A $20,000 supplemental entry fee became a six-figure payday for the connections of Francent N, who took the front, lost the lead around the last turn and reemerged on top through a game stretch drive to win the $255,000 Grade 2 Milton Stakes for pacing mares in a stakes, track and Canadian record on Saturday, Sept. 5 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Leaving from post six, driver Louis-Philippe Roy floated six-year-old Francent N forward and found a tow behind Twin B Joe Fresh (Dexter Dunn) through a skirmish to the first quarter in :25.2. Twin B Joe Fresh swept past pylon-starter Unreasonable (Todd McCarthy) to take the lead but soon yielded command to Francent N as she rolled to clock a :53.3 half, prompting Roy to tap the brakes for the last turn.
While Roy slowed the tempo, Louies Girl N (Jason Bartlett) tipped outside from sixth and blitzed forward to pull ahead by nearly a length, though she couldn’t clear to the pylons rolling by three-quarters in 1:21.1. Roy called upon Francent N once headed and reclaimed the lead upon spinning for home. Francent N held her ground at the pylons in the stretch sprint to claim victory by three-quarters of a length in a 1:47.3 mile with Louies Girl N second and Unreasonable third.
The clocking bested the previous Canadian and track record of 1:47.4 set by Grace Hill in 2023, which was later matched when Twin B Joe Fresh set the Milton stakes record with her victory last year.
“I was pretty confident, but going at the half there – :53.3 – I was a little worried,” Roy said after the race. “I mean, I didn't put the best drive because then the third quarter I was trying to give her a breather, and I kind of fell half asleep on the lead. Jason came pretty hard, but the mare was so much the best that she overcame my bad drive.
“Tonight she was real impressive. Last week, she proved to me that she could beat them all, but I thought there were five mares that could do it tonight, and right now she just proved she's the best.”
Jacques Dupont trains Francent N, a mare by Vincent out of Down-Under dam Mary Niven, for owner Ecurie CSL of Sorel-Tracy, Que. Francent N has won four of six races in North America and 17 races from 35 starts in her career, earning $442,517.
“We had her when she first came from New Zealand, and we liked her then,” said Marie-Helene Dupont, assistant trainer for Jacques Dupont. “We sent her to Pat [Lachance]. When she came back, she looked like a strong mare and powerful one. The way she raced last week, she was pretty tough, and I thought she had a good shot when the draw came out, since she had drawn a six hole, and she did it.”
Sylvain Descheneaux of Ecurie CSL acquired Francent N after her last win Down Under on May 8. She debuted for Pat Lachance at Yonkers on July 31 with a fourth-place effort and finished second in her next start before uncorking four straight wins, including her Milton Stakes victory.
“We saw that she was one of the [best] performing mares in New Zealand. That's the reason why we decided to buy her,” Descheneaux said after the race. “When you want to buy a horse like that, it's not you who decides the price, you know.
“Pat said to me that if you come back at the last quarter in Yonkers faster than :27, it's something that you don't see very often, and he said to me at the same time he said that to Jacques, too, that he was thinking she's supposed to be better on a bigger track too.”
Descheneaux also said he’d consider supplementing Francent N to other stakes down the road, namely the Breeders Crown in October at Scioto Downs.
“We will see week after week, but if we have to pay three weeks before for a supplement, be sure that if she is healthy, we will be there,” Descheneaux said.
Sent off as the 1-5 favourite, Francent N paid $2.40 to win.
(Woodbine)