The Pizza Man to make Woodbine debut in Northern Dancer Stakes

Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) – The Pizza Man, working on a five-race win streak, will make his first trip north of the border Sunday for the $300,000 Northern Dancer Stakes at Woodbine.

Trained by Roger Brueggemann, the 5-year-old gelding has drawn the inside post in the nine-horse field and is the 2-1 morning line favorite for the 1 1/2- mile grass event.

“He’s doing great right now,” said Richard Papiese, principal of owner Midwest Thoroughbreds. “Roger is pleased and (jockey) Florent (Geroux) was smiling ear-to-ear when he got off him the other day and is flying up to ride him. (The Breeders’ Cup Turf) is the plan if he runs well. We will obviously take it one race at a time.”

Chicago is home base for The Pizza Man with victories this year in Arlington Park’s Black Tie Affair, Stars and Stripes and American St. Leger on Arlington Million Day, Aug. 16.

“He wouldn’t be running if he didn’t need the race,” Papiese said. “He was bouncing around after he won the (American St. Leger) and acted like he hadn’t run a week later. It wouldn’t be fair to him if we took him to the Breeders’ Cup without another race to prepare him. This race, with the course and competition, is a good prep for him.”

In addition to his three wins this year, The Pizza Man closed 2013 with victories in Arlington’s Illinois Owners Stakes and Hawthorne’s Carey Memorial Handicap.

“He is a horse who would have been in this spot last year if he didn’t have a setback in a Churchill Downs allowance (May 4, 2013) where he almost went down,” Papiese said. “That race almost ruined him and he wasn’t the same horse right after that, but in due time he came back to himself and we’re lucky. He was with Tom Amoss then – who did a great job – but has now been in Roger’s care for a while and has done very well.

“I don’t worry about anyone else – I just worry about my horse. We have had him since he was a baby and it doesn’t matter how good the others are – we’ll do our thing. I think he’ll show up and run well and if everything goes well, we’ll go to California.”

The 5-year-old has won 12 of 17 starts for $730,203.

Here is the field for the Northern Dancer in post position order: The Pizza Man, Florent Geroux, 2-1; Reporting Star, Justin Stein, 12-1; Forte Dei Marmi, David Moran, 20-1; Karibu Gardens, Luis Contreras, 4-1; Villandry, Javier Castellano, 10-1; Dynamic Sky, Joel Rosario, 20-1; Aldous Snow, Eurico da Silva, 3-1; Sheikhzayedroad, Martin Lane, 6-1 and Perfect Timber, John Velazquez, 10-1.

Pos time will be approximately 3:32 p.m. ET.

Categorized in: Horses