Dixie Moon foils Wonder Gadot in Woodbine Oaks; Telekinesis, Road to Victory win

While the Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Monomoy Girl enjoyed a victory Saturday in the Acorn (G1) at Belmont Park, the Kentucky Oaks runner-up, Wonder Gadot, met defeat as a 3-10 favorite in the $386,800 Woodbine Oaks north of the border.

The winner was 3-1 second choice Dixie Moon, who rated closer to a soft pace of :25.16, :50.27, and 1:14.07 over the Tapeta. Getting the jump on the heavy favorite, Dixie Moon fended off Wonder Gadot in a duel through the final furlong to win by a head in a time of 1:50.38 for nine furlongs.

A homebred racing for Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry, Dixie Moon paid $8.60. She's trained by Catherine Day Phillips and was ridden by Eurico da Silva. Wonder Gadot finished 7 1/4 lengths clear of Hot Cash.

"I had a great trip, I was sitting in a great position and the pace was not that fast," da Silva said. "I pushed her a little bit early because I know she was going to have a good finish."

"She was real bad with the pony so I had to walk her warming up," jockey Patrick Husbands said of Wonder Gadot. "She broke flat-footed, and walked out of the gate, so we had to try to get back within striking distance. But she ran a good race."

Dixie Moon had previously won the Cup and Saucer against males on the turf last fall as well as the Ontario Lassie. She narrowly missed in the Natalma (G1) last year and in the Selene (G3) by a neck in her most recent start.

Earlier in the card, Lexington (G3) runner-up Telekinesis stamped himself as a potential Queen's Plate favorite with a wire-to-wire, 1 3/4-length tally in the $96,700 Plate Trial, covering nine furlongs in 1:50.40. The 2-5 favorite returned $2.90 for owner Stonestreet Stables and trainer Mark Casse. Rose's Vision, a 22-1 chance, finished second, 4 3/4 lengths in front of Aheadbyacentury.

"He was traveling so easy,” jockey Patrick Husbands said. "By the time I left the gate, he had one ear back and one ear forward and that's a sign that a horse is comfortable under you.

"So I got about the three-quarter pole and he still had one ear forward and one ear back, he showed me that he was just playing with that horse.

"Down the lane, I was squeezing him a little bit. He did just enough to win the race."

Casse also enjoyed a win Saturday by the three-year-old filly Road to Victory, who made a highly-anticipated return to action in the $77,361 Alywow over 6 1/2 furlongs on the turf.

Last seen handing Monomoy Girl her only career loss to date by a neck in the Golden Rod (G2) at Churchill Downs, the daughter of Quality Road rallied to win the Alywow by 1 1/2 lengths under Gary Boulanger. Owned by Gary Barber and John Oxley, Road to Victory finished up in 1:13.88 on firm ground and paid $4.40 as the 6-5 favorite.

Boulanger was also aboard the filly when she won her debut at Woodbine last October going seven furlongs on the turf, her only other start at two besides the Golden Rod.

"I was never concerned," Boulanger said. "She's obviously nice and this is the shortest she's ever run, but I had worked her twice here since she's come back and she's acting better this year than she did last year.

"When I called her, she just surged underneath me and it was just like 'okay, let's go do this.'"