Tag: Racing

Mighty Heart was crowned Horse of the Year for the second time during Thursday's 47th Annual Sovereign Awards ceremony, hosted by The Jockey Club of Canada. The Larry Cordes homebred, trained by Josie Carroll, won the G2 Autumn Stakes and G3 Dominion Day Stakes in 2021, along with the listed Blame Stakes at Churchill Downs. The one-eyed fan-favorite was also named champion older main track male.

The son of Dramedy won the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes in 2020 en route to being voted Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old.

The top three finalists in each category are determined by the online ballots of the Jockey Club of Canada's knowledgeable voters. The media category award finalists were determined by media professionals within the industry selected from across North America.

The Jockey Club of Canada is pleased to announce the 2021 Sovereign Award winners in the order in which they were presented.

Outstanding Photograph: WILL WONG
Welcome Back
Published July 1, 2021; Ontario Racing

Thank you Jockey Club of Canada! I can't believe this happened again. I am so grateful and blessed! https://t.co/lOmNdKqyQf

— MR. WILL WONG (@mrwillw) April 14, 2022

Outstanding Writing: HAYLEY MORRISON
New Races, New Faces: How I Fell for The Fort
Published November 12, 2021 on CanadianThoroughbred.com

Outstanding Audio Visual/Digital Broadcast: WOODBINE ENTERTAINMENT
The Queen's Plate
Aired on CTV/TSN Sunday, August 22, 2021
https://bcove.video/2VMm4VL

Outstanding Groom: DENZIL FONSECA

The Jockey Club of Canada is proud to present Denzil Fonseca with the 2021 Outstanding Groom Award, sponsored by OLG. This year marks Denzil's 40th year working on the Woodbine backstretch. For the past 14 years he has been a groom for trainer Mike Doyle.

Denzil has worked for many accomplished horsepeople in Ontario including trainers John Charalambous, Cliff Hopmans, Jr. and Deborah England. He groomed many top horses for England.

In recent years, Denzil has been the groom for many top horses from the Mike Doyle barn. Most notable of these was Holy Helena, a strong filly who came to Ontario for a stint in the summer of 2017 and won the Woodbine Oaks and Queen's Plate for Stronach Stables.

“I am so happy to be recognized by the Jockey Club,” said Denzil. “I love horses and my job and I have a great respect for Mr. Doyle and his team.”

E. P. Taylor Award of Merit: IVAN DALOS

Ivan came to Canada from Hungary around the same time E.P. Taylor opened Woodbine racetrack in 1956 and put together a successful flooring and construction business. Once the horse racing bug took hold it did not take long for one of the first horses bred by Ivan to make news on an international stage.

Victory Gallop, a son of Cryptoclearance and the first foal of his mare Victorious Lil spoiled Real Quiet's bid for a Triple Crown sweep when he beat him by a nose in the Belmont Stakes (G1).

Ivan immersed himself in pedigrees, seeking that perfect 'nick' and a broodmare band that numbered a handful is now more than three dozen, many of which are a part of several generations of Tall Oaks breeding.Tall Oaks won its first Sovereign for Outstanding Breeder in 2018 and doubled up in 2020.

A dedicated family man Ivan enjoys sharing the racing experiences with wife Irene and his three daughters, one of whom, Colleen, has moved into a lead role in the racing and breeding operation. “I started Tall Oaks for my family,” said Ivan. “I try to breed every horse to the best of my ability.”

Champion Two-Year-Old Female: MRS. BARBARA

Trainer: Mark E. Casse
Owner: Spruce Stable
Breeder: Jim Dandy Stable
DK B. F. 2, by Bodemeister – Destroy (Housebuster)
2021: 6 Starts – 2 wins – 1 second – 1 third – $144,809
Winner: Mazarine S. (G3), MSW

Mrs. Barbara (112), Moira (59), Diabolic (49)

Champion Two-Year-Old Male: GOD OF LOVE

Trainer: Mark E. Casse
Owner: Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Barber, Gary
Breeder: William D. Graham
CH. C. 2, by Cupid – No Wonder (Three Wonders)
2021: 4 Starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds – $208,993
Winner: Grey S. (G3), Cup and Saucer S.

