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Canadian Champion Curlin’s Voyage Wins Woodbine Oaks Prep In Frantic Finish

Canadian champion filly Curlin's Voyage nosed out 65-1 longshot Justleaveitalone in a photo finish to win the $125,000 Fury Stakes for Canadian-foaled 3-year-old fillies on Sunday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

Patrick Husbands guided the Curlin–Atlantic Voyage filly to victory in the seven-furlong stepping-stone to the Triple Tiara, which kicks off with the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks presented by Budweiser over 1 1/8 miles on August 15.

Trying Woodbine's Tapeta surface for the first time and putting her perfect five-race win streak on the line, Infinite Patience, co-owned by Edmonton Oilers player Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and breeder William DeCoursey, set a pressured pace through panels of :23.74 and :46.59 with the maiden filly Justleaveitalone in hot pursuit.

Curlin's Voyage stalked the top pair along the rail then fanned three-wide on the final turn with fellow Josie Carroll trainee Avie's Samurai joining the fray in a four-across battle down the stretch.

Curlin's Voyage ultimately persevered, edging out Justleaveitalone by a head in a final time of 1:23.91, with Infinite Patience settling for third, one length behind after her gutsy effort. Avie's Samurai finished fourth with Mizzen Beau and Gun Society completing the order of finish.

“Going down the back, it was a lot of 'cat and mouse' game,” said Husbands, who has won five previous editions of the Fury – all with Mark Casse trainees – including last year's race with Speedy Soul.

“About the three-eighths pole, I had enough of this, I just had to get in gear and get the job done.”

Sent postward as the 6-5 favourite, the winner returned $4.60.

Curlin's Voyage was voted Canada's 2019 Champion Two-Year-Old Filly for her $265,000 juvenile campaign in which she went 3-1-1 in six starts, including a pair of stakes wins over 1-1/16 miles (Grade 3 Mazarine and Ontario Lassie).

Husbands picked up the mount for her final start last year in the Ontario Lassie and also guided her to a runner-up finish in her sophomore debut in the six-furlong Star Shoot Stakes on June 13.

“To me, she's a better filly going two turns and we look forward to her next race,” said the Triple Crown-winning jockey.

Curlin's Voyage is co-owned by breeder Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings and Windsor Boys Racing. She is eligible to the Oaks as well as The Queen's Plate (September 12), assessed as the 3-1 third choice in the Winterbook.

Carroll, who trained the 2006 Fury champion Gumboots, has won the Queen's Plate twice, with Edenwold (2006) and Inglorious (2011) — also the winner of the Oaks that year.

Live Thoroughbred racing continues, without spectators, on Thursday at the Toronto oval with an eight-race program beginning at 3:45 p.m. Racing Night Live will feature action from Woodbine Racetrack and Woodbine Mohawk Park from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET on TSN1 and TSN3.

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Citing COVID-19 Concerns, Lone Star Park Halts Live Racing

Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, abruptly cancelled Sunday's live racing program after the day's first race. An announcement on Twitter gave no indication when racing would resume.

“Due to an abundance of caution, all racing operations at Lone Star Park have been suspended due to COVID-19,” the statement said. “Racing will resume at a date to be determined.”

Officials at Lone Star Park could not be reached for further comment.

Multiple sources told the Paulick Report a positive test for COVID-19 has emerged involving an individual employed at the track who has regular contact with jockeys or their valets. An out-of-town rider who recently rode at Lone Star may also have tested positive after returning to his home track from Lone Star, a source said.

Track officials were said to be consulting with infectious disease specialists brought in by Global Gaming, the entity that owns Lone Star Park and Remington Park in Oklahoma.

Lone Star races on a Sunday through Wednesday schedule. Sources said it is doubtful the July 6 live racing program will be conducted. Entries have been taken for racing through next Sunday, July 12, and horsemen have been told to prepare to enter on Monday morning for the following Monday's racing on July 13.

When jockeys were notified of the cancellation of Sunday's program, they were advised not to exit through the track's grandstand, where simulcast wagering continued. They were not given instructions to self-quarantine.

Lone Star was forced to delay the start of its live meet until May 22. On June 10, Lone Star management was notified by officials that spectators would be permitted on-track as Texas became one of the first states to reopen its economy.

After an alarming spike in COVID-19 positive tests throughout Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on July 2 issued an order requiring face coverings in public and giving local officials authority to limit the size of gatherings.

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Letter to the Editor: Tim Peterson

Many of the pieces in the Diversity in Racing series recently in TDN reflect on the fact that backstretch workers at American racetracks were once predominately black. Now they are overwhelmingly Latino. Not one of them reflects on why this happened. At the same time in TDN, we are presented with unending pleas for additional H2B visas needed for the racing industry.

Here is my suggestion–how about the racing industry make a concerted effort to hire and train black Americans who live near racetracks to work on the backstretch by providing them a decent, living wage? But this idea is anathemic to an industry that worships at the altar of labor costs as cheap as possible. The incongruity and hypocrisy of this situation is astounding.

Tim Peterson, Edina, MN

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‘It Just Gives Me Goosebumps’: Co-Owner Of Vekoma Recounts Big Win

Owner Randy Hill was still on cloud nine Sunday morning, the day after Vekoma went gate-to-wire in the Grade 1, $500,000 Runhappy Met Mile at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

“What a horse,” an emphatic Hill said. “I'll never own another horse like this. I've watched the race about 20 times and it just gives me goosebumps. I really wish I could have been there, but I'd rather win than be there and lose them.”

Owned by Hill in partnership with Gatsas Stables, Vekoma's win earned a 104 Beyer Speed Figure. Vekoma controlled the pace before being confronted around the far turn. He shook off his competition when asked by Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano and drew off to a 1 1/4-length score, keeping his record as a 4-year-old unblemished in three starts for trainer George Weaver.

Prior to the Runhappy Met Mile, Vekoma won the Sir Shackleton at Gulfstream Park in his 2020 debut before an impressive 7 1/4-length win in the Grade 1 Runhappy Carter on June 6 at Belmont Park, netting a 110 Beyer.

The Grade 1, $300,000 Forego presented by America's Best Racing on August 29 at Saratoga Race Course could be the next start for Vekoma, Hill said.

Hill also mentioned the possibility of Vekoma training up to the Breeders' Cup World Championships on November 6-7 at Keeneland Race Course.

Vekoma has earned an automatic entry into both the Breeders' Cup Sprint and the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile when taking the Runhappy Carter and Runhappy Met Mile, which are both Breeders' Cup “Win And You're In” events.

“I think he's the best older horse in the country,” Hill said. “George is thinking about the Forego or training right up to the Breeders' Cup and we leave all of that up to him. The horse will tell us. He's such a warrior.”

Blair Golen, who oversees Weaver's Belmont string, reported that the Runhappy Met Mile hero emerged from Saturday's triumph in good shape.

“He came out of it in good order,” Golen said. “What impressed me last time and this time was that he wasn't that tired. When he ran here at seven furlongs, he recovered fast and was really on the muscle, and it was the same again this time too.”

Bred in Kentucky by Alpha Delta Stables, Vekoma is by multiple-champion producing stallion Candy Ride out of the Speightstown broodmare Mona de Momma who, like Vekoma, also was a Grade 1-winner going seven furlongs.

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