Proctor Street all business in the Canadian Stakes (G2)
Favoured Proctor Street gamely dug in late to earn her first graded stakes win, taking the $200,000 Canadian Stakes (G2), presented by the Japan Racing Association Saturday at Woodbine.
Ridden for the first time by Pietro Moran, the five-year-old daughter of Street Sense settled kindly on the rail, racing 6th into the clubhouse turn, in the one mile and one-sixteenth inner turf route for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and upward.
Lupa (Ire) broke sharply from the rail post in the field of six, seizing command early through an opening quarter mile in :22.48. Lupa (Ire), ridden by Fraser Aebly continued to lead comfortably through a half mile in :46.46 and past an opening six furlongs in 1:10.79.
The Brendan Walsh-trained Proctor Street, rated kindly throughout for Moran, advancing to fifth position while saving ground around the far turn. Eponine (IRE) also saved ground, while racing third around the turn and emerged to first get run at Lupa (IRE), who cut the corner smartly, while looking to go wire to wire.
Inside the 1/16th pole, Lupa (IRE) lost ground on the rail, while Eponine (IRE) in the two-path and Proctor Street, surging in the three-path, battled for supremacy in the final 70 yards, with Proctor Street prevailing by a hard fought neck on the money. The running time for the mile was 1:35.13. The final race time was 1:41.40.
“It was the perfect trip, everything fell into place, we got covered up, saved ground, followed the right horse and she did the rest. She’s classy as can be,” said Moran.
Making her Woodbine debut, Proctor Street was making her 14th career start, all of them exclusively on turf. The dark bay/brown mare is also proving to be a specialist at the distance, improving 5-2-0 in 8 career starts at the mile and one-sixteenth turf trip.
“She loves her racing,” said Erin Campbell, assistant trainer to Walsh.
“One thing you can always guarantee with this filly is she will try her hardest for you. And if you can guarantee that with them all, it would be easy.”
Proctor Street (Street Sense – Proctor’s Ledge, by Ghostzapper) was bred in Kentucky by breeder/owner Patricia L. Mosely. She won the first two races of her career but was 0-1-2 in 4 previous graded stakes. She capped her four-year-old campaign with a 3/4 length win in the 9-furlong Cardinal Stakes last November at Churchill Downs.
With the Canadian win, Proctor Street, earned her first win in 2026 and improved to 6-2-3 overall from 14 lifetime starts. She was 2-1 on the morning line, went to post at odds of 6-5 and paid $4.50 for the win.
Eponine (IRE) was a valiant 2nd, pacesetter Lupa (IRE) held for 3rd and Power of Destiny (GB) was 4th. Ohio-bred Awesomesauce was scratched.
Souped Up wins epic stretch battle in Grade 3 Bold Venture
Souped Up won a nose-to-nose stretch battle over Western Whirl to take Saturday’s $175,000 (G3) Bold Venture stakes in a photo finish for three-year-olds and up contested over 6 ½ furlongs on the main tapeta track at Woodbine Racetrack.
Souped Up and jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson winning the Bold Venture Stakes on August 15, 2026 at Woodbine. (Michael Burns Photo)
Winning jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson said Souped Up, sent off at 10-1, was extremely game as he fought past an equally-tough Western Whirl to win by a head.
“There are only two words for it: dug in,” Wilson said. “This horse comes every single time to play. I rode him quite a few years back, and I’ve always been a fan of his.”
It was the biggest victory and first stakes win of Souped Up’s career.
Western Whirl (9-2, Fraser Aebly) and Souped Up battled right out of the gate, with the former taking the early lead and Poulin in O T (6-1, Ryan Munger) also in the mix on the front. Wilson hunted Western Whirl through fractions of :23.10, :46.30 and 1:10.58.
Coming out of the turn, four horses were virtually nose-to-nose before Souped Up and Western Whirl edged ahead of the pack and battled stride-for-stride in the lane in the field of seven.
“The trip was beauty,” Wilson said. “I was sitting just off him, and when I asked [Souped Up] to dig, he dug, and every time I asked him for more, he gave me more… I was quite confident that I won it, but I waited… until I was unofficially informed, and I gave myself a bit of a shout out loud. I was pretty happy with that.”
The winning time was 1:17.06.
The $105,000 payday pushed the six-year-old Ontario-bred gelded son of Souper Speedy out of the Pure Prize mare Jevina over $400,000 lifetime for trainer Ron Sadler and owners Linda Theil and Harri Hosein.
“Ron does a fantastic job, and [Souped Up] comes to play,” Wilson said. “Every one of Ron’s horses come to play every time, and he did it today.”
Souped Up was bred by Chris and John Harris. Notorious Gangster (Rafael Hernandez), the 4-5 favourite, was third, followed by Its Bourbon Thirty (Pietro Moran).
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