Town Cruise Upsets Woodbine Mile, Earns Spot In BC Mile

Town Cruise made it look easy in his upset win in the Grade 1 Ricoh Woodbine Mile, taking the field gate to wire to earn a guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile. Over the familiar turf of Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, the 6-year-old gelding followed up his runner-up showing in the G2 King Edward Stakes with a victory for co-breeder/trainer/owner Brandon Greer.

Breaking from the first post, jockey Daisuke Fukumoto hustled Town Cruise out to the lead in the race's opening strides, with Duke of Hazzard and Change of Control settling in second and third. Through opening fractions of :24.01 and :47.10, Town Cruise stretched his lead out to two lengths, running easily on the lead. Into the stretch, the field bunched up behind Town Cruise; Avie's Flatter tried to challenge in the stretch, but the Ontario bred was too much for him. After leading at every call, Town Cruise hit the wire 2 1/4 lengths in front, with Space Traveller and Raging Bull coming on late to finish second and third.

The final time for the G1 Woodbine Mile was 1:35.41. Find this race's chart here.

Town Cruise paid $19.30, $10.10, and $6.10. Space Traveller paid $10.20 and $6.30. Raging Bull paid $3.70.

As a part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, the winner of the Woodbine Mile receives a fees-paid, guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the corresponding race at the Breeders' Cup World Championships, to be held Nov. 6 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

Co-bred by trainer Greer and his father Terrance, Town Cruise is by Town Prize out of the Candy Ride mare Candy Cruise. The Woodbine Mile is Town Cruise's third win in four starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of six wins in 14 starts and career earnings of $700,106.

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Canadian Champion Mighty Heart Headlines Saturday’s Seagram Cup

Mighty Heart, Canada's reigning Horse of the Year, is set to tackle 1 1/16-miles on the Tapeta, in Saturday's Grade 3 $150,000 Seagram Cup at Woodbine.

Trained by Hall of Famer Josie Carroll for owner-breeder Larry Cordes, Mighty Heart, a four-year-old son of Dramedy-Emma's Bullseye, will look to deliver his connections a second graded stakes score after taking the Grade 3 Dominion Day on July 1.

The one-eyed colt, who recorded wins last year in the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, the first two jewels of the Canadian Triple Crown, is in the midst of another fruitful campaign, having posted wins in the Dominion Day and Blame Stakes, a second in his most recent engagement, the Grade 3 West Virginia Governor's Stakes on August 7, and a third in his seasonal bow at Keeneland in April.

Mighty Heart brings a record of 5-1-2 from 12 career starts into his latest test.

“His tenacity [stands out],” said Carroll. “The one thing I've always said about this horse is that he's a little scrapper.”

Daisuke Fukumoto, aboard for the Queen's Plate, Prince of Wales and Dominion Day victories, gets the call again on Saturday.

“He made my dream come true so he is special,” said the graded stakes winning rider. “I don't have any particular tension when I ride him. I don't get scared or nervous when we race. I'm always very conscious that I make him run comfortably. I would just like to say one more thing… it's very fun to ride him.”

Mighty Heart launched his career with a pair of starts at Fair Grounds in early 2020. Those efforts, a fourth and a tenth, respectively, eventually led to a discussion between Cordes and a horse chiropractor.

“I knew there was something wrong in those first two races,” recalled Cordes. “The chiropractor was looking him over one day and thought something wasn't right with his jaw. The horse was uncomfortable when he was looking at his face area, so we had a vet come in. He found an inflamed tooth and we took care of it. The rest is history.”

Mighty Heart's next start, last July, resulted in a maiden-breaking performance in what was his first race at Woodbine. He soon grabbed headlines in Canada and beyond after his stirring scores in the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales.

This spring, Mighty Heart was voted Canada's Horse of the Year for 2020, and champion Three-Year-Old Colt.

“This horse, he has a determination,” praised Cordes. “He is all heart. He started with a big handicap having no eye, but he didn't let it affect him. He has this fight and he has this grit, whether it's on the track or not.

“When he had his eye injury – and we're 90 per cent sure it was the mare who caused it – we took him to the veterinarian in Guelph (Ontario) and they told us they had to take out the eye. But they told us not too worry about it too much. At his age, less than two weeks old at the time, they said that he'll never know he could have had two eyes. When you watch him run – horses have good peripheral vision – he cocks his head just slightly to the left. Not badly, just enough so that he has that peripheral vision to see what's beside him and have a good view.”

