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Boogaloo seeks Conquest at Fort Erie

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Conquest Boogaloo deserves another chance.

Anyone who looked closely at his effort in the Queen's Plate knows he's the hard-luck horse of the race. Any kind of clean trip and he would have won, or at least have been much closer.

So with that, he has a legitimate shot on Tuesday in the $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie.

His Plate could not have started poorer. Once the gates opened he was squeezed out on one side by Breaking Lucky, who drifted inward and Danish Dynaformer, who was bumped outward by the lead-seeking Sweet Grass Creek.

The rest of his trip was not that bad, though. With a few horses dropping out of contention around the turn, he had to find the right paths to get himself into gear. In the stretch, he was moving faster than winner Shaman Ghost, who was closer at all points of the race and had a cleaner trip.

For the second leg of the triple crown, trainer Mark Casse is bringing jockey Shaun Bridgmohan up from his New York base.

"Alan (Garcia) rode him well (in the Queen's Plate) and I'm not blaming him at all," Casse told Woodbine Entertainment. "Shaun missed out with Conquest Curlinate (who was hampered during a workout days before the Plate and was injured) and we thought we'd give this horse a different rider. Shaun rides a lot for us so it works out well."

He will once again face Breaking Lucky, who outran his odds to finish fifth in the race. The son of Lookin At Lucky worked a mile in a minute flat last Wednesday in preparation.

Shaman Ghost and Danish Dynaformer will be back to contest the race as will triple crown newcomers Scorch, Field of Courage, and Cut to the Chase.

Post time for the race will be 7:39 p.m. on Tuesday, the eighth of nine races on the Fort Erie card that will begin at 4 p.m.

SETTING THE PACE

Conquest Pacemaker set all the fractions to win the $125,000 Toronto Cup, the first of two stakes features at Woodbine on Sunday.

Ridden by Eurico Rosa da Silva, Conquest Pacemaker jumped right to the early lead and despite several of the seven runners (with one scratching) having shown an ability to provide speed, he was allowed to control the tempo with a 48 2/5 half mile down the backstretch.

In the stretch, he kept right on going, building a large lead in mid-stretch before late-closer Lucky Lindy got to within two lengths at the wire.

"He took the lead and went very easy. He was comfortable," da Silva said. "I had horse in the end and he was running very strong."

The Casse-trained three-year-old colt finished third in his debut outing in May, then broke his maiden in style earlier in the month, prompting the son of Eskendereya to be supplemented to the Toronto Cup.

CLASS OF FIELD

It was an easy trip for Ageless, who travelled north to capture the day's other feature, the $150,000 Royal North Stakes, for the second consecutive year.

Ridden by Julien Leparoux, the six-year-old mare camped in fourth allowing a speed duel between Richies Party Girl and Leigh Court to develop. With about three-eighths to go, Leparoux gave her a couple of shakes of the reins and she made her move.

In the stretch, she was still in a tussle as Leigh Court battled hard on the inside but Ageless eventually found her way to the front, winning by a shade less than a length in a time of 1:07.17 for the six-furlong turf event, a new track record for the distance. Zensational Bunny finished a distant third in the five-horse field reduced by two scratches.

Trained by Arnaud Delacour, Ageless finished fourth, only a length back, in last fall's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. This year, she captured a stake on the Preakness undercard at Pimlico.

HARD FOUGHT WIN

Ontario-bred Hard Not to Like continued to prove she is among the best turf distaffers in North America when she charged from five lengths back at the top of the stretch to nail Tepin in the Grade 1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday.

Ridden by John Velazquez, Hard Not to Like set a course record for 1 1/8 miles, winning in 1:45.22. Now trained by Christophe Clement, the six-year-old mare will now be pointed to the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf in the fall.

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