Woodbine Experience Lifts Cy Fair in Breeders' Cup

Before Cy Fair delivered a winning run in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T) Oct. 31 at Del Mar, the daughter of Not This Time turned heads with a visually impressive victory at Woodbine that trainer George Weaver believes provided some valuable racing experience. After racing near the lead in her first two races, Cy Fair rated last of six in the Oct. 5 Algonquin Stakes for 2-year-olds going 5 furlongs on the inner turf at Woodbine. Finding herself nearly 5 lengths off the lead 3 furlongs into the race under jockey Sahin Civaci, after initially saving ground about halfway into the turn, Cy Fair launched a sustained outside rally that would see her surge past five rivals before drawing off to a 3 1/4-length win. Co-owner Reagan Swinbank confessed that he had given up any hope of victory early in the race while watching from home. "I was watching with my 12-year-old son, Harvey, in our living room. The horse backs up, I get up and leave and say some bad words I think," Swinbank said. "I walked to my room, which is not far, and my son Harvey goes, 'She's coming, dad. She's coming!' To win by (3 1/4) lengths; it was a fascinating race." Besides providing her first stakes win and signaling a special talent—a 2-year-old who could drop to last in a turf sprint stakes and still make a sustained winning run—Weaver noted that the Algonquin also provided important experience in her third start. "It was probably good for her education-wise because in her second race (the Bolton Landing Stakes) she got sandwiched between two horses down the backside going into the turn. Johnny (Velazquez), who also had ridden her in her maiden win, said she just got real tense. She got unsettled in that spot," Weaver said. "To the best of my knowledge, that's the only reason we can figure out why she didn't win that day. "For her to realize, 'Hey, I can just chill, go when I want to go,' I think that helped her. She's a young horse. She's learning. But she's figured out a lot recently." While Cy Fair raced closer to the lead in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, those lessons proved valuable as she initially was in between two other horses pursuing early clear leader Schwarzenegger. Cy Fair emerged from that trio to engage Schwarzenegger in the turn before taking command in midstretch on her way to a three-quarter-length victory. The win gave Weaver his first Breeders' Cup victory.