patrick husbands | Horse Racing Free Tips

First Empire Gives Classic Empire First Stakes Winner In Soaring Free At Woodbine

First Empire, prominent throughout, took charge around the final turn and held off Degree of Risk to score by 1 ¾-lengths in Saturday's $140,250 Soaring Free Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

The Soaring Free, a 6 ½-furlong turf race for 2-year-olds, attracted a field of six and kicked off the first of back-to-back four-stakes programs at the Toronto oval on Queen's Plate weekend.

First Empire, conditioned by Mark Casse, had finished a faltering fifth when debuting here on the Tapeta, but then was a game front-running winner over six furlongs of turf with returning rider Patrick Husbands in the irons.

“When I breezed him in the morning, he's okay, but on the grass, as he's shown in his last two races, he's a different horse,” said Husbands. “I had so much horse swinging for home. I knew it would take a real nice horse to beat him.”

In the Soaring Free, First Empire pressed Indiana invader Heaven Street while racing just outside through an opening quarter in :22.49 and led that one by a length as he got the half in :44.37.

Degree of Risk, invading from Illinois for trainer Eoin Harty, was making his turf debut and impressed, finishing second, despite racing greenly through the lane.

Heaven Street wound up third, 7 ¼-lengths behind the runner-up.

Twenty Four Mamba, who like First Empire is a son of the Casse-trained Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old Classic Empire, was another 3 ½-lengths back in fourth.

Concealed Carry never menaced in finishing fifth and Silent Farewell, a troubled second behind First Empire when debuting here August 1, failed to enter contention as the 9-5 favorite and checked in last.

The final time was 1:15.44.

Sent off as the 5-2 second choice, First Empire returned $7.80 and keyed a $53.70 exacta over 9-1 Degree of Risk. Heaven Street, at 5-1, completed a $97.05 ($1) trifecta and the superfecta with Twenty Four Mamba came back at $312.90 for $1.

First Empire, owned by Dick Bonnycastle's Harlequin Ranches, is out of the Macho Uno mare Silsita and is the first stakes winner for both his dam and his freshman sire. Bred by Saintsbury Farm, First Empire was a $60,000 yearling at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's October sale.

Casse won last year's Soaring Free with Gretzky the Great, who used the race as a stepping-stone to success here in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes and went on to be honored as Canada's Outstanding Male Two-Year-Old.

This year's $400,000 Grade 1 Summer Stakes, a “Win and You're In” for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, will be run at Woodbine on September 19.

The post First Empire Gives Classic Empire First Stakes Winner In Soaring Free At Woodbine appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Souper Stonehenge Super Again In Vigil At Woodbine

For the second time in two races, Souper Stonehenge got the better of Pink Lloyd, taking the Grade 3 Vigil Stakes at Woodbine Race Track in Toronto, Ontario. Souper Stonehenge had ended Pink Lloyd's run of consecutive victories in the Jacques Cartier in their last meeting and got the better of the Sovereign Award-winning sprinter again Sunday.

Trained by Mark Casse, Souper Stonehenge took the lead early in the six-furlong sprint, striding out to lead by a length over Green Light Go and Not So Quiet, with Pink Lloyd sitting back in fifth. Around the race's only turn, Pink Lloyd got shuffled back to last as Green Light Go tired, Rafael Hernandez taking the 9-year-old gelding between horses as they entered the stretch. Souper Stonehenge maintained an easy lead throughout, but Patrick Husbands saw that advantage shrinking as Pink Lloyd made his run down the center of the track.

Souper Stonehenge's lead was too much for four-time Vigil winner Pink Lloyd, though, as the Live Oak gelding was three-quarters of a length in front at the wire. The final time for the G3 Vigil was 1:09.52. Not So Quiet was third, with Cash Dividend, Embolden, and Green Light Go rounding out the order of finish.

Find this race's chart here.

Souper Stonehenge paid $2.70, $2.10, and $2.10. Pink Lloyd paid $2.70 and $2.10. Not So Quiet paid $2.80 to show.

Bred in Florida by owner Live Oak Plantation, Souper Stonehenge is a 5-year-old gelding by Speightstown out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare Onepointhreecarats. With his win in the G3 Vigil, Souper Stonehenge 2-1-1 in six starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of five wins in 16 starts and career earnings of $343,705.

