Canadiansweetheart Zips into Zadracarta in Winning Form

TORONTO - Sunday’s card also includes the $100,000 Zadracarta Stakes, a five-furlong inner turf sprint for Ontario-bred fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up.

Trained by Renico Lafond for Kris Manohar, Canadiansweetheart will make her second straight stakes appearance after a win in the $125,000 Sweet Briar Too at Woodbine on August 19.

Sent off at 36-1 in the six-furlong turf race, the 3-year-old daughter of Ransom the Moon-Terri’s Pass came storming down the lane to earn her first stakes crown.

Lafond, whose other stakes victory came in the 2012 Ruling Angel with Silent Serenity, praised his filly’s huge performance.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” said Lafond, who claimed Canadiansweetheart this spring for $25,000. “People thought I was crazy to run her in that race, but I know my horses and I knew she was capable of putting on a good performance.”

The race played out just as he had planned.

“Leo (jockey, Salles) rode her just like I asked him to and she enjoyed every bit of it. At the quarter-pole, Leo said she wanted to go so bad, but I had told him to hold on for as long as he could, to not let her go until they got to the top of the stretch. I told him to save it until the last minute. And he told me after the race, ‘Everything you said, she did. You told me to put her outside and I did. When she wanted to go, I told her to wait and then come running, and she did.’ Everything went perfectly.”

Bred in Ontario by James Everatt, Janeane Everatt (who passed away this July), and Arika Everatt-Meeuse, the dark bay is 5-0-1 from seven starts on the year and 8-0-2, accompanied by $221,368 in lifetime earnings, from 17 career races.

“We knew she was good a one from the day we got her,” said Lafond. “I like the way she wanted to win and was always so competitive in each of her races. You could tell she was a good one. When we started to train her, she was even more impressive.”

Does Canadiansweetheart live up to her name around the barn?

“Absolutely not,” said with a laugh. “She’s savage, very spicy. She’s very small, but her attitude, I love it. She’s fierce and she has no fear. She’s not scared of anything or anyone.”

Lafond also handles groom duties with Canadiansweetheart, but Raymond Roach, who he recently hired, will gradually take over that role.

First post on Sunday’s 12-race card is 1:05 p.m. The Wonder Where goes as the ninth race and the Zadracarta is race eight. Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com, bet365, and the Dark Horse Bets app.

$100,000 Zadracarta Sakes

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer  

1 – Canadiansweetheart – Leo Salles – Renico Lafond

2 – Curlin Candy – Rico Walcott – Michael De Paulo

3 – Breathing Fire – Luis Contreras – Sid Attard

4 – Indian Music – Jose Campos – Michael Sims

5 – Sacred Dancer – Sahin Civaci – Don Pleterski

6 – Zana – Justin Stein – Steven Flint

7 – Ol’ Blondie – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Paul Buttigieg

8 – Souper Sunday – Eswan Flores – Steve Owens

9 – Hard Edge – Kazushi Kimura – Stuart Simon

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