God Of Love Earns G3 Grey Stakes Victory

Mark Casse trainee God of Love (2c Cupid x No Wonder, by Three Wonders) added a second stakes victory to his four race resume on Sunday when he won the Grade III Grey Stakes at Woodbine.

The uniquely marked chestnut broke from the second widest hole in the 1 1/16 mile synthetic race and was happy to gallop a few paths wide as the second to last runner under Rafael Hernandez. God of Love inched up as they raced into the turn and used his wide position to start circling the field from there.

He had to go even wider into the stretch with four horses ahead of him but showed the turn of foot that had also won him the Cup and Saucer Stakes in October to win this race by 1 1/2 lengths.

Owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gary Barber, the Ontario-bred was a $100,000 2-year-old purchase by Eclipse earlier this year.

The colt was bred by William Graham out of No Wonder, a four-time winner who also produced the stakes winning Muskoka Wonder. No Wonder is a half-sister to dual Grade I winner Weemissfrankie and Grade II-placed Stop Smiling among her six winning half-siblings. One of her unraced half-sisters is also the dam of stakes winner Piece of My Heart.

Stakes success runs deep in God Of Love’s family with each of his first six dams producing stakes winners.

One of two stakes winners and three stakes horses for Cupid, God of Love is his first graded stakes winner and second graded stakes performer after Grade II third Desert Dawn.