Woodbine’s two stakes races over Kentucky Derby weekend showcased two of the most exciting horses currently on the grounds for 2025 and both were very easy winners.
The 2024 Horse of the Year PATCHES O’HOULIHAN, also Champion Sprinter the last two years, was in another dimension in the $100,000 Thorncliffe Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on May 4. In fact, on ‘Star Wars Day’ (May the 4th Be With You), the fast bay gelding produced from the mare Maythefourthbwithu (we’re not making this up), zoomed away from five rivals to win under a hand ride by four lengths in a track record 1:02.28. The previous record of 1:02.62 was recorded in 2022 by Arzak.
Patches has a two-year-old half-brother by Souper Speedy this year, a yearling full brother, and the mare was bred to Oscar Performance.
Just the day before the exciting grey filly EARHART (Fr) flew to a 5 1/2 length romp in the $150,000 Whimsical Stakes (G3) in 1:08.84 for 6 furlongs to remain unbeaten in sprints.
Owner and breeder Frank DiGiulio Jr. and trainer Bob Tiller have to pinch themselves occasionally when it comes to Patches O’Houlihan, not only of how fast and talented the five-year-old is, but also that he came along right after they retired one of the greatest Ontario-bred sprinters of all time, PINK LLOYD. Patches won six of seven starts in 2023 including two graded stakes and was crowned top sprinter while last year he won four of five and three graded stakes races. DiGuilio and Tiller have won that category seven of the last eight years.
In the Thorncliffe, an overnight stakes, Patches O’Houlihan came in on the crest of a stunning :45.30 workout for four furlongs on April 25. He broke on top easily in the Thorncliffe and was barely challenged. Second place went to the hard-knocking 2022 Sprint Champion and 2024 Turf Male champion FILO DI ARIANNA (Brz), who interrupted the Pinky and Patches domination.
Sofia Vives rides Patches O’Houlihan, who now has 12 wins in 15 races and almost $750,000 in earnings.
It would be fun to see a Patches and Earhart battle one day!
WOODBINE WRAP
Not far behind those two stakes winners as far as eye-popping performances was the debut outing by JDLP Holdings’ OUR LADY, a Pennsylvania-bred 3-year-old filly trained by Steven Chircop who had been working fast last year and again this spring. A $160,000 purchase at the Midatlantic Two-year-old sale in Maryland last spring, the daughter of Bolt d’Oro – Summer’s Ready by More Than Ready was bet down to 7-to-2 under Patrick Husbands. She was quickly in front of 11 other rivals and widened under a hand ride, scoring by 6 1/4 lengths in a sharp 1:09.68. Finishing second was another Chircop runner, Vintage Ring, owned by Zilli Racing, who claimed that Twirling Candy filly for $100,000 from her debut at Keeneland.
This was the second winner of the day for Chircop and third of the meeting after four days. JDLP Holdings is Joe DeMarinis of Belair Travel and RedTag fame.
NANCY GUEST celebrated two wins by her two yearling sale purchases on the weekend and both guys were impressive. LUCKY GUEST won on Saturday in a maiden race in 1:09.97 (77 Beyer Speed Figure) under Sahin Civaci. Trained by Mark Casse, the gelding was making his second career start. He was a CTHS Ontario purchase from breeder Tara Horse Farm for $35,000 and is a son of Yoshida (Jpn) from Gold Medal Kitten by Kitten’s Joy.
Another one of Sunday’s winners was Regal Guest, a full brother to Pink Lloyd. (Julia Ferreira photo)
Lucky Guest was a first-time gelding, as was REGAL GUEST, who won for the second time in his short career on Sunday. This grey is a full brother to none other than Pink Lloyd and he was a $150,000 yearling purchase locally from breeder John Carey. Regal Guest, by Old Forester, ran the six furlongs in 1:10.57.
Trainer JOHN ROSS has the hot hand early in the meeting with three wins, two with Eswan Flores riding.
SAHIN CIVACI, the 2024 leading rider, grabbed five wins on the weekend, while Rafael Hernandez grabbed three wins.
Wagering on Sunday of $5.38 million was easily the best business day of the four-day season. It was also on par with the same day last year when $5.39 million was wagered. On Kentucky Derby Day, May 3, wagering on the Woodbine card was $3.4 million, which was down from $5.28 million a year ago.
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