The post Souper Stonehenge Super Again In Vigil At Woodbine appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Lady War Machine Takes Alywow Stakes At Woodbine

Lady War Machine, a chestnut daughter of Street Boss, trained by Josie Carroll, called the shots in taking the $100,000 Alywow Stakes Saturday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

Breaking sharply with Patrick Husbands aboard in the event for 3-year-old fillies, the Kentucky-bred was settled comfortably into the second spot as outsider Hard Street led the field of six through an opening quarter-mile in :23.22.

A patient Husbands continued to keep Lady War Machine close to the pacesetter through a half-mile timed in :46.08. As the field turned for home, the duo swept to the lead along the inside and then dashed away from their rivals down the lane.

At the wire, Lady War Machine, contesting her first added-money feature, was three lengths ahead of a closing Honey Pants, sent off as the slight choice, who was making her Woodbine debut for conditioner Christophe Clement. La Libertee was third, while Dirty Dangle finished fourth.

Final time for 6 ½-furlongs over a firm E.P. Taylor Turf Course was 1:15.40.

“On the turf, everything plays out differently,” said Husbands. “I don't want to be on the lead and I don't want to get trapped down on the inside. She had her ears pricked and she wasn't scared down on the inside, so I was just playing it by ear.”

Husbands on-the-fly approach paid off with an impressive performance.

“The straight here is so long you've always got closers. It doesn't matter how you look at it… you've always got closers. With the turf, I try not to pick it up too early and go too early and get caught. I was just biding my time.”

Owned by Mark Dodson, Lady War Machine arrived at the Alywow off a sparkling 7 ½-length maiden-breaking score on July 3 at Woodbine, in a six-furlong main track maiden special weight event.

She finished third in her debut last November, a 6 ½-furlong Tapeta test at the Toronto oval.

Bred by SF Bloodstock, LLC, and Matthew Sandblom, Lady War Machine paid $6.10 for the win.

The post Lady War Machine Takes Alywow Stakes At Woodbine appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

March To The Arch Scores Big In Niagara

March to the Arch chased down the pacesetters to win the $100,000 Niagara Stakes on Sunday afternoon over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course at Woodbine Race Track in Toronto, Ontario.

The stakes feature for four-year-olds and up was run at a distance of about 1 1/8 miles.

With Patrick Husbands up for leading trainer Mark Casse, multiple graded stakes winner March to the Arch settled back in fifth early on behind Belichick and Theregoesjojo as a front-end duel ensued between Admiralty Pier and Primo Touch.

The battle for the lead persisted through early fractions of :23.14 and :45.32, and continued all the way into the stretch, with the top pair as much as 10 lengths in front of rivals approaching the turn.

However, March to the Arch saved ground on the bend then rallied outside of Belichick down the stretch. He reeled in the tiring leaders and went on to score by a widening 4 ½ lengths in 1:45.15 over the 'good' course, with Belichick finishing second.

Theregoesjojo edged out Primo Touch in a photo for show a half-length back while Current was fifth followed by Sir Sahib, Admiralty Pier, Woodbridge, and Mnemba Island.

“He's classy. Everybody would like to ride a horse like him,” said Husbands. “He's got a serious, serious turn of foot.”

Fresh off a runner-up performance in the Grade 3 Dominion Day at the start of July to open his six-year-old campaign, March to the Arch was sent postward as the 6-5 favorite here and paid $4.40 to win.

“In the last race, from reading the Form, I could see that there was no pace and he's a closer. When we got to the first turn, I saw it and I thought 'Oh my God.' So I had to press that horse [winner Mighty Heart] the whole way and he still hung in there, you know,” said Husbands in reference to March to the Arch's season's debut when he forced the pace early down the backstretch. “It wasn't his style, but he still came back today and showed you he was a good horse.”

Owned by Live Oak Plantation, the homebred Arch-Daveron gelding won the Grade 2 King Edward Stakes over the E.P. Taylor turf last year prior to his second-place effort in the Grade 1 Ricoh Woodbine Mile. Today, he notched his eighth career win from 27 starts while pushing his bankroll over the $1 million mark in Canadian earnings.

Live Thoroughbred racing continues at Woodbine Racetrack on Thursday with a 1:10 p.m. post time for the eight-race card.

The post March To The Arch Scores Big In Niagara appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post