Woodbine wrapped up a jam-packed weekend of stakes races and big fields with a Sunday card that included a pair of Ontario-sired stakes events, the Bull Page and Victorian Queen.
Both winners of those stakes, the colt DEWOLF and the filly SOUPER SUPREME, have impressively started their careers.
Dewolf (Silent Name (Jpn)) was the faster of the two as he won his 7 furlong turf stake in 1:21.46 after pursuing a hot pace set by Unbridled Weather, a son of Prime Attraction trained by Angus Buntain. Dewolf and jockey Rafael Hernandez got clear by 1 1/4 lengths for their second win in succession after three career starts.
The dark bay colt is owned by X-Men Racing IV, Canuck Racing Club, Madaket Stables and SF Racing. He was a $185,000 yearling purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September sale from breeder Anita Nesser of BHMFR, LLC. (Blonds Have More Fun Racing).
The colt is from the mare Holy Cargo who was placed once in five races but is a half-sister to Preakness Stakes winner Red Bullet and Woodbine Stakes winner Millennium Allstar. Holy Cargo has five other named foals and two winners. The mare has a full sister to Dewolf selling this week at Keeneland.
Trainer Kevin Attard said some thought was given to starting Dewolf in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes, but he elected to point the colt towards restricted races instead. The Cup & Saucer Stakes will be next.
Dewolf was named after the most decorated Canadian naval officer in WWII and one of the most accomplished warriors in Canadian naval history, Harry G. DeWolf. He was the commanding officer of the HMCS St. Laurent which fired the Royal Canadian Navy’s first shots of the war, assisting in the evacuation of Dunkirk and helping British and French troops escape from continental Europe. Later while on antisubmarine duty west of Ireland, DeWolf and his crew rescued 857 survivors of the Arandora Star, a torpedoed British liner.
Souper Supreme, by Souper Speedy and a half-sister to King’s Plate winner Paramount Prince, was winning her second straight stakes races for Mike Langlois and Gary Barber and trainer Mark Casse. Ridden by Patrick Husbands, who said post-race that “even Mark Casse could ride her,” Souper Supreme had an easy lead and coasted home in 1:22.16. She was bred by Ericka Rusnak who has three stakes horses from her mare Platinum Steel.