One of the oldest races on the Woodbine schedule is the Toronto Cup, which will be run for the 118th time on Sunday, September 3. There are four straight days of racing at Woodbine through the long holiday weekend with a special card on Labour Day Monday.
The $125,000 Toronto Cup Presented by Crown Royal, is the lone stakes race this weekend and the field of eight has three trained by Mark Casse and two trained by Kevin Attard.
Inaugurated in 1890, the Toronto Cup was a dirt race for much of its early life. Run at Old Woodbine at 1 1/4 or 1 1/8 miles, the Toronto Cup was won by horses such as KING JAMES (1909, 1910), who won races such as the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont and MY DEAR, a daughter of King James who was a champion older mare in the U.S..
The Toronto Cup moved to the grass in 1958 and it has been run at 1 1/16 miles, 1 1/8 miles and recently it was shortened to one mile. FROST KING, CHARLIE BARLEY, IMPERIAL CHOICE, CAROTENE and RAINBOWS FOR LIFE are among the modern day champs of the race.
CONMAN and LIFETIME OF CHANCE, both New York-breds owned by D.J. Stable and trained by Casse, will take much of the support from fans. Conman won his Canadian debut in the Hamilton Stakes on August 6. The son of Constitution put up an 89 Beyer Speed Figure in his handy win over his stablemate. The third Casse runner is Eyes on the King, who was third in the Hamilton Stakes.
Attard will saddle Dream Jereem, a son of Austern (AUS)-Lexi Tap, and Love to Shop, a daughter of Violence-Tiffany Case, who coincidentally was bred by D.J. Stable.
Bred in Ontario by Phoenix Rising Farms, Dream Jereem was a first-time gelding for his latest when second to the very fast Boston Tea Party in a six furlong turf dash.
“I thought his first race on the turf was quite impressive,” said Attard. “He showed signs that he would take to the grass and when he finally had the opportunity, he flourished like we had hoped.”
Owned by Derek Chin, Dream Jereem was a debut winner when he notched a half-length score in a six-furlong Tapeta race last October.
The Toronto Cup will be his third stakes appearance. He was a troubled seventh, albeit 2 ½ lengths behind winner Velocitor (also an Attard trainee), in last year’s Coronation Futurity, and eighth in this May’s King Corrie.
“He came out of his last race in great shape and we’re hoping he can step up again,” said Attard. “The distance is definitely in his wheelhouse and hopefully he gets a good trip and comes with a nice run.”
William Lawrence is the groom.
Love to Shop, whose previous starts had all come in the U.S., finished third in her first race at Woodbine on July 22. Sent off at 10-1 in the Ontario Colleen (G3T), the dark bay rallied over “good” going on the E.P. Taylor and missed top prize by 1 ½ lengths.
Attard was pleased with performance by the filly who broke her maiden one race earlier, on June 10, an authoritative 3 ¼-length triumph over six furlongs on the Belmont inner turf.
“She is a very versatile filly,” praised Attard. “She’s been impressive from day one and continues to get better with each start. Her win at Belmont was extremely nice. In her first race with our barn, she put in a solid rally. A firmer turf seems to suit her best, so hopefully that’s what we get on Sunday.”
Love to Shop posted consecutive runner-up finishes in her first two starts, one at Saratoga, the other at Belmont.
“She has a really nice turn of foot when she gets rolling, so the more pace she has to run at, the better it is for her,” noted Attard. “Both her and Dream Jereem like to come from off the pace and both have a nice late kick.”
Chris Escoffery is the groom.
The Toronto Cup is scheduled as the sixth race on Sunday’s 1:05 p.m. card. Live racing continues with a special holiday card on Monday. First post is also 1:05 p.m.
