Lady in Red and jockey Austin Adams winning R4 October 6th at Woodbine. (Michael Burns Photo)
5-year-old daughter of D’s Wando arrives at Eternal Search on winning note
Chris Lomon, Woodbine
TORONTO, Ont. – Lady in Red, a 5-year-old daughter of D’s Wando, takes on eight rivals in the $100,000 Eternal Search Stakes, Saturday at Woodbine.
Trained by Santino Di Paola, the chestnut mare will see her first stakes action in the 7 ½-furlong feature for Ontario-sired fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, to be contested over the Toronto oval’s inner turf course.
A homebred for York Tech Racing Stable – they own D’s Wando and the dam Santina d’Or – Lady in Red, who owns a 5-0-1 mark from 19 starts, heads into the race off a one-length win, at 31-1, on Oct. 6, in a race run at the same distance and on the same surface as the Eternal Search.
It was that effort, along with how she came out of the race, that prompted Di Paola to give Lady in Red the green light for a shot at stakes success.
“She’s doing very well,” said Di Paola, whose mother, Rafaella Di Paola, bred the horse. “That’s why we decided to take a shot. It’s her distance, it’s her surface, and the last race, it was by no means an easy one, and she was very game.
“For whatever reason, she doesn’t take to the main track here at Woodbine, but on the turf, she’s gangbusters.”
Lady in Red debuted on Sept. 10, 2022, and finished fourth in the 5 ½-furlong inner turf sprint. She finished fourth, seventh, and eighth, respectively, to conclude her first season at the races.
She broke through on Apr. 29, 2023, in the first start of her 3-year-old campaign, a one-length score over 5 ½ panels on the Woodbine main track.
The biggest challenge with Lady in Red, noted Di Paola, is in harnessing her fiery nature.
“She is a nightmare to train. When she wants to go, she will go. We have to run her out there in the mornings.
“From day one, she has been a handful. She’s just not nice to deal with – she kicks, she bites, she throws tantrums. But we have learned to deal with it because we know she can take those traits and win races. Honestly, the worse she gets, the better she runs.”
Di Paola, who notched his first stakes victory with Little Teddy in the Georgian Bay this July, is hoping Lady in Red can provide the barn with another stakes crown.
“She is wanting to train and is tearing down the stall wanting to run,” said Di Paola, who recently sent out his 600th starter. “She is a runner. I love [track announcer] Robert Geller’s calls every time she runs. Every time you think she’s going to pack it in, he will say, ‘She’s not quitting… she’s digging deep.’”
As for the name, Di Paola shared, “She was a crop of five or six babies and all our babies go out in the front paddock at our farm. She had a red halter, and she was nothing but a perfect lady as a baby, so that’s why we gave her that name.”
Di Paola’s sister, Teresa, is the groom.
“Teresa actually owned half of Santina d’Or with my parents back in the day and she won two big allowance races in a row with her,” said Di Paola. “That helped pay for her university tuition at Queen’s. Funny enough, Santina d’Or was entered to run in this exact race in 2009 and was the 8-5 morning line favourite. But she was scratched 45 minutes before the race.”
The other starters are multiple stakes winner Olivia Rose, stakes winners Foolish Games, Frac Amour, My Girl Sky, Talk to Ya Later, Tito’s Calling, and War Painter, and four-time winner Taquanyah.
The race is named after the three-time Canadian champion, purchased at age two for $50,000 by Mel Lawson, who raced her under his Jim Dandy Stable banner. Eternal Search retired from racing with 15 stakes victories and posted a record of 18-11-2 from 44 starts. She was trained by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Ted Mann.
First post on Saturday is 1:10 p.m. Fans and can wager on all the action via HPIbet.com and bet365.
$100,000 Eternal Search Stakes (Race 8)
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – Taquanyah – Leo Salles – Saul McHugh
2 – Talk to Ya Later – Ryan Munger – Ian Black
3 – Frac Amour – Fraser Aebly – Julie Mathes
4 – My Girl Sky – Justin Stein – Barb Minshall
5 – War Painter – Sahin Civaci – Kevin Attard
6 – Olivia Rose – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse
7 – Lady in Red – Austin Adams – Santino Di Paola
8 – Foolish Games – Omar Moreno – Michelle Love
9 – Tito’s Calling – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Mike De Paulo
