ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Off a fifth-place finish in a sprint stakes, Competitive Touch tries 1 1/16 miles in the co-featured allowance/optional claimer for 2-year-olds on the final Saturday of the Woodbine meet. Competitive Touch has raced up front in all four of his outings. He faded to finish a distant fourth when debuting Sept. 10 and then narrowly lost a longer 6 1/2-furlong maiden special Oct. 15. He won a six-furlong maiden special convincingly Nov. 12, and was softened up in a speed duel most recently in the restricted Clarendon Stakes. A gelded son of Competitive Edge, Competitive Touch took some time to come around, according to trainer Sid Attard. “He was so big and heavy – I don’t know how he made the races,” Attard said. “We started working him late. The first time he ran, I knew he wasn’t ready, but I wanted to run him because that was the only way he was going to get fit. He got tired at the eighth pole.” :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Attard has won at a 20 percent rate with 2-year-olds going long for the first time over the past five years, with a return on investment of $1.76. His latest such winner was Babbo, who took the Nov. 25 Coronation Futurity at 5-1. Luis Contreras, who is 5 for 25 at the meet for Attard, retains the mount on Competitive Touch. Jayhawk could be favored over Competitive Touch in his first start since a third-place finish over a speed-favoring track in the Grade 3 Grey on Nov. 4. Trained by Mark Casse, Jayhawk lost a heartbreaker to eventual Grey winner Two Ghosts at first asking Aug. 27 before winning a seven-furlong maiden special a month later. In the 1 1/16-mile Grey, he got a 73 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest in this seven-horse field. Emma-Jayne Wilson will ride him for the first time. Smart Almasty is the lone route winner in the eighth-race field. He rode an inside bias to victory stretching out in his third and most recent start vs. Ontario-sired and $40,000 maidens. The other first-level allowance with a claiming option is a six-furlong sprint, carded as the 10th and final race, which drew 15 fillies and mares. Among the contenders in the wide-open event are Verdejo, Jill, and Frankie’s Girl. Verdejo closed for fourth behind Frankie’s Girl last out in a seven-furlong starter handicap. She was previously a charging second at this level when claimed for $32,000, a race from which she was re-claimed by trainer Marty Drexler. Jill is being reunited with Wilson after finishing on the edges in each of her last two starts when Wilson was sidelined. Wilson was aboard for all three of her victories this year, two of which were for her current trainer, Steve Chircop. Frankie’s Girl rallied along a golden rail in the aforementioned starter, her second win in a row for hot trainer Don MacRae. The turnback to six furlongs may be to her detriment. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.