The Grade 1 Haskell Stakes, its Grade 1 turf undercard United Nations, and a salty Grade 3 filly turf sprint finale at Saratoga headline this week’s New York Racing Association Cross Country Pick 5. This week’s Cross Country Pick 5 features stakes races coming from Monmouth Park, Saratoga, and Canada’s […]
Tag: Woodbine
Woodbine Rides Safe Conduct’s Queen’s Plate Win to Strong Handle
Spurred by Safe Conduct’s Queen’s Plate victory, Woodbine Racetrack registered the second-highest wagering handle for Queen’s Plate Day in event history. Bettors wagered $16,122,170 on Sunday’s 13-race card at the suburban Toronto, Ontario, Canada track. That ranked second only to 2018’s Queen’s Plate Day handle of $18,005,973. Meanwhile, it surpassed […]
The Attards Set a Family Table for This Year’s Queen’s Plate
There’s something of a Kevin Attard feel to this year’s Queen’s Plate, the opening jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown. A Kevin Attard feel that defines flooding the zone. The trainer sends out four horses – nearly a third of the 13-horse field – for Sunday’s Queen’s Plate on Woodbine’s […]
Cross Country Pick 5 Takes to the Stakes This Week
Four stakes races up and down the graded-stakes ladder highlight this week’s New York Racing Association Cross Country Pick 5. The horizontal exotic once again brings you races from Monmouth Park, Saratoga, and Canada’s Woodbine. The minimum bet for the three-track, five-race wager is 50 cents. The Cross Country Pick […]
Mighty Heart, Canada’s One-Eyed Darling, Heads Dominion Day Field
Remember Mighty Heart, the reigning Canadian Horse of the Year? The now-4-year-old headlines the field in the Grade 3 Dominion Day Stakes, Woodbine’s flagship race on Canada Day. The July 1 Dominion Day Stakes takes its contestants 1 1/16 miles over Woodbine’s all-weather Tapeta surface. Waiting for Mighty Heart are […]
Canadian Champion Pink Lloyd Ready for His Swan Song Season
Given his horse’s cute name, trainer Robert Tiller explained Pink Lloyd’s future plans without a trace of irony. The 9-year-old gelding will head to a Canadian retirement farm for Thoroughbreds sometime this year. Emphasis on the “sometime.†“He’ll be a movie star there after being a rock star on the […]
Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series Offers Record Nine Spots for Classic
The Breeders’ Cup World Championships announced its 2021 Challenge Series race schedule, which features a record nine Challenge Series “Win and You’re In†races to the event’s flagship Breeders’ Cup Classic. The $6 million Classic is an All-Star race, capping the two-day, 14-race, $31 million Breeders’ Cup. This year’s Breeders’ […]
Canadian Single-Game Betting Gets Big Parliamentary Push
Canada moved one step closer to legalized single-game sports betting this past week when its House of Commons overwhelmingly passed a private measure bill, 303-15. The bill, authored by Conservative MP Kevin Waugh (Saskatoon-Grasswood), would open the windows for legalized single-event sports wagering throughout Canada. Much as the May 2018 […]
Weather, COVID-19 Puts an Early End to Woodbine’s Racing Season
Mere hours after announcing the premature end of its Thoroughbred meet due to provincial COVID-19 restrictions, Woodbine Racetrack abruptly ended its meet on Sunday due to inclement weather rolling through the Province of Ontario. Track officials canceled the last seven races after a storm front brought snow and mixed precipitation […]
From One Eye, Mighty Heart Sees a Path to the Canadian Triple Crown
Many eyes on Saturday will be on one-eyed Mighty Heart, focused to see if the small 3-year-old can run to his name and become the first Canadian Triple Crown winner in 17 years. Mighty Heart, your even-money favorite, headlines Saturday’s Breeders’ Stakes from Woodbine Racetrack outside Toronto. The 1 ½-mile […]
Gretzky the Great Gunning for Hat Trick in Summer Stakes
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse won the Grade 1 Summer Stakes three consecutive years from 2013-2015. Now, he sends Gretzky the Great out in search of his own hat trick in one of Woodbine’s two Grade 1 races Sunday. The Grade 1 Summer Stakes sends seven 2-year-olds a mile […]
Will Clayton Pick Up Queen’s Plate? Or Will One of the Girls Steal It?
Think of the Queen’s Plate as Canada’s Kentucky Derby. It’s got the century-and-a-half pedigree, the same 1 ¼-mile distance, and the same historical entrée and bragging rights for the 3-year-old who wins the $1 million race at Woodbine. For Canadian-breds, this is the race everyone wants on their resume. Even […]
Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Presents Bettors High Stakes Choices
You have your cross country Pick 4s and Pick 5s, which demand you pick winners from different tracks around the country. But the latest betting novelty for horseplayers takes the Cross Country Pick 5, boosts its class, and takes it international. Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 gives bettors a swing […]
Canada’s Queen’s Plate Pushed From June to September
The first leg of Canada’s Triple Crown, the $1 million Queen’s Plate, will run Sept. 12 at its traditional Woodbine home outside Toronto. The Queen’s Plate is North America’s oldest continuously run stakes race and a summer fixture in Canada. Originally scheduled for June 27, it moved to its new […]
Canada’s Woodbine Joins the Racetrack Reopening Parade
The reopening momentum sweeping across racetracks in the United States caught a wave in Canada with the announcement that Woodbine outside Toronto will reopen June 6. Woodbine Entertainment said it plans to open Mohawk Park for harness racing on June 5, and Woodbine for Thoroughbred racing the following day. Due […]
Queen’s Plate, Canada’s Most Prestigious Race, Postponed Indefinitely
Following through on an expected decision, Woodbine Entertainment CEO Jim Lawson confirmed the 2020 Queen’s Plate race – Canada’s most prestigious horse race — is postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision to postpone the June 27 race came less than two weeks after Woodbine announced it was […]