European shipper Barefoot Lady wins Canadian Stakes

Barefoot Lady, a two-time stakes winner making her first start outside of Europe, rallied strongly in the long Woodbine homestretch to win the $300,000 Canadian Stakes (Can-II) in decisive fashion.

The daughter of Footstepsinthesand was ridden to victory by David Moran, who gave the four-year-old mare an excellent ground-saving trip while tracking the pace in the fourth position. The early leaders were Laughing and Stars to Shine, who set slow fractions of :24.61 and :48.59 seconds. Smart Sting was on the outside in third, with the eventual winner racing to her inside. All Star Heart and Kapitale were in mid-pack, while Moment of Majesty, Shimmering Moment, and Indian Pond were the early trailers.

As the field made their way around the final turn, Barefoot Lady shifted to the outside to commence a three-wide bid for the lead as Laughing gave way. This left Stars to Shine as the leader, and she briefly opened up a clear advantage, but Barefoot Lady was moving too strongly to be denied, taking over the lead prior to the eighth pole and continuing on strongly to win the about nine-furlong turf race in 1:45.89 seconds.

All Star Heart finished well in deep stretch to edge out Stars to Shine for the place, while Kapitale, Indian Pond, Smart Sting, Moment of Majesty, Laughing, and Shimmering Moment completed the order of finish.

Barefoot Lady is trained by Richard Fahey and owned by Mrs. H. Steel. Out of the Tenby mare Lady Angharad, Barefoot Lady has now compiled a record of 5-2-3 from 19 starts and has earned $454,855.

-Keelerman

Canadian Stakes Entries and Post Positions

Here are the entries and post positions for the $300,000 Canadian Stakes (Can-II), to be run on Sunday at Woodbine. The nine-furlong turf race has drawn an excellent field of nine fillies and mares, including 2011 Las Palmas Stakes (gr. II) winner All Star Heart and Taylor Made Matchmaker Stakes (gr. III) winner Laughing.

1 Moment of Majesty
2 Laughing
3 Stars to Shine
4 Barefoot Lady
5 All Star Heart
6 Shimmering Moment
7 Smart Sting
8 Indian Pond
9 Kapitale

-Keelerman