God of Love (113), Grafton Street (54), Ironstone (40)

Champion Three-Year-Old Female: MUNNYFOR RO

Trainer: Kevin Attard
Owner: Raroma Stable
Breeder: Daybar, LTD.
CH. F. 3, by Munnings – Repartee (Distorted Humor)
2021: 10 Starts – 4 wins – 2 seconds – 2 thirds – $548,561
Winner: Ontario Damsel S., Wonder Where S., Woodbine Oaks, MSW

Munnyfor Ro (118), Our Flash Drive (69), Lorena (27)

Champion Three-Year-Old Male: FROSTED OVER

Trainer: Mark Casse
Owner: Gary Barber
Breeder: G. Watts Humphrey Jr.
B. C. 3, by Frosted- Candy Crush (Candy Ride *Arg)
2021: 5 Starts – 3 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds – $168,786
Winner: Ontario Derby (G3), ALW, MSW

Frosted Over (123), Uncharacteristic (35), Artie's Storm (35), Haddassah (18)

Outstanding Broodmare: AVIE'S EMPIRE

DK. B. M. 2008 by Empire Maker – Fly for Avie (Lord Avie)
3 Starters, 3 Winners, 1 Champion, 1 Graded Blacktype winner, 1 Blacktype winner, 1 Graded Blacktype placed
Progeny earnings $1,430,306

Avie's Empire was bred by Sovereign Award-winning breeder Ivan Dalos under his stable name, Tall Oaks Farm. A daughter of Grade 1 winner Fly for Avie, who raced for Dalos. Avie's Empire never made the races, but has been a gem in the breeding shed. Avie's Empire's son Avie's Flatter (Flatter), the Champion 2-Year-Old of 2018, was a double graded winner in 2021 taking the Grade 2 Nearctic Stakes and Grade 2 Connaught Cup Stakes. Avie's Empire is also the dam of 2018 Wonder Where Stakes winner Avie's Mineshaft (Mineshaft) and Avie's Mesa (Sky Mesa), who was second in the Grade 3 Singspiel Stakes. Avie's Empire has a 2022 foal by Tapit.

Avie's Empire (72), Include Katherine (71), Sunday Affair (28)

Outstanding Breeder: SAM-SON FARM

Starters 52; Winners 31
278 Starts; 45 Wins; 48 Seconds; 32 Thirds
Earnings $2,671,554

More than half a century since Sam-Son Farms was founded by the late Ernie Samuel, the iconic Canadian farm remains at the top of the charts of leading breeders. Horses foaled on the Milton, Ontario farm earned over $2.6 million in 2021 and there were 31 winners from 52 starters. Say the Word, the 2020 Champion Turf Male in Canada, won the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar and Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes at Keeneland for Sam-Son and co-owners Agave Racing. The son of More Than Ready was also second in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile. The exciting Messier, a 2-year-old colt by Empire Maker, won the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes and Rideforthecause and Curlin's Catch were other Stakes winners bred by Sam-Son.

Sam-Son Farm (123), Adena Springs (35), Tall Oaks Farm (31)

Champion Female Sprinter: AMALFI COAST

Trainer: Kevin Attard
Owner: Tracy Farmer
Breeder: Terra Farms Ltd.
CH. M. 5, by Tapizar – Include Katherine (Include)
2021: 5 Starts – 2 wins – 1 second – 2 thirds – $246,763
Winner: Ontario Fashion S. (G3), Royal North S. (G2)

Amalfi Coast (116), Our Secret Agent (60), Lorena (22)

Champion Male Sprinter: PINK LLOYD

Trainer: Robert P. Tiller
Owner: Entourage Stable
Breeder: John Carey
CH. G. 9, by Old Forester – Gladiator Queen (Great Gladiator)
2021: 5 Starts – 3 wins – 2 seconds – 0 thirds – $289,742
Winner: Kennedy Road S. (G2), Ontario Jockey Club S., Bold Venture S. (G3)

