The bustle of fans flocking into the Woodbine grandstand began early on April 16, opening day of the 2022 Thoroughbred season. More than an hour before post time of the first race, racing fans were arriving to grab a seat, get their racing program and a coffee. Horsepeople, whether they had a horse in action or not, were plentiful and when MY FINAL TRICK began the magic at 1:10 p.m. with an upset win over 1-to-9 shot Lime, the cheers were loud.
Eight races kicked off the 133-day meeting and while the fields were on the small side and the weather was chilly, a solid $3.2 million was bet.
Much was made about the horses on the card who had been trained or raced in the south having an edge on local horses stuck in Ontario to battle the elements, but the locals got the last laugh. Quite a few laughs.
My Final Trick, owned by Silver King Racing and trained by Daryl Hasmatali, challenged front-runner Lime in the opener and then pulled away from the US-trained filly whose trainer, Wesley Ward, sent her north with a class drop from $30,000 to just $7,500. She was 1-to-9, there was no show wagering and a large bet was made on her to place and second was the best she could do. There were five claims in for Lime, a daughter of Iqbaal and the new owner is Bruno Schickedanz.
Emma-Jayne Wilson showed her championship form with My Final Trick, a homebred for Hasmatalia by Old Forester. A strong rider, Wilson had her bay mare stretching out to a strong gallop in the early chase and it was smooth sailing to the finish.
“It’s always nice,” said Wilson about winning the first race of the season. “It’s a long season, it’s a marathon not a sprint, but this was a sprint today and my filly ran well.” My Final Trick raced 4 1/2 furlongs in 51.75 for her third win in 20 races.
Favourites took a beating on the card, as well as the winter-trained and raced horses, but the fans were loving it.
You can hear the cheering through the stretch run of race 2, below:
LIGHT THE LAMP, an Ontario-sired and bred 3-year-old by Reload – Woodland City (SAf) by Al Mufti, was another locally-trained winner as Don MacRae had this guy ready to win his maiden in his season opener and third career. The bay had his ears pricked as he tugged jockey Rafael Hernandez along for most of the 5 furlongs, which he sped in 57.56, one of the quickest times on the day.
DREAMING OF DREW’S victory in the $100,000 Long Branch Stakes was a win for the southern-trained horses. This gal, one of 2020’s top 2-year-old fillies, had not raced since October 2020, but had been working quickly for Minshall and a new partnership that owns the Ontario-bred. Madaket Stable bought into Dreaming of Drew who raced for Hoolie Racing two years ago. In the Long Branch, Dreaming of Drew was confidently ridden by Patrick Husbands and even though the Mark Casse-trained Jeanie B forged past off the turn for home, ‘Drew’ battled back to win.
“She’s a really good filly. It was tight, but she’s so game that I knew she was going to run to the finish line. I knew she was fit enough. She’s just a really game filly. She’s not going to let them go by. I have to give Travis Durr in South Carolina big kudos because she just came up here a few weeks ago. He’s had her the whole time. They’ve done a great job getting her rehabbed and back ready to run.”
Speaking of Husbands, he went 2-for-3 on the day and it was only about a month ago he confirmed he would return to riding this year after hinting he might retire on the final day of racing last season. Husbands guided John Oxley’s BEAUTIFUL EMPIRE to victory in race 6.
It was a messy affair as Fast Corey was last from the gate at 5 furlongs and then sent hard to press the pace. But the rapid three-horse duel, 21.53 for the first quarter mile, toasted the leaders. Forest Drift was one of them and that gal was squeezed in tight traffic by a rallying Sterling Speed who had angled out late on the turn, causing a rival to steady. Forest Drift fell but the filly and rider Daisuke Fukumoto were okay. Meanwhile, Beautiful Empire roared from far off the pace and blew by to win for her second career win.
Exercise rider STEVE JADOO scored a memorable win in race 3 when his mount MI TORMENTA, bred by the Hyka family in Hillsburgh, ON, ran down even-money favourite Dance for Gold. Jadoo has worked for Mi Tormenta’s trainer Ross Armata for many years and this filly was 14-to-1 in the maiden $7,500 claiming race. She is an Ontario-bred by Tonalist owned by Erlindi Hyka and bred by Dr. Tan Hyka. This was Jadoo’s third career win as a jockey.
The Paul Buttigieg stable won race 4 with the Old Forester filly OL’ BLONDIE. This was a $60,300 optional claiming and this filly, owned and bred by Jimmy Goodman and Buttigieg, had four timed workouts on her record and it was her first race since October. She defeated winter-trained and raced Khozzy Valentine and Lois Len, who were outrun.
Race 5 had a pair of 2-to-1 shots in Icing, D J Stables’ $300,000 newly-gelded son of Nyquist who had a pair of 4ths at Gulfstream in the winter, and Nikolau, off since August and showing just three preps for Norm McKnight. Both horses ran well enough, but front-runner CHANCEL, a 5-year-old maiden who had lost for $15,000 claiming in his 2021 finale, ran away with the bulk of the $123,200 purse. The Temple City gelding is owned and was bred by LaDona Hudson in Kentucky and trained by Bec Chubb. Juan Crawford rode.
And four-year-old JOKERS RUN rallied from well off the pace to win race 8, a maiden optional event for $25,000 claiming. Owned by Samotowka Stables and trained by Mike DePaulo, the Noble Minister filly is a Kentucky-bred and she was making her first start since December. That 5 furlong race saw a lot of fillies have some traffic issues or were checked including Humorus Holiday and Black Taffy, the latter who likely made everyone ‘horses to watch’ list.
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