Jockey Christophe Soumillon guides the filly Sarah Lynx to victory in the $1.5 million dollar Pattison Canadian International at Woodbine Racetrack over the E.P.Taylor turf course. Credit: MICHAEL BURNS
It seems to be an international trend.
Once again, a filly showed her heels to the males as tiny Sarah Lynx – the only filly in the race – slipped over the yielding turf course and easily won the $1.5-million Canadian International Stakes at Woodbine.
She is the first female to win the race since Infamy in 1988.
Sarah Lynx wasn't alone in major weekend races at Woodbine. Hard Not to Like, a little grey filly, won the $250,000 Cup and Saucer Stakes at Woodbine, too, winning by almost five lengths, with ease.
Sarah Lynx, an Irish-bred filly that races in Europe, won by four lengths at odds of 22 to 1, dusting off last year's winner, Joshua Tree and favoured Treasure Beach, who won the Irish Derby earlier this year.
Sarah Lynx, a quixotic and feisty filly, who walked backward and did capers during the post parade, surprised even her jockey, Christophe Soumillon, with the ease of her win.
"I know she is a small filly, but she's very strong in the head, like a colt," Soumillon said. "She's really strong and you can see before the race she is not easy to handle, and I had to ride her quite hard to get her to go to the front."
But when she did gain the front in the homestretch, Soumillion asked for more, she went into another gear.
Assistant trainer Kate Bradley, said the win was "phenomenal," but at this stage, she does not know where she's going next. She has a ticket to return to Europe on Tuesday, but with Sarah Lynx's win, she has just earned an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Turf Classic at Louisville, Kentucky in another two weeks.
Bradley, trainer John Hammond (who has trained two winners of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in France), and Soumillon will have a group meeting to decide whether she tries the Breeders' Cup or whether she might be better served by going to lucrative races in Hong Kong and Japan later in the month.
"She is fresh," Soumillon said.
The victory was Soumillon's second million-dollar race in two days. He also won the $2-million Champion Stakes at Ascot in England on Saturday with Cirrus des Aigles, but then lost the prize money when stewards fined him about $80,000 for whipping the horse six times in the final furlong under new stringent racing rules in England. In new rules established only on Oct. 10, jockeys are allowed to whip a horse only five times in the final furlong.
Afterwards, Soumillon said: I am very, very embarrassed for British racing, The people and the fans have been let down. ... It's different in this country to everywhere else."
Soumillon said he hadn't ridden in Britain for a month. Jockeys need international guidelines, like they have in other sports, he said.
Jockeys in England threatened to go on strike because of the new rules. One big-name jockey quit.
Soumillon's share of the winning purse at Woodbine is $90,000.
He said at Woodbine that he hopes the British Racing Commission will review the suspension (he also received five days, which is not applied during stakes races), and the fine for "such a small mistake,"
"I would probably be in the world record book to have the biggest fine every in sports…but I hope the judge will see in the future that it is probably something too hard."
Soumillon says he has a soft spot for Canada. He's ridden in Canada only three times, and won two of them. The last time he was here, a year ago, he took a side trip to small towns in Quebec and became enamoured with the people.
"I really enjoy the place," he said. "It's some kind of good feelings. I was very happy to win this today.