Toronto, On – Woodbine’s main track opened for training on Thursday morning, a key sign that the start of the 2009 thoroughbred season is just around the corner. The 167-day meet opens in less than a month, on Saturday, April 4.
Since the backstretch opened in early February, training has taken place on the quarter-mile sand ring and the one-mile dirt training track. The opening of the main track provides conditioners with the important option of training over the surface on which they will race.
Steve Koch, Vice-President of Thoroughbred Racing, said cooperative weather and the strong efforts of Woodbine’s track maintenance crews have allowed the Polytrack to be ready in good time and in perfect shape. “Our track crews have done a magnificent job,” said Koch, who received feedback from several trainers this morning. “The horsemen seem very pleased with the excellent condition of the Polytrack and are elated to be back in action on the main racing strip. I think we can expect a significant number of workers this weekend taking advantage of the good conditions.”
In preparation for their 2009 debuts, hundreds of gallopers and over 50 workers test drove the synthetic Polytrack surface for the first time this year. Kennedy Road stakes winner Shadowless, who is conditioned by Dave Bell, was one of the talented local individuals that trained over the main track on Thursday. The four-year-old son of Stormy Atlantic was flanked by stablemate Gone Trajectory from beginning to end. The pair posted one of the fastest half-mile times of the morning. After an opening quarter in just over 22 seconds, the tandem blazed four furlongs in :46 4/5, which was the second-fastest clocking of the morning. Considering his success in the six-furlong Kennedy Road last year, Shadowless could be pointing towards the $150,000 Jacques Cartier, at the same distance, on April 25.
Robert Tiller trainee Southbound Again blasted the half-mile ‘bullet’ of the morning – working four furlongs in :46 3/5. The four-year-old son of Carson City has two seconds from three career starts, including a runner-up finish to the aforementioned Shadowless, last April. “It was excellent. I was very pleased with it this morning,” said Tiller, who was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2008. “Overall, it was right in the middle, not too fast, not too slow. It was quicker right after the (maintenance) break and I had one work pretty fast.”
The weather was cold when the Polytrack surface opened at 6 a.m. Snow flurries moved in around 8:30 a.m. By 9:30 a.m., the track was blanketed with a light layer of snow.
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