Trainer Kevin Attard will send out Moira, Canada’s 2022 horse of the year, in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Diana, a nine-furlong inner turf test for older fillies and mares, at Saratoga.

The 5-year-old Ghostzapper mare is named after the character Moira Rose, played by Catherine O’Hara, from the television series Schitt’s Creek. She will be making her first start since a troubled third when checked hard into the stretch for the first time under Flavien Prat in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

“She overcame that stumbling incident shortly after crossing the dirt there, and I thought Prat put her in a good spot after that,” Attard said. “At the top of the stretch, she was making a bid for the lead and got me really excited. I just couldn’t have been happier with her performance.”

Attard was buoyed by the strong effort that saw Moira land a neck and a length back of the victorious champion turf Female Inspiral, who prevailed over Warm Heart in a race in which Diana favorite Didia, last-out winner of the New York (G1) at Saratoga, finished 10th.

“She ran a great race against some very tough company,” Attard said. “Didia came out of there and you can see what she’s done this year, and she will probably be the favorite. So it just goes to show how tough of a field that was.”

Moira has trained forwardly into her seasonal debut over Tapeta at her Woodbine base, including a bullet five-eighths breeze in 59.80 seconds June 29.

Attard said the talented Moira, winner of last year’s Canadian (G2) at Woodbine and the prestigious Queen’s Plate in 2022 against the boys, is in fine fettle.

“I think this is a bigger, stronger version of her right now. Physically, this is the best she’s looked,” said Attard, who won the Ballston Spa (G2) at Saratoga in 2020 with Canada’s 2019 horse of the year Starship Jubilee. “She’s matured from 4 to 5, and she’s worked very well heading into this race. Going nine furlongs against Grade 1 company coming off of a seven-month layoff is not going to be easy, but she’s a good horse and I think she deserves a chance.”

The Ontario-bred Moira, owned by Lanni Bloodstock, Madaket Stables and SF Racing, will exit the inside post under Tyler Gaffalione in a strong 10-horse field that features five entrants from the barn of trainer Chad Brown, who was won the Diana a record eight times.

Attard, a 48-year-old resident of Brampton, Ontario, has 75 stalls at Woodbine, where he boasts a wealth of experience racing over synthetic tracks. He finished second in the standings, by earnings, behind perennial leading trainer Mark Casse in each of the last five years.

Having saddled more than 500 winners on synthetic surfaces in his multiple graded stakes-winning career, Attard said his interest was piqued last week when the New York Racing Association announced it would use an all-weather Tapeta track as its exclusive winter racing surface at the new Belmont Park when it opens in 2026.

“It’s definitely something I’ve contemplated for a bit now. The fact that a synthetic track is going in there is a little bit more enticing for myself and I’m sure for a lot of other Canadians,” Attard said. “It’s a lot closer to home than Florida, and you don’t have to worry about the climate change for your horses. I think it’s something we’ll have to explore and hopefully have a string of horses up there when the Tapeta opens up.”

Attard usually winters in Florida after the end of the Woodbine meet, which spans April to December. But he said an option that’s closer to home in both distance and climate is intriguing.

“The Tapeta in Florida and the Tapeta at Woodbine are different. Weather plays a big role in how it plays,” Attard said. “I think until it’s there and people figure it out and get a hold of it, it’s hard to say how horses will transition from one Tapeta to another. Some of them are a lot tighter than others. You would assume the track in New York, with a climate that is similar to Woodbine here in Toronto, that the tracks would be pretty similar. So, it might be an easier transition for our horses to go from here to New York.”

The one-mile Tapeta oval currently under construction at the new Belmont Park will mark a third racing surface at the modernized facility along with the traditional outer dirt main track and two turf courses. Belmont Park also offers a year-round dirt training track and a Tapeta pony track as additional options for training horses.

“I’ve seen some sketches of the new Belmont Park, and it looks like it’s going to be a state-of-the-art facility,” Attard said. “Eventually, it will have three surfaces at one place, and that’s exciting. There’s a lot of history there and change is something that’s hard to accept. But the sport is evolving, and we all need to evolve around it.”

NYRA’s shift from dirt to Tapeta through the winter months is expected to enhance equine safety and provide additional opportunities for the year-round horse population.

Attard said he was pleased to see that the new Belmont Park, like Woodbine, will offer a variety of training options as it is a key component to how he manages his sizable string.

“At Woodbine, we also have a dirt surface to train over and we’re fortunate in that sense,” Attard said. “We use both surfaces and try to balance it out a little bit because I think they use different muscle groups training over Tapeta and training over dirt and that’s why you get two different types of injuries over the surfaces.”

Attard has made a name for himself at Woodbine where he captured his first Grade 1 win with Starship Jubilee in the 2019 E. P. Taylor and doubled his tally the following year when the same mare captured the Woodbine Mile against the boys. In 2022, he saddled Last Call to an upset victory in the Natalma (G1).

And although he also has picked up graded wins in Florida with Starship Jubilee at Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs, he is keen to have a winter presence in New York.

Attard, working as an assistant for his father, Tino, spent the winters of 2001 and 2002 racing at Aqueduct, picking up 15 wins for $852,703 in purse earnings.

“We were there for a couple winters stabled at Belmont and running at Aqueduct. I enjoyed my time there,” Attard said. “I like New York, and I’m looking forward to an opportunity of maybe getting back.”