Woodbine Oaks

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...

A pair of undefeated fillies lead the way in a 10-horse, wide-open renewal of the Woodbine Oaks Sunday. Brent and Russell McLellan and Gerry Olguin's Lorena (Souper Speedy) is three-for-three and was most recently a front-running 3/4-length winner of the seven-furlong Fury S. July 10. The dark bay filly, 2-1 on the morning line, will be trying a route for the first time in Sunday's nine-furlong Oaks. "She's just done everything so well," trainer Stuart Simon said of the filly. "She keeps taking steps forward. I'm not concerned about the...

A pair of fillies, including Canada's reigning champion 2-year-old filly Curlin's Voyage (Curlin), will take aim at 13 sophomore colts in Saturday's $1-million Queen's Plate S., historically the first jewel in Canada's Triple Crown. The winner of the Aug. 15 Woodbine Oaks, the Hill 'n' Dale Equine and Windsor Boys Racing-owned filly is trained by Josie Carroll, who previously won the 10-furlong Classic with another filly--Inglorious in 2011--and with Edenwold in 2006. In this renewal, Carroll will also saddle Belichick (Lemon Drop Kid)  and Mighty Heart (Dramedy). "We've always thought...

A diverse mix of shippers and local hopes will line up in the one-mile GIII Ontario Colleen S. for 3-year-old fillies Saturday at Woodbine. One of only two graded/group winners in the field, e Five Racing Thoroughbreds' Seek and Destroy (Verrazano) has been given the slight nod on the morning line at 5-2. Off the board in her first two tries last summer at Saratoga, she graduated by daylight in an off-the-turfer Oct. 8 at Belmont and repeated in the washed-off Chelsey Flower S. there 20 days later. Getting back...