The dream season continued for the 4-year-old filly HAZELBROOK (Bayern – Zaphia by Bernstein) who took the Grade 3 Ontario Fashion Stakes at Woodbine on October 15, her fourth win of the year and third stakes win. In fact, Hazelbrook is just three-quarters of a length away from being unbeaten in 2022 as she just missed in the Grade 3 Seaway Stakes in her latest to Lady Speightspeare.
It was a joyous and emotional winner’s circle after the Ontario Fashion as owner Keith Johns, owner of Edmonton Valve and Fitting in Alberta, was in town for the race.
Trained by Lorne Richards for Johns’ True North Stable, Hazelbrook and her best friend, jockey Jason Hoyte, caught a soft field in the Ontario Fashion and predictably went off at 1-to-2 in the field of six. It was Marie MacKay who streaked to the lead early in the $150,000 race at 6 furlongs and, assisted by a brisk October wind, flew two furlongs in 21.50 while Hazel and Hoyte tracked along the rail, flanked by Beat the System and Beyond My Budget. After a speedy half-mile in 43.93, Marie MacKay was still in front as the field turned for home but Hoyte was sitting chilly on his filly.
Beyond My Budget made the first move to the lead while three wide but Hazelbrook soon kicked in and forged clear to win by a length in 1:08.38. Beyond My Budget, owned by Manfred and Penny Conrad, picked up her first graded stakes placing and Eight Star Racing’s Imagery grabbed third.
“I was trying to get to the outside today but it didn’t work, said Hoyte, also known as ‘Jet Li’ from his days riding in Barbados. “So I just stayed where I was and eventually she was going to have to go up the rail and she did, she ran her heart out.”
Johns has raced horses throughout western Canada for almost 20 years and has had a few runners in Ontario with Richards for over a decade. Johns’ previous top runners have included Stormy Rush, who won the Lincoln Stakes at Gulfstream Park in 2014, the very good sprint mare Hell n Wild and Alberta stakes winner Bang On.
But Hazelbrook has provided Johns with his first stakes wins at Woodbine and with the winner’s share from the Fashion, total earnings of over $331,000. Johns bought Hazelbrook as a weanling in 2018 at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock sale for $50,000.
“To win a big race at Woodbine, what can you say?” said an emotional Johns. “But Lorne and [wife] Sandra and all the team, they just do a fabulous job and we’re so lucky. It doesn’t matter if it’s a $5,000 claimer or a stakes race, a lot of things have to go right to win. It’s just a thrill.”
Johns’ wife Cleta added, “Keith has always wanted this moment, and as he said, it doesn’t matter what kind of race it is. It’s a fun game.”
Hazelbrook, who Richards has said is a “tough little filly,” won two of three races in 2021 after one outing in 2020 when third in a maiden race. The filly has battled stomach problems throughout her racing career and was at a clinic last year but everything has come together this year. Hazelbrook won her opener in an optional race, won the Grade 3 Hendrie Stakes at 26 to 1 and then the Sweet Briar Took on Aug. 21, She gave Lady Speightspeare all she could handle in the Grade 3 Seaway Stakes on Sept. 17 after a wide rally.
“We always kind of liked her but she was very goofy,” said Richards. “The first time we tried to run her we barely got her out of the paddock and then she got loose on parade. So, it wasn’t like guys were lining up to ride her.
“Jason had galloped her for me, and he started riding, so I said ‘I’ll throw him on. He knows her, and at least he’s not afraid or anything’. He’s done a good job on her. He’s a very good kid and he’s a little underrated, I think.”
Hazelbrook, bred in Kentucky by Mike Bilbrey, is now 6-for-9 in her career and a candidate for Champion Female Sprinter in Canada.
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