What a racing day that was on October 26, 1996.
Charles Taylor and the Ontario Jockey Club brought the Breeders’ Cup to Woodbine just 12 years after its first edition, and it was the proudest moment in Woodbine history. It was a day that almost didn’t happen; read on…
If you attended, or were working and racing at Woodbine 30 years ago this week, you will remember the great CIGAR gracing us with his presence, seeking his second straight Breeders’ Cup Classic. When Cigar arrived with trainer Bill Mott, the horse and his team were kept separated from crowds. Mrs. Madelaine Paulson arrived with her Jack Russell, Oliver, in her bag.
Hoards of media from around the world descended on the Woodbine backstretch and then the reconfigured grandstand, which allowed for an additional press room on the third floor.
For local horsepeople and fans, it was one celebrity after another each time you turned around: D. Wayne Lukas, popular British scribe John McCririck, Bob Baffert, Nick Zito, Bill Mott, Janine Sahadi, Jerry Bailey, Chris McCarron and many more.
And there was RICK’ S NATURAL STAR. Today, it is hard to believe the story, but Dr. William Livingston vanned his seven-year-old gelding some 2,000 miles from New Mexico to race in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. The gelding had two wins and $6,000 in earnings from his previous 23 races, one of those wins for $3,500 claiming, and he had not raced in a year. When Rick’s Natural Star arrived at Woodbine, and Cigar had yet to appear, the media were curious. Livingston even let a couple of writers sit on the lumpy gelding.
The situation with Rick’s Natural Star was a bit cringe-worthy for rival horsepeople for the Turf, but on race day, Ontario jockey Lisa McFarland made sure the out-classed runner simply stayed out of the way as he trailed Pilsudski and the great Walter Swinburn to the finish.
The Breeders’ Cup at Woodbine was three years in the making. The track’s publicity leader Bruce Walker was in his element, planning the pre-Cup events at notable Toronto sites. Woodbine’s new E.P. Taylor turf course was already getting rave reviews and every nook and cranny of the property was refurbished and renewed.
But in June of Cup year, as Woodbine and the OJC were in the midst of a lengthy labour dispute with its mutuel clerks, Breeders’ Cup president and founder John Gaines announced the event would be moved to Churchill Downs. The news made headlines in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. Woodbine scrambled and David Willmot, just one year into his presidency at the OJC, was among those who completed an agreement everyone could live with. The Breeders’ Cup was back at Woodbine.
The post position draw was held high in the sky in the CN Tower and the press party set up in the Skydome. Complete with a ferris wheel, carousel, baseball and hockey sections with games and food stations representing all parts of Canada, Walker’s vision for an unbeatable party came to life.
“I was extremely proud of being a member of a great team which, first of all had to convince the Breeders’ Cup selection committee that we were worthy of moving the Breeders’ Cup to Woodbine, thus becoming the first and only track outside of the U.S. to host it,” said Walker.
“We put together a presentation that knocked the socks off the Breeders’ Cup group extolling the facility, especially the new E.P. Taylor turf course, training tracks and accommodation for horsemen and women. We were told it was the best presentation the board of the Cup had ever seen.”
Oh, there were a few who weren’t happy. At first, D. Wayne Lukas, the world’s top trainer, was against the seven-race series coming north at the end of October. On the Woodbine backstretch, one notable trainer took umbrage at the number of media parking at his barn and dumped a tub of manure and straw on one writer’s car. Add that to the Rick’s Natural Star circus – the horse reared up numerous times when he came onto the track to train – and there were challenges.
But on Breeders’ Cup day, the sun was bright, rain clouds from the week disappeared and the temperature “soared” to 60 degrees.
Over 42,000 crammed Woodbine’s grandstand and apron and the racing was spectacular. Sahadi became the first woman trainer to win a Cup race as Lit de Justice sped away from the Sprint (even though a number of horses in the race were loaded into the wrong post positions).
Tom Durkin’s call of the Classic, when Cigar could not quite get up to win and it was the grey longshot ALPHABET SOUP who spoiled, was memorable as his tinge of deflation in his voice echoed the crowd reaction. It was a great day for Minshall Farms though, as Canadian star Mt. Sassafras and young rider Mickey Walls finished fourth, beaten half a length, riding a strong rail bias.
The day after the Breeders’ Cup, which had a $3 million hike in wagering, Lukas said, “In the 13 Cups I have been to, and I have had multiple entries in all of them, I don’t think we have ever been treated better. I openly and publicly say to you this is the best job anybody’s done.”
It was the day the horse racing world met Woodbine.
Cigar at Woodbine and Madeline Paulson arrives with Oliver. (JM photos)
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