Pink Lloyd (117), Avie's Flatter (57), Souper Stonehenge (37)

Outstanding Apprentice Jockey: MAURICIO MALVAEZ

252 Starts; 28 Wins; 34 Seconds; 34 Thirds
Earnings $470,225

A winner of the 2020 Sovereign Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey, Mauricio Malvaez switched over to riding racehorses in 2019 after a promising boxing career. The son of jockey Marcos Malvaez had his first full season of riding in 2020 in Alberta and rode Real Grace to a big win in the Grade 3 Canadian Derby. Mauricio bettered his 2020 totals in 2021 riding 19 winners at Century Mile, including Canadian Juvenile Stakes winner Asyoubelieve. He then moved his tack to Woodbine Racetrack in mid-September. In 2021 he won 28 races, leading all apprentice riders in Canada.

Mauricio Malvaez (136), Michael David (59), Edgar Zenteno (43)

Outstanding Jockey: KAZUSHI KIMURA

722 Starts; 140 Wins; 98 Seconds; 99 Thirds
Earnings $5,152,154; Stakes wins 8

Following only his fourth season as a jockey in Canada, Kazushi Kimura has earned his first nomination as Outstanding Jockey. Already a two-time winner of the Outstanding Apprentice Sovereign Award and an Eclipse Award winner for top apprentice, the Japanese-born rider's 140 victories easily topped all Canadian riders. His mounts earned over $5.1 million in purses. Kazushi's eight stakes wins included a win in the Grade 3 Ontario Derby aboard Gary Barber's Frosted Over. He also won the Grade 3 Hendrie on Barber's Our Secret Agent. Kazushi maintained an impressive 19 percent win rate in 2021.

Kazushi Kimura (116), Rafael Manuel Hernandez (58), Patrick Husbands (25), Justin Stein (25)

Champion Female Turf Horse: JOLIE OLIMPICA

Trainer: Josie Carroll
Owner: Shimokobe Farm
Breeder: Stud T N T
CH. M. 5, by Drosselmeyer – Jolie Celina *Brz (Trempolino)
2021: 5 Starts – 1 win – 1 second – 1 third – $118,987
Winner: Nassau S. (G2)

Jolie Olimpica (92), Amalfi Coast (56), Our Flash Drive (50)

Champion Male Turf Horse: TOWN CRUISE

Trainer: Brandon Evan Greer
Owner: Brandon Greer
Breeder: Terrance Reg Greer & Brandon Evan Greer
CH. G. 6, by Town Prize – Candy Cruise (Candy Ride *Arg)
2021: 5 Starts – 3 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds – $704,953
Winner: Woodbine Mile S. (G1), ALW/OC, ALW

Town Cruise (127), Avie's Flatter (62), Silent Poet (24)

Outstanding Trainer: MARK E. CASSE

540 Starts; 110 Wins; 80 Seconds; 67 Thirds
Earnings $6,525,302; Stakes wins 27

Mark Casse sent out the winners of a staggering 27 stakes races, a personal record for his Woodbine stable, and his trainees won 110 races, also a new career top. His Canadian runners earned over $6.5 million. He is the trainer of the impressive 2-year-old Canadian-bred colt God of Love, who won the Grey Stakes (G3) and the Cup and Saucer Stakes for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gary Barber. The Casse stable, under the watchful eyes of assistants David Adams and Kathryn Sullivan, developed many horses into graded stakes winners. Stable stars included two-time graded stakes winner Our Flash Drive, Mazarine Stakes (G3) winner Mrs. Barbara, Skygaze winner of the Maple Leaf Stakes (G3), Souper Stonehenge winner of the Vigil (G3) and Jacques Cartier Stakes (G3) and Frosted Over, who took the Ontario Derby (G3).

