Woodbine Oaks

Josie Carroll recorded her 1,000th career win as a trainer in Sunday's fourth race at Woodbine when the 4-year-old Tapit gelding Spinzar won for LNJ Foxwoods. Carroll, who became the first woman to trainer a King's Plate winner in 2006, also trained this year's Woodbine Oaks winner. Horses racing out of the Josie Carroll barn include names such as two-time Canadian Horse of the Year Mighty Heart (Dramedy), Careless Heart (Stormin Fever), champion 2-year-old colt Avie's Flatter (Flatter), Ami's Holiday (Harlan's Holiday) and champion 3-year-old colt Ami's Gizmo (Giant Gizmo)....

Kin's Concerto, whose lone previous victory came via disqualification, made it to the line first for the first time with a stylish victory in the Woodbine Oaks Saturday afternoon. The chestnut filly sat just off the pace while skimming the rail through fractions of :23.78 and :47.96. Behind a wall of horses at the top of the lane, Kin's Concerto angled to the center of the track in upper stretch and closed relentlessly to hit the front in the final strides. "We just wanted to break in early position," said...

With the Breeders' Cup a little over four months away, the 'Win and You're In' tickets to the signature event, the GI Longines Classic, are definitely numbered. The road to Del Mar currently goes through Churchill Downs on Saturday as Classic hopefuls enter the starting gate for the GI Stephen Foster Stakes. Looking to punch his ticket to the seaside oval is Godolphin homebred First Mission (Street Sense). The 'TDN Rising Star' certainly burned brightest when he took home the GIII Essex Handicap by five lengths at Oaklawn Park in...

Anchored by the 165th running of the King's Plate, Woodbine's 2024 stakes schedule features 38 graded races, four of them Grade I events. The track's stakes schedule this year is missing the GI Canadian International, which was put on hiatus, "after review and consideration of industry and logistical challenges," according to a Woobine press release. In another change to the track's traditional line-up of stakes, the $750,000 GI E. P. Taylor S. will be moved up three weeks and will be run on a Sept. 14 card which also includes...

The Jockey Club of Canada unveiled the 2023 Sovereign Awards finalists Monday led by Kings Plate S. winner Paramount Prince (Society's Chairman) and Woodbine Oaks heroine Elysian Field (Hard Spun). The winners of each category, along with Canada's 2023 Horse of the Year, will be revealed during the Annual Sovereign Award ceremony held April 18 in Woodbridge, Ontario. Awards will also be given to Outstanding Groom and Outstanding Off-Track Worker along with the E.P. Taylor Award. Finalists are listed alphabetically below: Champion 2-year-old Female: Living Magic (Justify), Tripolina (Constitution), Witwatersrand...

Edited Press Release Jockey Gary Boulanger, whose numerous career highlights include a Queen's Plate victory, has decided to call it a career. "It's the right time," Boulanger, 55, told Woodbine Communications. "I don't feel I have anything left to prove. I am so grateful to all the trainers, owners and my fellow riders for their support. Just like anyone who rides horses, there are many ups and downs, but you always find a way to persevere." A 2020 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee, the native of Alberta enjoyed...

Bet down from a 12-1 morning line to be off at less than half that quote, Team Valor International and Gary Barber's Elysian Field (Hard Spun) stamped her authority on Sunday's Woodbine Oaks--despite some wayward ways in the final eighth of a mile--to give trainer Mark Casse a fourth victory in the first leg of the Canadian Filly Triple Crown and first since Barber's Lexie Lou (Sligo Bay {Ire}) scored in 2014. In partnership with Michael Langlois, Barber also won Sunday's Plate Trial S. with Paramount Prince (Society's Chairman). With...

Russell Baze has been named the 2023 recipient of the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award. The award, named after the late jockey who died after a three-horse accident in the 1980 Canadian Oaks, is given to the person, Canadian-born, Canadian-raised or regular rider in the country for more than five years, who has made significant contributions to Thoroughbred racing. A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Baze was a prominent name on the North American racing circuit for 42 years, finishing as the all-time leader for wins by a jockey. He recorded...

Woodbine Entertainment has released the nominations for the 2023 OLG Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, consisting of The King's Plate, the Prince of Wales and the Breeders' S. Totaling 124 3-year-olds foaled in Canada, the list of nominees includes star performers from last season, winners south of the border over the winter and many preparing for the upcoming Woodbine meet. Contested over three different surfaces at two courses, the Canadian Triple Crown will kick off Sunday, Aug. 20 at Woodbine with the 164th running of The King's Plate followed...

Moira looped the field impressively en route to a dominant score in Sunday's Woodbine Oaks, providing trainer Kevin Attard with a second-straight win in this event and adding to a long list of accomplishments for her ownership group. And she did it all without her hind shoes, having acted up in the paddock and been unable to be adequately re-shod in time. An impressive debut graduate from out of the clouds in the C$250,000 Princess Elizabeth S. here last October, the bay settled for second as the favorite in the...

One hundred of the top Canadian-bred 3-year-old Thoroughbreds have been nominated to the 2022 Canadian Triple Crown. Woodbine Entertainment released the nominations for the three-race series, which consists of the Aug. 21 Queen's Plate, Sept. 13 Prince of Wales S. and culminates with the Oct. 2 Breeders' S. The total number of nominees is down from last year's high of 125, but up from only 92 in 2020. Among the top nominees to the series are: Messier (Empire Maker), Ironstone (Mr Speaker), God of Love (Cupid), The Minkster (English Channel),...

Munnyfor Ro (Munnings) completed a quick-fire stakes double for her outstanding sire, overcoming a tough trip from a double digit gate to take out Sunday's C$500,000 Woodbine Oaks in Toronto. Settled behind midfield through the opening furlongs, the $65,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase traveled four and five off the inside--though with some cover--down the backstretch and began working into it entering the final half-mile. Four deep for the run around the second turn, she sustained a long run despite the ground loss, hit the front in upper stretch and stayed...