Big stakes victory for Husbands

TORONTO, Canada (CMC):

Barbadian jockey Patrick Husbands produced a brilliant ride aboard 5-1 bet Marketing Mix to claim Sunday's CAN$250,000 Wonder Where Stakes, the third jewel in the prestigious Triple Tiara series at Woodbine.

The six-time jockeys' champion bided his time in the early stages of the 1-1/4 mile trip before snatching the lead along the rails in the stretch and powering the three-year-old filly to finish 4-3/4 lengths clear, in a time of two minutes, 1.21 seconds.

"I breezed her going into the Oaks and she was a very aggressive filly. Today, the word from the trainer (Tom Proctor) was to get her to relax and put her behind horses," said Husbands, who also won the $150,000 Duchess Stakes on Saturday.

"We drew the outside (post nine) and she was relaxed the whole way. She was never aggressive. Down the lane, she gave me everything she could have given me."

Favourite

Marketing Mix was away slowly but made up good ground along the backstretch, as Hoi An cruised through the quarter-mile in 25.21 seconds before covering the half-mile in 48.80.

Husbands continued to close the filly well along the inside as the race reached the top of the stretch, with favourite Spooky Kitten already set down for the drive by Edgar Prado.

In the stretch, Husbands found generous racing room and exploited it, with the filly accelerating beautifully through the last 1/16th of a mile to win with comfort ahead of Spooky Kitten.

The victory for Marketing Mix was her first success in the Triple Tiara after she finished third in June's Woodbine Oaks and fourth in the Bison City Stakes early last month.