Mark E. Casse (123), Kevin Attard (67), Josie Carroll (30)

Champion Older Main Track Female: SKYGAZE

Trainer: Mark E. Casse
Owner: Tracy Farmer
Breeder: Normandy Farm LLC
B. F. 4, by American Pharoah – Skyscape (Marquetry)
2021: 5 Starts – 3 wins – 1 second – 1 third – $179,200
Winner: Maple Leaf S. (G3), Belle Mahone S., ALW/OC

Skygaze (106), Amalfi Coast (73), Infinite Patience (29)

Champion Older Main Track Male: MIGHTY HEART

Trainer: Josie Carroll
Owner: Lawrence Cordes
Breeder: Lawrence Cordes
B. C. 4, by Dramedy – Emma's Bullseye (City Place)
2021: 8 Starts – 3 wins – 2 seconds – 2 thirds – $377,361
Winner: Autumn S. (G2), Dominion Day S. (G3), Blame S.

Mighty Heart (108), Pink Lloyd (60), Sir Winston (40)

Outstanding Owner: LIVE OAK PLANTATION

68 Starts; 19 Wins; 7 Seconds; 4 Thirds
Earnings $1,403,812; Stakes wins 7

Live Oak Plantation, owned by Charlotte Weber, won its first Sovereign Award for Outstanding Owner in 2020 and had an even more lucrative season with its Canadian starters in 2021. Live Oak, located in Ocala, Florida, won 19 races from 68 starters, including seven stakes races. Leading the charge for the stable was Our Flash Drive, trained by Mark Casse, who won the Selene Stakes (G3) on Tapeta and the Ontario Colleen Stakes (G2) on the turf. Live Oak's homebred gelding Souper Stonehenge won the Vigil Stakes (G3) and Jacques Cartier Stakes (G3). Another top runner for Live Oak in 2021 was Souper Escape. Other stakes winners for the farm included March to the Arch and Tap It to Win.

Live Oak Plantation (100), Gary Barber (61), Godolphin, LLC (35)

Horse of the Year: MIGHTY HEART

Trainer: Josie Carroll
Owner: Lawrence Cordes
Breeder: Lawrence Cordes
B. C. 4, by Dramedy – Emma's Bullseye (City Place)
2021: 8 Starts – 3 wins – 2 seconds – 2 thirds – $377,361
Winner: Autumn S. (G2), Dominion Day S. (G3), Blame S.

Mighty Heart (63), Pink Lloyd (55), Town Cruise (34)

The post Mighty Heart Earns Second Straight Canadian Horse Of The Year Title appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

A total of 10 races kick off the 20th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing Tuesday, April 19 at Horseshoe Indianapolis. The card, which begins at 2:30 p.m., features nine Thoroughbred races capped off with one Quarter Horse race.

The racing program is showcased by a $38,000 allowance slated as the sixth race on the card. A full field of 12 will enter the gate for the five-furlong race with Flying Samurai and 2021 Leading Jockey Marcelino Pedroza Jr. leading the charge as the early morning line favorites. The 5-year-old First Samurai gelding makes his 2022 debut from post 10 at odds of 3-1 from the Robert Dobbs Jr. Stable.

“We were very pleased with the number of entries we had for opening day,” said Eric Halstrom, Vice President and General Manager of Racing. “Our entire team has been working hard to prepare for this year's meet under the new name of Horseshoe Indianapolis. We hope to build on the success we had last year, and we welcome several new faces to our team, which will only enhance our racing program.”

One of the new faces is the recognizable voice of Track Announcer John G. Dooley, who has provided the race calls for several hundred Graded Stakes over his career and is the current track announcer at Fair Grounds. Brian Arrigoni will also add his unique racing analysis to the daily Thoroughbred racing program, specializing in multi-race wagers including the Pick 5, which is very popular with racing fans nationally due to the 11.99 percent takeout. Both Dooley and Arrigoni join longtime on-air racing analyst Rachel McLaughlin and Quarter Horse racing analyst Martha Claussen for complete coverage of the racing season.

