Apprentice rider AUSTIN ADAMS grabbed his first stakes victory of his career Sunday at Woodbine with a well-timed move on the grey filly LITTLE TEDDY in the restricted Zadracarta Stakes at 5 furlongs on the turf. The dash could not have worked out better for Adams, who allowed the York Tech filly to lay off the wild pace battle between California shipper Thermal and New York shipper Pop Idol. Those two gals came a long way to knock each other out in the stakes event, but it was perfect for Little Teddy, who zoomed up the rail and won in 55.63, just a tick off the course record.
It was the 6th win for Little Teddy and second stakes win, as she won the Georgian Bay Stakes in 2024. Her earnings stand at $319,397 and she was a $15,000 yearling purchase by trainer Santino DiPaola from the CTHS sale in 2022. Little Teddy was bred by Susan Rasmussen and H. Lothian.
“This one is so special,” said Adams, who pumped his fist at the wire. “I know this filly so well. It means a lot winning my first stake for the Santino barn and the family – they have been so loyal to me.
“This my first time riding her on the turf and Santino did say she has a kick on the turf. I felt I had a lot of horse and the rail opened up and I knew when I asked her, she exploded. I didn’t need to look back – we were good. She gave a big kick.”
Adams won 38 races in 2024, his first full season of riding, and he was considered among the top apprentices in the country. The competition in the Woodbine jockey colony has been stern once again, in particular since another apprentice, Pietro Moran, is currently Woodbine’s leading rider.
Adams has won 16 races at Woodbine this season.
“My dad was an exercise rider at Woodbine for thirty-something years. He’s retired now. He worked for several trainers – he was freelance – but never rode as a jockey.”
Although Adams had an interest in horses, the idea of becoming a jockey wasn’t on his radar in his earlier teenage years.
“My dad was so busy with his two racetrack careers, so he didn’t have time to bring me to be around the horses. When I was around 17, he asked me if I wanted to hotwalk, but I didn’t feel ready for that at the time. I wanted to focus on education and that’s when I found the jockey school in Kentucky.”
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Speaking of Woodbine riders, PIETRO MORAN is just four ahead of RAFAEL HERNANDEZ after 80 racing dates. Moran has 90 wins and Hernandez 86, while last year’s leading rider SAHIN CIVACI is at 77.
The top three riders have won almost 40% of the races at the Woodbine meeting.
On the trainer’s side, Mark Casse (65) leads Martin Drexler (47) and Kevin Attard (45). Between them, they have won 157 of 658 races at Woodbine this year.
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NORM MCKNIGHT hit a nice milestone last week when BALLS IN UR COURT broke her maiden on Thursday evening in the last race. That was McKnight’s 1,000th career win in a career that began 26 years ago. McKnight has been leading trainer at Woodbine and has consistently been among the top conditioners each year.
The son of accomplished Standardbred driver Norm Sr., the young McKnight was riding show horses and drove his first Standardbred when he was 12 years old. His own career in harness racing saw him win some 1,500 races before he dipped his toe in the Thoroughbred industry.
McKnight has said that this is his last year of training, which would see him join a number of top trainers in the last 12 months who have retired: Dave Bell, Dan Vella, Nick Gonzalez, Vito Armata, and Phil Gracey, among others.
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There were a number of first-time starters that were well-prepared to win their debut races on the weekend and two of them were trained by Sid Attard.
Attard sent out Tucci Stables’ SPLASH OF BOURBON to win the first race on Saturday and Ryan Munger was on board. On Sunday, Jim Lawson’s Spruce Park Stable was represented by NAVY STREET, by Jimmy Creed – Katie O., who won his debut with Eswan Flores.
Bill Tharrenos continues his hot hand with two-year-olds, winning with firster HOT STUFF BABY, the second winner for her sire Tweet Kitten.
Tharrenos is 8-for-25 with two-year-olds at the meeting.
Kevin Attard sent out Al and Bill Ulwelling’s Reload filly MYSTIC SONG to win her maiden on Saturday. A three-year-old filly bred by Denny Andrews, Mystic Song was a $40,000 yearling purchase from the CTHS Ontario sale and she is the first foal of an unplaced mare whose has a half-sister, Flattery, who won the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf Stakes.
And Di Scola Boys’ BIG TIME BOSS battled back to beat a stablemate in his debut outing on Sunday. Trained by Josie Carroll, the son of Street Boss is a half-brother to undefeated Dolce Fortuna, who is owned by Di Scola Boys and trainer Josie Carroll. Carroll is also co-breeder.
Big Time Boss is owned and was bred solely by Di Scola Boys.
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