BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Gary Barber’s Capture the Lion makes his first start against stakes company Saturday as the Florida-bred gelding is among eight 3-year-olds and older set to go seven furlongs on the Woodbine turf in the Grade 2 bet365 Connaught Cup. Trained by Mark Casse, Capture the Lion is 8-1 on the morning line for the CA$175,000 contest.
Capture the Lion will try to win his second consecutive race after a head victory against second condition, $50,000 optional claimers going seven furlongs on the turf at Woodbine on June 16. The gelded son of Uncaptured has shown an affinity for the Woodbine grass course in his first two efforts there, having finished second under the same conditions going five furlongs on May 19.
A winner of four of 11 career starts with a second and two thirds, his previous victory came on the Gulfstream Park synthetic course against first condition, $25,000 optional claimers sprinting five furlongs in September.
An earner of $147,167, Capture the Lion is out of Keyvacious, by Teuflesberg and was bred in Florida by the late Sherry R. Mansfield and Kenneth H. Davis.
Sahin Civaci will ride Capture the Lion for the first time and they have post six.
Capture the Lion tries to become only the second Florida-bred winner of the Connaught Cup after Caribou Club in 2018.
Flag of Honour (Aus) is the 7-5 morning line favorite after the 5-year-old gelding won the Grade 3 Jacques Cartier going six furlongs on Woodbine’s synthetic main track on June 1.
That was the second graded stakes victory in four starts at Woodbine for Flag of Honour since coming from his native Australia in 2023. He won the Grade 2 Kennedy Road going six furlongs at Woodbine in November.
In his last start down under in May of 2023, the son of American Pharoah won the Group 2 Gosford It Benchmark 78 Handicap going six furlongs on the turf at Gosford.
Julia Carey trains Flag of Honour for R.M. Wanless and J.M. Wanless. He is out of Godiva Rock (Aus), by Stratum (Aus) and has won half of his 10 career races with a second and a third while banking $325,637.
Emma-Jayne Wilson will ride Flag of Honour from post one.
Others entered are Cruden Bay, who will be ridden by Sofia Vives; War Bomber (Ire) and jockey Rafael Hernandez, Ironstone will have Ryan Munger in the saddle, Patrick Husbands takes the call on First Empire, Not Normal with jockey David Moran and Saratoga Flash will be guided by Edgard Zayas.
