Baksheesh’s prolonged rally carried the 2-year-old Summer Front filly to a four-length victory in Sunday’s $200,000 Muskoka S. at Woodbine, giving the gray/roan juvenile her first career win.
Baksheesh employed similar tactics in her prior to starts at distances shorter than the Muskoka’s 6 1/2-furlongs, only to come up just short of winning. Sunday’s outcome would prove to be quite different. Near the back of the 12-horse field early on, she commenced her rally going into the turn. She made her way between horses, then went four-wide into the stretch to vie for the lead.
She put away Thatsitthatsall in midstretch and drew away very smartly to finish the distance in 1:17.91 on the synthetic surface.
“She didn’t have speed at the beginning that’s why I was very focused that if I have a chance to get out that’s it and I did, ”said jockey Kazushi Kimura. “That was a pretty smooth trip. When I was at the three-eighths I was like ‘She’s going to win for sure’, and she did.”
Baksheesh is an even 1-1-1 in three starts and earned $120,524 after Sunday’s payday. She is owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gary Barber.
Bred by Track West Racing Inc., Baksheesh is the third winner from three foals of racing age out of the winning Spider Dust, who also produced a yearling full-brother to Baksheesh.
Summer Front is a top-10 Third-Crop producer of stakes horses in 2021, with eight to date, including two-time stakes winner Shea D Summer.