Arrigoni will be highlighted by “Pick the Ponies with Arrigoni,” a special handicapping contest for opening day. The contest will feature selections for the Pick 5 in Races 5 – 9 with the top three handicappers sharing the $350 prize money. The contest is open to all players both on-track and online.

Four of the top five jockeys from 2021 are scheduled to ride on the opening day card. Marcelino Pedroza Jr., DeShawn Parker, Sammy Bermudez, and Joe Ramos, who finished first through fourth, respectively, in the standings will ride in Indiana this year. Randy Klopp, 2021 Leading Trainer, is also back and will saddle seven for the opening day card.

The 20th season of live Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing begins Tuesday, April 19 and extends through Wednesday, Nov. 23. Live racing is conducted at 2:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday with Thursday post times set for 3:30 p.m. A total of 12 Saturdays will feature live racing in 2022 highlighted by the 28th running of the Grade 3 $300,000 Indiana Derby set for Saturday, July 9. For more information on live racing at Horseshoe Indianapolis, visit www.caesars.com/horseshoe-indianapolis.

The post 10 Races Kick Off 2022 Season At Horseshoe Indianapolis appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Luna Belle, Maryland's champion 2-year-old filly of 2021 that has gone unbeaten through three starts at 3, goes after her fifth consecutive stakes victory and a chance at possible graded glory in Saturday's $125,000 Weber City Miss at Laurel Park.

The Weber City Miss for 3-year-old fillies going about 1 1/16 miles serves as co-headliner with the $125,000 Federico Tesio for 3-year-olds on a 10-race program featuring four stakes worth $450,000 in purses. First race post time is 12:40 p.m.

It is the first of back-to-back Spring Stakes Spectacular Saturdays at Laurel, followed by an April 23 program featuring five $100,000 stakes including the first three of the season scheduled for Laurel's world-class turf course.

In its seventh year, the Weber City Miss returns to Laurel after being contested last spring at historic Pimlico Race Course for the first time during the renovation of Laurel's main track. It affords the winner an automatic berth in the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) on Preakness Eve, May 20.

Owned by Deborah Greene and trainer Hamilton Smith and bred by Smith, Greene and her late father, Fred Greene Jr., Luna Belle continues to thrive with racing, having made at least one start every month since her debut on the Colonial Downs turf last July. She was third or better five times in seven tries at 2 including a maiden win third time out in her dirt debut and a victory in the Maryland Juvenile Fillies at Laurel to launch her streak.

“She bounces back from every race so far real good and seems no worse for wear, so we'll just go on with her. We pointed for this one, we'll see how she does and reevaluate again after this race,” Smith said.

“The plan, hopefully, is that she can get the job done and get the automatic [berth] for the Black-Eyed Susan. That's more or less what we're pointing for right now,” he added. “If we get that accomplished, then after the Black-Eyed Susan we'll give her a little break and come back mid-summer and start her up again and hope for the Maryland Million and all those races in the fall.”

Luna Belle started this year winning the six-furlong Xtra Heat by six lengths Jan. 29 and the seven-furlong Wide Country by three lengths Feb. 19, coming from off the pace each time, the latter in a last-to-first move. Stretched out to a mile for the first time in the March 19 Beyond the Wire, she was never more than a half-length from the leaders, took over the top spot after six furlongs and went on to win by 3 ½ lengths.

“She was up closer naturally because she was going a little further, for one thing. She looked like she was a little more aggressive with [jockey Denis Araujo] than she normally was in the prior several races,” Smith said. “He finally got her to relax a little bit down the backside. She went to the lead around the turn and she did win it pretty impressively. I was very pleased the way she did it.

“I'm not crazy about having her on the lead or anything like that. I'd rather she sit off the lead a little bit like she did in her sprints,” he added. “Maybe not as far back, but just off the lead a little bit and when he asks her to, let her go. I prefer that better than being with the front runners. We'll just see how it goes.”

Smith is confident Luna Belle can handle her first attempt at two turns in the Weber City Miss. Her streak began with the addition of Araujo, who rides back from Post 5 of six at topweight of 124 pounds.