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Mighty Heart's story has created a significant following, both on Mighty Heart's Instagram page (mightyheart.tb) and whenever he goes postward.

“He has a lot of followers,” said Cordes. “I get calls from the United States all the time and different media people from so many places. It's not attention that's just happening locally. Everybody likes an underdog and the fact he only has one eye makes it a compelling story.”

Cordes continues to receive correspondence from fans, young and old.

“I get letters from children, postmarked to Mighty Heart, not Larry Cordes. They draw pictures and share stories. I send horseshoes to them – everybody who sends something I return something to them along with a letter. Some people send Mighty Heart cookies. I don't know how many times people have sent these cookies, which I guess are supposed to be horse cookies. He has a big following and it just makes me so happy.”

The longtime horseman's biggest joy is in seeing the happiness his star brings to others, especially over the past year and a half.

“What's really fantastic is that during this pandemic, what this brought to people… when I go to the track, many people will stop me and say, 'This lifted us up a little bit.' It's done so much just to lift them up a little bit throughout this pandemic.”

Cordes is hoping there's more reason to celebrate come Saturday.

“When he won the Dominion Day, I was going down the escalator, and a gentleman, three people in front of me, threw up his arms up in the air as far as he could reach and yelled, 'You're great, Mighty Heart!' He didn't know that I was behind him, but it showed me what he has done for people. It's absolutely thrilling. I'm proud of him and I'm so happy. If he never wins another race, I'm still so proud. But he has plenty left in him. He's as sound as sound can be. He's just an amazing horse.”

The Seagram Cup is scheduled as race three of 10 on Saturday's 1:10 p.m. card, which also includes the $150,000 Vice Regent Stakes (race seven), a 5-furlong Inner Turf race for Ontario-breds, three-year-olds & upward.

Fans can also watch and wager on all the live action via HPIbet.com.

$150,000 SEAGRAM CUP STAKES

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Special Forces – Kazushi Kimura – Kevin Attard

2 – Another Mystery – Antonio Gallardo – Chris Block

3 – Dolder Grand – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse

4 – Mighty Heart – Daisuke Fukumoto – Josie Carroll

5 – Tap It to Win – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse

$150,000 VICE REGENT STAKES

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Alacritous – Steven Bahen – Ashlee Brnjas

2 – Celebratory – Justin Stein – Ashlee Brnjas

3 – Circle of Friends – Patrick Husbands – Don MacRae

4 – Rockcrest – Keveh Nicholls – Nigel Burke

5 – Souper Hot – Kazushi Kimura – Mike Mattine

6 – Not So Quiet – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse

7 – City Boy – David Moran – Michael Keogh

8 – Forester's Fortune – Daisuke Fukumoto – Rodney Barrow

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Fans Cheer Mighty Heart Home In Dominion Day Stakes

Horse racing fans were back in the stands at Woodbine Racetrack for the first time this season and cheered home Canada's reigning Horse of the Year Mighty Heart in the $150,000 Dominion Day Stakes (Grade 3) on Thursday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack.

Jockey Daisuke Fukumoto, who was aboard the popular one-eyed colt when he won the first two-thirds of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown last year, was reunited with the champion for today's featured Dominion Day contested over 1-1/16 miles on the main track.

Trained by Josie Carroll and owned by Larry Cordes, the millionaire son of Dramedy established the lead out of the gate and crossed to the rail as he headed into the first turn. A pair of Mark Casse-trained graded stakes winners, Lookin to Strike stalked in behind with the favored March to the Arch just outside pressing the pace.

After a quarter in :25.23 and half-mile in :48.49, the pressure mounted as March to the Arch matched strides with Mighty Heart on the turn while Malibu Mambo rallied three-wide into contention as they passed three-quarters in 1:11.99. However, Mighty Heart fought back and pulled clear of his rivals down the lane to score in 1:43.33.

March to the Arch settled for second, 1-3/4 lengths behind the winner, while Malibu Mambo finished third in front of Lookin to Strike. Skywire, Canada's 2020 Champion Older Main Track Male, completed the field that was scratched down to just five starters.

