Wednesday, July 16, 2008

‘Swirl’ gives Scotzanna a whirl

TORONTO, July 15 * Sugar Swirl, a chestnut daughter of Touch Gold, goes after her tenth lifetime score in Friday afternoon's $100,000 Scotzanna Stakes, at Woodbine.

Owned by Stronach Stables and trained by Brian Lynch, the five-year-old mare sports an impressive record of nine wins, three seconds and four thirds from 20 career starts. Her bankroll stands at $724,502.

Sugar Swirl comes into the six-furlong Scotzanna off a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 3.


"We gave her some time off for some R&R and she didn't lose any of her conditioning," said Lynch, of the Ontario-bred. "She runs well fresh and she's in textbook form right now."

After winning three races and posting eight top-three finishes from nine starts in 2007, Sugar Swirl reeled off three consecutive wins, all stakes, to start her five-year-old campaign, after taking the Very Subtle Stakes in November to close out her four-year-old season.

She won the Grade 3 First Lady Handicap by 2 ½ lengths on January 13 and the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie Handicap by 8 ¾ lengths on February 17.

Sugar Swirl then completed an unprecedented sweep of Gulfstream Park's sprint series for fillies and mares with another sparkling effort in the Grade 2 Shirley Jones Handicap, a 5 ½ length triumph on March 29.

"It looks easy on paper, but she was very deserving to win them all," said Lynch. "She's a very talented mare. When she came over from Bobby (trainer Frankel), she was in great form."

Sugar Swirl will face five rivals in the inaugural running of the Scotzanna, including Executive Flight, the Darwin Banach trainee who recently won the Sweet Briar Too Stakes on July 1.

Jono Jones will be in the irons of Sugar Swirl, who has record of two wins and two thirds from five starts at Woodbine.

Sugar Swirl's next test will likely come in the Grade 1 Ballerina Handicap at Saratoga on August 24.

"She's a lovely horse to be around when she's at the barn, but she can be a real handful on the track and when she's training," said Lynch, of the mare who is targeting the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita in October.

FIELD FOR THE SCOTZANNA

Post / Horse / Trainer / Jockey
1 / London Snow / John Charalambous / Steve Bahen
2 / Shot Gun Ela / Ross Armata / Emile Ramsammy
3 / Executive Flight / Darwin Banach / Chantal Sutherland
4 / Sugar Swirl / Brian Lynch / Jono Jones
5 / Saskawea / Steve Attard / Todd Kabel
6 / Lucas Street / Malcolm Pierce / Patrick Husbands

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