“I like the way they've got the program set up, advancing an eighth of a mile or so each race. It gives a horse like her an opportunity, instead of going from a three-quarter-mile race to a mile and a sixteenth,” Smith said. “At least she's got the steps to go in it. I think that's a good thing for a young horse. She seems so far in all her races she's handled things pretty easy, and she seems like she can keep going further than she has been.

“So far she looks like she's been taking her races OK and things have been working out fine,” he added. “She had several works between races and she worked OK and all. We'll just have to hope for the best.”

Luna Belle will face a familiar foe in Mi Patria Racing's Click to Confirm, who she beat in the Beyond the Wire and Maryland Juvenile Fillies as well as the 2021 Smart Halo, where she ran second and Click to Confirm was third, separated by 2 ½ lengths.

“Luna Belle is a monster,” trainer Rudy Sanchez-Salomon said. “She's a nice filly, but if you don't compete you can't win. You have to try. It's racing.”

Click to Confirm forged a short lead after a half-mile in the one-mile Beyond the Wire, where she was sent off at 53-1, but tired through the stretch and wound up third. Though beaten nine lengths, she was 5 ½ lengths clear of well-regarded Diamond Collector in fourth.

“She's doing awesome. She's getting more mature race by race,” Sanchez-Salomon said. “She's getting a lot better. She's getting a lot more confident in herself, and I like that. She's getting really mature now, and I think the longer she runs the better she goes.”

Claimed for $25,000 out of her debut victory last September, Maryland-bred Click to Confirm returned from the Beyond the Wire and beat her elders in a conditioned allowance going 1 1/16 miles April 1 at Laurel over a main track rated good. She edged 4-year-old favorite Mit Mazel, a five-time winner, by a neck.

“The last race she ran with tougher competition than she had before, and she got better because she was the only 3-year-old against older horses. She got a lot of confidence,” Sanchez-Salomon said. “When [jockey] Angel [Cruz] turned her in and tried to go by, that was the best move she ever made.

“You have to keep riding her. She's one of those fillies that if you don't ride her, she won't run. She'll just stay one-paced. But, if you ask her for more she'll give you more,” he added. “Angel knows her now and they get along really well.”

Cruz, up for the ninth consecutive race, rides from Post 4 at 118 pounds.

The rest of the field is comprised by new faces from out of town including Shadwell Stable's Khuluq, a homebred daughter of champion Bernardini out of an unraced Tapit mare making her fifth career start and first in a stakes. Trained by four-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, the bay filly exits a 6 ½-length maiden special weight triumph going one mile March 18 at Aqueduct.

Feargal Lynch gets the call from Post 2 at 120 pounds.

Carguys Racing's Abidale is also set to make her stakes and two-turn debut in her third start for Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1)-winning trainer John Servis. Unraced at 2, she has had a pair of maiden special weight sprints at her home base of Parx, most recently a 1 ¾-length triumph March 2.

“She's a filly that's been wanting to go two turns,” Servis said. “I sprinted her the other day and she didn't run any good. But, that's not her style and I can't get her in going long so we'll wheel her right back into this race just to get the two turns in her and maybe get lucky and get a little black type.

“[She's a] great big filly, very awkward. [It] just took her a while. [She's a] late bloomer [that's] starting to put it together,” he added. “She's another one I'm dying to get two turns. Getting those races to fill in the wintertime is tough.”

In each of her two races Abidale, by multiple Grade 2 winner Cairo Prince, was either outrun early or off slowly. But both times Servis came away impressed, even her Feb. 8 debut, which he watched via simulcast from out of town.

“She doesn't have speed like that so sprinting, she takes all the worst of it. Her first race, she had to be 12 lengths behind the last horse. I thought she was going to get pulled up,” Servis said. “She made a nice run. I was in Florida at the time and I was watching it on TV and they commented about the gallop-out, because when she hit the seven-eighths pole she was three in front of the rest of the field. She'll benefit from the two turns, that's for sure.”

