Tuesday, January 24 2012
The Jockey Club of Canada Announces 2011 Sovereign Award Finalists
TORONTO, January 24 - The Jockey Club of Canada will host their 37th Annual Sovereign Awards Ceremony to honour the Canadian Champions of 2011, on Thursday, April 5, 2012, on the third floor of Woodbine Race Track in Toronto. Woodbine Entertainment Group will join in the celebration as they get ready to kick-off their 2012 Live Thoroughbred meet on Friday, April 6, a date which represents the start of thoroughbred racing in Canada.
This elegant cocktail-attire celebration will include a welcome back reception, a buffet-style gourmet dinner, and magical entertainment along with the evening’s feature event, the presentation of the Sovereign Award Trophies to Canada’s Racing Champions of 2011 and Canada’s Horse of the Year.
Wednesday, January 04 2012
2011 WEG Standardbred racing season sees rise in wagering
TORONTO, January 4 - Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) today announced its 2011 live Standardbred racing season, conducted at Woodbine and Mohawk, saw a sharp increase in handle over the previous year.
The 223-date campaign, which concluded December 31, produced an "all-sources" total of $298,979,830 wagered, a 4.57 per cent overall increase from the $285,904,240 mark recorded from 243 dates offered last year. The daily average live handle of $1,340,717 in 2011 exceeded 2010 by 14 per cent, and was the highest annual daily average wager since 2006.
Wednesday, December 07 2011
2011 Woodbine Thoroughbred meet shows strong rise in handle
TORONTO, December 7 - Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) today announced its 2011 live Thoroughbred racing season saw a significant increase in handle over the previous year.
The 165-day meet, which concluded December 4, saw an "all-sources" total of $423,210,680 wagered, a 7.5 per cent overall rise from the $393,506,550 figure recorded from the 167 dates offered last year.
Monday, December 05 2011
Casse, Contreras set records during 2011 Woodbine meet
TORONTO, December 4 - The year-end drama had played out well before Sunday's huge 13-race season-ending card at Woodbine, but many of the magical moments of the meet were no less historic.
Mark Casse set records in both major training categories. It was a fifth straight training title and sixth overall for Casse, who won 119 races, shattering the mark established by the late Frank Passero in 1995 (89 wins). Casse also won more purses in one Woodbine meet than any horseman ever, collecting $6,670,906 eclipsing his own 2007 mark.
Friday, December 02 2011
Money in the bank: Contreras sets single-season earnings record
TORONTO, December 1 - Jockey Luis Contreras, who recently became just the second rider in the history of Woodbine to win 200 races in one meet, recorded another impressive feat, most purse earnings in a Woodbine season, a mark he set on Thursday afternoon.
Contreras, who won the 2011 Woodbine Oaks and Queen's Plate with Inglorious, as well as the Prince of Wales and Breeders' Stakes with Pender Harbour, has $11,287,783 in earnings to date, surpassing Todd Kabel's mark of $11,284,853, set in 2003, when he finished fourth in Thursday’s seventh race aboard Salty Langfuhn.
Thursday, December 01 2011
Woodbine’s 2011 Thoroughbred meet set to wrap
TORONTO, December 1 - The 2011 Woodbine thoroughbred racing season will take its spot in the history books after Sunday's 13-race card, which was drawn Thursday.
The 165th and final day of the eight-month meet, which has a first-race post time of 1:00 p.m., will feature a season-high 155 horses, including eight also-eligible runners.
Monday, November 28 2011
Maritimer ‘Display’s Sovereign credentials
TORONTO, November 27 – Norseman Racing Stable's Maritimer coasted to victory in Sunday's $175,300 Display Stakes at Woodbine.
In victory, the dark bay son of Stormy Atlantic-Highland Mood, who captured the Coronation Futurity in his previous start, makes a compelling case for the Sovereign Award as Canada's champion two-year-old male.
Saturday, November 26 2011
‘Aruba’ resorts to late-running tactics to take Kingarvie
TORONTO, November 26 – Donna Blake's Run In Aruba rallied wide down the lane to capture Saturday's $125,000 Kingarvie Stakes at Woodbine.
It was the second-consecutive win for the Ralph Biamonte trainee who came into the event off a narrow score in a mile and seventy yards allowance tilt.
Sunday, November 20 2011
Essence Hit Man wins with speed and stamina in Kennedy Road
TORONTO, November 19 – Audre and Gordon Cappuccitti's Essence Hit Man sped gate-to-wire to capture Saturday's Grade 3 $174,000 Kennedy Road Stakes, at Woodbine.
The four-year-old son of Speightstown-El Prado Essence, who routinely fires off an opening quarter in under 22 seconds, set a relatively reserved first fraction and had plenty in reserve when needed in the stretch to win his fifth career added-money score.
Monday, November 14 2011
Tu Endie Wei terriffic in Glorious Song score
TORONTO, November 13 - Brereton C. Jones' Tu Endie Wei returned to the winner’s circle in impressive fashion, capturing Sunday's $152,100 Glorious Song Stakes at Woodbine.
The daughter of Johar-Ms. Cornstalk, who is a half sister to 2010 Canadian Horse of the Year Biofuel, came into the seven furlong 'Polytrack' event off a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades at Keeneland. The Reade Baker trainee, who started her career with back-to-back stakes scores in the My Dear and Ontario Debutante at Woodbine, improved on her early promise in Sunday's event with a front-running effort embellished with an impressive turn of foot through the stretch.
Sunday, November 13 2011
Favourites fall as Straight Story leaves Autumn foes reeling
TORONTO, November 14 – Richard Santulli's Straight Story, bred in New York by Gallagher's Stud, led gate-to-wire to capture Saturday's $161,600 Autumn Stakes, at Woodbine.
The Grade 2 event was the second win of the year for the five-year-old son of Giant's Causeway, whose previous score came in his seasonal debut when wiring the Grade 3 Fort Marcy Stakes at Belmont on May 7.
Thursday, November 10 2011
Can Stunning Stag turn up the heat (again) in Autumn Stakes?
TORONTO, November 10 – Stunning Stag, who took last year’s Autumn Stakes in impressive fashion, looks to make a return trip to the winner’s circle in the Grade 2, $150,000 feature, Saturday at Woodbine, an event that has also drawn this year’s Prince of Wales and Breeders’ Stakes champion, Pender Harbour.
Yet another astute claim by trainer Sid Attard almost four years ago, Stunning Stag, who took last year’s Autumn by 3 ¾ lengths, heads into his 31st career start off a third-place finish in the Presque Isle Downs Mile Stakes on September 9.
