wins at Woodbine

Fourth in his only prior stakes try, Gas Me Up would not be denied in his second attempt, rallying to score in the $173,454 King Edward Stakes (G2T) Aug. 16 at Woodbine. A lot had changed for 5-year-old Gas Me Up since his stakes debut in the Zuma Beach Stakes (G3T) as a juvenile at Santa Anita Park. The $140,000 yearling had a 20-month layoff from ages 2 to 4, was transferred to trainer Kevin Attard, and was gelded after his sole start of 2024. All of these considerable changes, however, led the Ontario-bred into the King Edward winner's circle on King's Plate day. Saturday marked a banner day for Attard, who had captured the $725,444 King's Plate Stakes one race earlier with Mansetti. He also landed the Soaring Free Stakes with Two Out Hero one race later in the card. Stretching back out to one mile after his six-furlong allowance win July 20, Gas Me Up tracked well off the pace under leading United States jockey Flavien Prat. War Strategy and Piper's Factor led the charge through early splits of :23.56 and :45.91. Second to last into the final turn, Prat angled the gelding six wide into the lane and he mowed down his rivals, devouring every inch of the long Woodbine stretch. Forging to the lead inside the final furlong, he struck the wire three-quarters of a length ahead of Wyoming Bill. Longshot Twin City edged race favorite Cruden Bay for third. Owned by Exline-Border Racing, Michael Jawl, Aaron Kennedy, and Tom Zwiesler, Gas Me Up ($7.40) raced the mile on a firm turf course in 1:33.85. Sam-Son Farm-bred Gas Me Up, a son of Hard Spun, is the second stakes winner out of the Smart Strike mare Chic Thrill. The gelding's full brother, Give It a Whirl, captured the 2024 Bald Eagle Derby at Laurel Park. Simcoe Airs Rivals in Bold Venture Win Chiefswood Stables' Simcoe took the lead and never looked back en route to a dominating 5 3/4-length victory in the $122,874 Bold Venture Stakes (G3). Runner-up to Old Chestnut in the Jacques Cartier Stakes (G3) two starts back when losing the early lead, jockey Rafael Hernandez and Simcoe were firmly intent on maintaining their advantage in Saturday's race, forcing the issue through an opening quarter in :22.40. Once comfortably in front, Simcoe widened his margin with every pole, clipping through a half-mile in :45.01. Finding a fresh burst of speed at the top of the stretch, his rivals gave chase but couldn't catch Simcoe, who hit the wire in a sharp final time of 1:15.42 for 6 1/2 furlongs over the synthetic main track. A 5-year-old son of Uncle Mo, Simcoe returned $13.10 for a $2 win ticket in his first stakes triumph. Victory Achieved, making his graded stakes debut for trainer Mark Casse, was second by 1 1/4 lengths over I'm A Gambler (IRE) in third. Favored Playmea Tune was fourth. Trained by Katerina Vassilieva, Simcoe was bred in Ontario by Chiefswood. The gelding is one of six winners produced out of the multiple graded stakes-winning Pulpit mare Aurora Lights.