After 77: Woodbine Weekend Wrap, Second Covid Season Powers On

The 2021 Woodbine season is in its final two furlongs, the weather has turned significantly cooler and most race days have some fascinating handicapping puzzles and plenty of impressive efforts by horses and their people.

A new face is high atop the leading jockey list these days. KAZUSHI KIMURA, in his fourth year of riding, recently went past 100 winners for the year and has 102 victories at the meeting. Rafael Hernandez has 66 and Emma-Jayne Wilson has 64. ‘KK’s top-three finish rate is a super 47 percent.

MARK CASSE continues to reign as leading trainer with 88 wins. The race is for second as Kevin Attard as 41 and Martin Drexler has 36. Three-time stakes winner LORENA recently added her fourth win of the season and is one of three horses with four victories at Woodbine in 2021 joining Bella Nina and Dancing Doll.

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Here are some notes from the week of October 21 through 24:

The turf season is winding down and for the E.P. Taylor course it seems to come just in time. There has been so much rain in southern Ontario in recent weeks and the course has not been firm for some time. On Sunday a series of races on the Taylor course saw many horses having much trouble with the heavy going and the winners posting slow times.

The Tapeta surface played strongly for outside closers for most of the week with horses rallying five and six wide still managing to get high places at the finish.

Young trainer MATT DOUGLAS had a good week, an interesting week. His first-time starter JADE DELTA, owned by Keenan Davis and Ian Johnson, won her career debut on Thursday with a last-to-first rally under jockey Sahin Civaci, who had a hot week. But it was the effort by Douglas-trainee JELGO on Sunday that was most impressive. John Handbury’s big Giant Gizmo gelding, winner of two of his three career races, was carried out to the outside fence into the first turn of a 1 1/16 mile optional race (race 6) as rival Derzkii’s rein broke and jockey Daisuke Fukumoto was unable to control his mount. Jelgo was able to dive back into the race into the backstretch, and although he was in last place, he rallied hard to be second to stakes winner Avoman. Sahin Civaci rode Jelgo.

The 2-year-old GATLING GUN won his maiden in his second career start for owner and breeder Barbara Minshall and the Silent Name (Jpn) fellow collected a whopping $76,000 for winning the 5 1/2 furlong maiden allowance. The dark bay is from the mare Vegas Babe by Bernardini. Minshall also had the Minshall Farms’ Sea to Air finish third in the race in his career debut.

Trainer Al Desruisseaux won his first race of the season with his sixth starter. PURE ELEGANCE came from a wide post to win a maiden $25,000 race for 2-year-old fillies for owner Gabriel Husbands. Keveh Nicholls rode.

Plate Trial Stakes winner AVOMAN got back into the winner’s circle for Don MacRae and La Huerta as he won that wild sixth race on Sunday in which Jelgo was a troubled second. Avoman has two wins in five races this year and the Old Forester fellow posted an 81 Beyer Figure in the victory.