Frankie Pennington is named to ride from the rail at 118 pounds.

Rock Ridge Racing's Zawish will be returning to the dirt after three consecutive races over the all-weather surface at Turfway Park. Trained by Helen Pitts, the daughter of two-time Grade 1-winning multimillionaire Mshawish went two-for-two at 2, winning her November unveiling on the main track and an optional claiming allowance on the synthetic. She has been off the board in back-to-back stakes, most recently fifth in the March 5 Cincinnati Trophy.

Now based with trainer Mike Stidham in Fair Hill, Md., Speedway Stable's homebred Chardonnay wintered at Fair Grounds where she broke her maiden by three-quarters of a length going 1 1/16 miles Feb. 10, her sixth start. Last out she was second, beaten 1 ¼ lengths, in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance March 18.

The post Maryland Champion Luna Belle Looks To Extend Her Streak In Weber City Miss, A ‘Win And You’re In’ For Black-Eyed Susan appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

The $100,000 Long Branch Stakes, for fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and up, headlines Opening Day of the 2022 Woodbine Thoroughbred season, slated as the seventh race on Saturday's eight-race card.

The 5 ½-furlong main track feature has drawn seven starters, including 4-year-old Dreaming of Drew.

Trained by Barbara Minshall, Dreaming of Drew will be making her first start since an authoritative 3 ¾-length score in the 75th edition of the $250,000 Princess Elizabeth Stakes, for Canadian-foaled 2-year-old fillies, on Oct. 31, 2020.

Sent off as the 4-5 choice, Dreaming of Drew led every step of the way in the 1 1/16-mile main track affair, crossing the wire under a hand ride, 3 ¾-lengths ahead of her nearest rival.

“She's doing great,” said Minshall, Canada's champion trainer in 1996. “She's been down with Travis Durr in South Carolina all this time. She's come up from there and she's come up in great shape. We want to get her back in action. It's been a year and a half since she last ran. It may be a little shorter than her ideal distance, but she's fit and she's ready to go. We want to get her back on a program, follow that and keep on going from there.”

Owned by Hoolie Racing Stable, LLC, Dreaming of Drew, an Ontario-bred daughter of Speightster, debuted on June 13, 2020, in a 4 ½-furlong test over the Toronto oval Tapeta. Sent off at 5-1, she utilized a determined stretch bid to finish second, 2 ½ lengths behind the winner.

Next time out, the WinStar Farm-bred miss broke her maiden via a six-length romp as the 7-5 choice.

After a runner-up effort – she lost by a nose to Alda in the Catch a Glimpse Stakes (6 ½ furlongs on the turf) on August 23, 2020 – Dreaming of Drew was fourth in the Grade 1 Natalma one month later, before going on to her Princess Elizabeth triumph.

Minshall has long been impressed with one of her stable stars.

“She's always been a great filly, no question about it. She just had an injury that took time to heal. Sometimes, time heals a lot. This time last year, we had her at Keeneland with the intent to run her in the spring, but she got hurt, so it's pretty much a year later.”

First post is 1:10 p.m. Live Thoroughbred racing continues at Woodbine on Sunday, a 1:10 p.m. card that includes the running of the $100,000 Thorncliffe Stakes. Fans can also watch and wager on all the action through HPIbet.com and the Dark Horse Bets app.

FIELD FOR THE LONG BRANCH

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Our Secret Agent – Kazushi Kimura – Mark Casse
2 – Nikee Kan – Rafael Hernandez – Jose Francisco D'Angelo
3 – Jeanie B (GB) – Antonio Gallardo – Mark Casse
4 – Dreaming of Drew – Patrick Husbands – Barbara Minshall
5 – Marais – Eswan Flores – Don Pleterski
6 – Ima Beast – Sahin Civaci – Harold Ladouceur
7 – Imagery – Daisuke Fukumoto – Vito Armata

The post Returning From 18-Month Layoff, Dreaming Of Drew Headlines Opening Day Long Branch Stakes At Woodbine appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post