The OLG Canadian Triple Crown wraps up Sunday at Woodbine with the toughest test of three races, the 1 1/2 mile BREEDERS’ STAKES, this year held for the first time on the inner turf course.
King’s Plate winner Mansetti, second in the Prince of Wales on the dirt at Fort Erie, is not going to partake in the Breeders’, nor is Prince of Wales winner Runaway Again.
Just one horse in the nine-entrant Breeders’ field ran in the Plate and ‘Wales and that is Al and Bill Ulwelling’s FABER (Improbable) who was sixth in the Plate and third in the ‘Wales. Faber has won on the inner turf course, taking his maiden win last August over the top filly Nitrogen. Faber will have the blinkers removed for Sunday’s race and he will have another rider change as Pietro Moran will return to ride.
Three other Breeders’ starters raced in the Plate at 1 1/4 miles on Tapeta. WATSONVILLE RED (Hard Spun) finished seventh and has been unplaced in two grass races, SEDBURYS GHOST was 11th in the Plate and has never tried grass, and TOM’S MAGIC, second in the Plate after a messy trip, is a two-time stakes winner on the grass in the U.S.
Tom’s Magic will be reunited with jockey Rafael Hernandez, who leads all Woodbine riders with stakes wins with 15, two shy of his personal best.
Tom’s Magic, a big strapping chestnut, is by American Triple Crown winner Justify and from turf stakes winner Dixie Chicken, dam of grass stakes winner Dixie Moon and others. The colt was bred by Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry and he is owned by CJ Thoroughbreds and Mo Speed Racing with Michael Stidham doing the training.
Trainer Rachel Halden has won two Breeders’ Stakes, including last year’s with Chiefswood Stables’ Roscar. And Chiefswood has won the last two Breeders’ Stakes and three of the last seven. Halden will send out the farms’ BOREALIS TRAIL for this year’s race and the filly ARISTELLA, winner of the Wonder Where Stakes, for Flying Zee Stable.
And Hall of Fame trainer ROGER ATTFIELD, who has nine Breeders’ trophies, will start the undefeated CIUNAS (Silent Name (Jpn)) for Richard Hogan and Jeff Zlonis.
“He caught my eye right from when we started breezing him, actually,” said the 85-year-old, whose outstanding resumé includes a record-tying eight King’s Plate victories as well as three Canadian Triple Crown triumphs – With Approval in 1989, Izvestia in 1990, and Peteski in 1993.
“He always looked like a nice horse, and he’s done everything right so far. He’s coming along very nicely. This is a big step up, but from everything I have seen of him, he should enjoy the mile and a half. That’s why we nominated him for this race.
“I had his half-brother, Gray’s Fable, for years,” Attfield said of the 10-year-old son of Gio Ponti who won the 2021 Kitten’s Joy Stakes (G3T). “He has gone on to win nearly $700,000, and he was the same kind of animal [as Ciunas] in the respect that he was always looking to achieve, wants to train, and loves to run.”
The Breeders’ Stakes is race 9 on Sunday with a 5:39 post time.
135TH BREEDERS’ STAKES; Woodbine; 1 1/2 miles, inner turf
Sunday Sept. 28 2025
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
2 – D’aurum (S) – Pietro Moran – Kevin Attard
3 – Borealis Trail – Jose Campos – Rachel Halden
4 – Ciunas – Sahin Civaci – Roger Attfield
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