“I'm glad to get the opportunity to ride this horse again,” said Fukumoto, who enjoyed a career highlight with Mighty Heart when they won last year's $1 million Queen's Plate. “I breezed him a couple times and today I was ready to go, and we did it today.”

Mighty Heart was well prepared for his return to Woodbine, coming off a victory in the Blame Stakes last time out on May 29 at Churchill Downs.

“I thought it [the Blame Stakes] just put him right where I wanted him,” said the four-year-old colt's Hall of Fame trainer. “In fact, he had two works after that, simply because he came out of it so well, we had to sort of take the high note off of him a little bit four days ago so he could settle in this race.

“I think he's just a good horse and he's maturing. We're pretty happy with him today.”

Mighty Heart now boasts five victories from 11 career starts for Cordes, who relished the moment to witness his homebred star in person and hear the fans trackside.

“It's quite a difference,” said Cordes from the winner's circle. “The feeling was much, much better, obviously, and so many fans were behind him.”

Sent postward as the 9-5 slight second choice in the wagering, Mighty Heart paid $5.80 to win.

The scratches were Atone and the Carroll-trained Breeders' Stakes champion Belichick, whose connections opted for an allowance race on Saturday's card.

Live Thoroughbred racing resumes at Woodbine Racetrack on Friday. Post time for the eight-race program is set for 4:50 p.m.

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Canadian Horse of The Year Mighty Heart Headlines Thursday’s Dominion Day Stakes

Reigning Canadian Horse of the Year Mighty Heart will return to the scene of his thrilling Queen's Plate triumph that propelled him to stardom last year at Woodbine Racetrack as the Josie Carroll trainee headlines the field for the featured Grade 3 Dominion Day Stakes on Canada Day.

The Ontario-bred son of Dramedy enters Thursday's $150,000 feature event, to be contested over 1-1/16 miles on the Tapeta, fresh off a victory in the Blame Stakes on May 29 at Churchill Downs.

After taking the first two-thirds of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown during his sophomore season, Mighty Heart finished seventh in the Breeders' Stakes final leg, won by stablemate Belichick, and fourth in the Grade 3 Ontario Derby, both at Woodbine.

He opened his four-year-old campaign in mid-April giving way late to finish third in a Keeneland allowance race before returning to the stakes spotlight.

Owned and bred by Larry Cordes, Mighty Heart has four wins from 10 career starts, with his latest earning him millionaire status.

Jockey Daisuke Fukumoto, who was aboard for the popular one-eyed colt's Triple Crown bid, will be back in the irons for the Dominion Day with Mighty Heart starting from post four in the seven-horse field.

The aforementioned Breeders' Stakes champion Belichick will also be competing in the Dominion Day for NK Racing and LNJ Foxwoods. Luis Contreras will be back aboard the Lemon Drop Kid colt, who has finished no lower than third in all six of his career starts while banking more than $500,000 in purse earnings.

A runner-up in the Queen's Plate and Grade 3 Ontario Derby, Belichick also finished second in his 2021 debut, missing by just a nose when running back on the turf, in a 1-1/16-mile allowance race on May 13 at Churchill Downs.

Scheduled as the seventh of eight races on the Canada Day card, the Dominion Day also features the Mark Casse-conditioned graded stakes winners Lookin to Strike, March to the Arch and Skywire.

Returning to action on Thursday following an injury, jockey Rafael Hernandez will partner with Skywire, who was named Canada's 2020 Champion Older Main Track Male thanks in part to a pair of Grade 2 stakes wins, the Eclipse and Autumn, last year at Woodbine for owners Gary Barber and Lucio Tucci.

Other contenders in the field include Malibu Mambo, now trained by Michael Doyle for Stronach Stables, and Atone for trainer Eoin Harty and owner Godolphin LLC.

First race post time is 1:20 p.m., with the Dominion Day scheduled for approximately 4:24 p.m.

$150,000 Dominion Day Stakes (Grade 3)

1 – Lookin to Strike – Kazushi Kimura – Mark Casse

2 – March to the Arch – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse

3 – Atone – Justin Stein – Eoin Harty

4 – Mighty Heart – Daisuke Fukumoto – Josie Carroll

5 – Malibu Mambo – David Moran – Michael Doyle

6 – Belichick – Luis Contreras – Josie Carroll

7 – Skywire – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse

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