Woodbine Race Course | Horse Racing Free Tips

Not So Quiet Repeats In Overskate At Woodbine

Not So Quiet defended his Overskate Stakes title in impressive fashion Saturday at Woodbine Race Course in Toronto, Ontario.

Originally slated for 7 ½-furlongs on the Inner Turf, the Ontario-sired Overskate was changed to seven panels on the Tapeta after the Greater Toronto area saw steady rainfall on Friday evening through to Saturday.

Not So Quiet, under Rafael Hernandez, rained on everyone's parade in the Toronto oval's $100,000 feature.

Just as he did last year, the Mark Casse trainee arrived at the Overskate off a win in the Vice Regent Stakes.

It was longshot Derzkii, to the outside, and Not So Quiet who were running one-two, respectively, through an opening quarter of :23.02, but by the time the field of eight (Desolator was scratched) reached the half-mile marker in :45.76, Not So Quiet was a head on top.

Hernandez and the six-year-old son of Silent Name began to easily expand their lead around the turn for home. By the time the stretch drive got underway, Not So Quiet was already widening his advantage with ease and was volumes the best at the wire, winning by 3 ½-lengths in a time of 1:21.46.

Told It All rallied to finish second, Wave Baby was third and Derzkii was fourth.

Hernandez doled out high marks for the Heste Sport homebred who has enjoyed success at various distances and on different surfaces.

“He's nice. Last race [Vice Regent], he impressed me on the turf. He came running down the lane. It was the most impressive race he had so far. But he can do anything… he can do turf, he can do synthetic, he can be on the lead, come from off the pace. No matter how the race sets up for him, he finds a way to keep going.”

Not So Quiet, who paid $3.30 to win as the 3-5 second choice, is 8-0-2 from 16 career starts.

It was a big day for Casse, who won five races on the card: Similar Taste (Race 1), Ostracize (Race 2), Swot Analysis (Race 4), La Libertee (Race 5), and Not So Quiet (Race 9).

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Olympic Runner Adds Graded Stakes Winner To Resume In King Edward At Woodbine

Olympic Runner has started in his share of graded stakes races, coming close to winning several of them, including his last-out second-place finish in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup at Woodbine Race Course in Toronto, Ontario. Sunday, he finally broke through to graded stakes winner status in his 23rd start with his win in the Grade 2 King Edward Stakes at Woodbine, taking the lead late in the one-mile stakes to win by 1 1/4 lengths.

Town Cruise, breaking from the inside post, found plenty of running room at the break, taking the lead in the first furlong with Gray's Fable and Jolie Olympica a length and a half behind him. Olympic Runner with jockey Rafael Hernandez moved to the rail before the first turn, sitting in fourth behind Town Cruise throughout the first seven furlongs. The leader, a chestnut gelding by Town Prize, held as much as a three-length advantage on the backstretch, entering the far turn looking like he could take the field wire to wire. About that time, Hernandez moved Olympic Runner off the rail, using the open running lane to mount their bid for the lead.

In the stretch, though, the margin between Town Cruise and the field began to shrink as both Olympic Runner and Avie's Flatter closed in on the leader. Olympic Runner was fastest, taking the lead from Town Cruise in the last sixteenth of a mile to seal the victory. Town Cruise held on for second, with a fast closing March to the Arch overtaking Avie's Flatter for third. Gray's Fable, Jolie Olympica, Valid Point, and Alfons Walde rounded out the order of finish.

The final time for the mile over the E.P. Taylor turf course at Woodbine was 1:31.73, a new track record. Find this race's chart here.

Olympic Runner paid $16.80, $7.60, and $4.30. Town Cruise paid $5.40 and $3.50. March to the Arch paid $2.80.

Bred in Kentucky by Eutrophia Farm LTD, Olympic Runner is by Gio Ponti out of Nadadora, by Carson City. He is owned by Gary Barber and trained by Mark Casse. The 5-year-old gelding was consigned by Equest Thoroughbreds and sold to Justin Casse for $180,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. With this victory in the G2 King Edward, Olympic Runner has two wins in seven starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of 5-7-2 in 23 starts and career earnings of $419,450.

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Forest Survivor Best In Lake Huron At Woodbine

The $80,000 Lake Huron Stakes, part of the Ontario Sire Heritage Series, took place Saturday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, with Forest Survivor taking the victory.

The five-furlong inner turf event for colts and geldings is part of the Ontario Sire Heritage Series, a new eight-leg stakes series open to Ontario Sired 3-year-olds, to be contested at Woodbine and Fort Erie racetracks.

Ontario Racing and its Thoroughbred Improvement Program (TIP) Committee unveiled the series in March. With a total purse structure of $750,000, the Heritage Series will feature a total of four races – three opening legs and one final – for both 3-year-old colts and 3-year-old fillies that are sustained to the Ontario Sires Stakes program.

Forest Survivor and All Canadian both shot out strongly to engage in a speed battle, dueling through a quarter-mile of :21.72. Sent off as the 1/2 favorite, Forest Survivor and Kazushi Kimura turned away All Canadian convincingly to open several lengths in the stretch, running to a 1 ¾ length victory in :57.33.

Galvaston closed in late to finish second, while Jocularity and Dragon's Brew completed the top-four.

“(Forest Survivor) is pretty quick all the time…I'm just doing one job like just send him to the front,” said Kimura, noting it was the same tactics as the colt's most recent start, a second-place effort on June 13.

A son of Old Forester, Forest Survivor has now won two of three starts this season after three of eight starts overall. The chestnut colt is trained by Norm McKnight for owner Bruno Schickedanz.

Forest Survivor paid $3.10 to win.

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Jolie Olimpica Takes Nassau Over Firm Turf At Woodbine

Fox Hill Farm's Jolie Olimpica bested a field of a dozen distaffers to take the $175,000 Nassau, a one-mile Grade 2 stakes for fillies and mares four years old and up, featured on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

Making her Woodbine debut on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course, Jolie Olimpica stalked the pacesetter Honey Cake while racing outside of 2020 Nassau runner-up Another Time through fractions of :23.94, :47.63, and 1:10.69. The Brazilian-bred daughter of Drosselmeyer rallied three-wide on the turn and pulled ahead down the lane en route to victory in 1:34.83 over the 'firm' course.

Jolie Olimpica paid $5.30 to win as the 8-5 favorite as she finished three-quarters of a length ahead of 7-2 second choice Abscond, who closed strongly from the backfield to place. Our Secret Agent rounded out the top three finish order, 2 ½ lengths behind.

“She was so nice and great the whole way,” said winning jockey Luis Contreras. “I was confident every single step of the way and turning for home, it felt like she was just breaking from the gate again.”

Bred by Stud T N T, the classy chestnut mare has finished no worse than third in 10 lifetime starts. A Group 1 winner in Brazil, Jolie Olimpica has earned more than $450,000 in purses and six career victories, including last year's Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes and Grade 3 Las Cienegas at Santa Anita.

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The multiple graded stakes-winning 5-year-old was previously trained by Richard Mandella stateside before joining the stable of Canadian Hall of Famer Josie Carroll this season at Woodbine.

Carroll noted the mare has been ready to run for a long time with the delayed season and opted for the Nassau's one-turn mile to allow her to relax better in the race and make an easier lead.

“What an honour to have these silks,” said Carroll in reference to the white and red colours representing Fox Hill and its late founder Rick Porter. “It was wonderful that Mr. Porter sent this horse here and that his family left her with me with his passing. I'm delighted that she won in his honour in one of the big choices that he made. He's made such great choices and had such great horses over the years that I hope we can carry on his tradition.”

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