Multiple stakes winner Poulin in O T ventures into Bold Venture
Poulin in O T squares off against seven other hopefuls in the $175,000 Bold Venture (G3), one of six stakes races to be run on King’s Plate Saturday at Woodbine. Fresh off a gritty score in the Pink Lloyd Stakes on July 5, multiple stakes winner Poulin in O T will look to add a graded tally to his impressive body of work in the Bold Venture, a 6 ½-furlong main track race for three-year-olds and up.
“I wasn’t surprised,” said Owens, who cross-entered his stable star in Sunday’s Vice Regent Stakes, a 5-furlong inner turf test for Ontario-bred 3-year-olds and up. “I thought they would have to run to beat him, that it would take a really good horse to get the better of him. He has always worked with a target in front of him and I am not afraid to have someone else take the lead. He’s very game down the lane and he has great turn speed.”
A son of Reload out of the Dance Brightly mare Town Dance, the six-year-old has been a consistent force throughout a 23-race career that has yielded a 9-2-6 record, along with $468,224 in purse earnings.
Owens lauded the resilient chestnut, who was sent to the sidelines last May after a second-place finish in a 7-furlong conditioned allowance race at Woodbine.
“He has had two ankle surgeries,” noted the conditioner, who owns and co-bred Poulin in O T. “He’s at the top of his game, fitness-wise. His ankles are not an issue like they had been last year and the year before. [Dr.] Orlaith Cleary did a tremendous job with the surgery last year when we took a little flake out of his ankle and then rested him for eight months before he came back to race at Gulfstream earlier this year. We checked all the boxes before he started training back. He went through a lot of protocols to ensure he was sound.”
That patience paid off with a sharp starter allowance score in his return this March at the Hallandale oval that earned him an 80 Beyer Speed Figure.
Poulin in O T returned to Woodbine for his next start, on May 3, and finished third in the Thorncliffe Stakes, a 5 ½-furlong fixture contested on the main track. “I felt it was a good race,” said Owens. “I thought I had him a little too weighty. That was my fault, coming from Gulfstream back to here, so we made a few adjustments.”
Poulin in O T debuted on June 24, 2022, and romped to a 5 ¼-length win in a 4 ½ furlong main track race. He then stepped up to the stakes ranks on July 17, facing five rivals in the 5 ½ furlong Victoria Stakes. Sent off at 3-1, he recorded a 3 ¼-length triumph in a time of 1:04.71.
He went 4-1-0 from six starts in his rookie campaign, which led to Sovereign finalist recognition in the Champion Two-Year-Old Male category.
“Just an amazing horse, all around,” praised Owens.
Owens and his partner, fellow trainer Tara Neigel, handle most of the groom-related work with Poulin in O T.
“We are very hands-on with him. We have a groom and two hotwalkers, but we do a lot of the work with him, mostly because we understand him the best. We are both very grateful to have a horse like this guy.”
Multiple graded stakes placed Western Whirl, a homebred for Chiefswood Stable, will contest his fifth straight race at the graded level. Trained by Stuart Simon, the son of Twirling Candy out of the Gone West mare Western Rose was third in the Jacques Cartier (G3) on May 30 and second in the bet365 Highlander Stakes (G2T) last time out on June 27.
“I don’t think he’s in love with the tight turns on the inner turf, but he ran really well and tried really hard,” said Simon, of the Highlander effort. “I think he prefers the main track or the outer turf better, so that’s why we’re selecting this race. He ran very credible, and I think he’ll run well on Saturday.”
The five-year-old bay gelding is 3-5-5 from 19 starts, along with $289,574 in purse earnings.
“He’s just a very honest type of horse,” said Simon. “He’ll run different distances on different surfaces, but we feel that the Bold Venture will allow him to put his best foot forward. He’s been training really well, working great, and seems to be going into the race in great condition.” Amanda Gregory is the groom.
Recent works: On July 26, Poulin in O T covered 4 furlongs in :47.40 over the Woodbine main track. His most recent work came on Aug. 9 when he traveled 4 furlongs in :47.60 over the same surface.
“He’s just very professional and does his thing,” said Owens. “You put a target in front of him, and he’ll chase that target down. When he was a two-year-old, there would be times when he would be lazy and work in :51. I used to pull my hair out, but then he would just put it all together in the afternoons. He’s a different horse in the mornings and he’s been that way for a while. I have a very specific training regimen for him. I work him close to a race because that seems to be what brings out the best in him.”
Fast Facts: Inaugurated in 1956, the race is named after Bold Venture, winner of the 1936 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Canadian Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bob Tiller has won four editions of the race, with Pink Lloyd (2020-21) and Patches O’Houlihan (2023-24). Yorkton, trained by Stuart Simon, took the 2018 and 2019 runnings. Navy Page won the first edition.
Field for the $175,000 Bold Venture (G3)
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – Baxley (S) – Luis Contreras – Harold Ladouceur
2 – Poulin in O T – Ryan Munger – Steve Owens
3 – Awesome Bourbon – Romero Ramsay Maragh – Abraham Katryan
4 – Its Bourbon Thirty – Pietro Moran – Jeremiah O’Dwyer
5 – G T Five Hundred – Jose Campos – Dale Desruisseaux
6 – Western Whirl – Fraser Aebly – Stuart Simon
7 – Souped Up – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Ron Sadler
8 – Notorious Gangster – Rafael Hernandez – Josie Carroll
Wyoming Bill looks for Grade 2 King Edward coronation
Graded stakes-placed Wyoming Bill will look to bag his first stakes badge in Saturday’s $200,000 bet365 King Edward Stakes (G2T).
A field of six will contest the King Edward, a 1-mile inner turf race for three-year-olds and upward, including Wyoming Bill, a chestnut son of Curlin out of the Rahy mare Dixie Chicken.
Trained by Catherine Day Phillips, the five-year-old was second, just a head back of the winner Gas Me Up in last year’s running.
Wyoming Bill arrives at this year’s edition off a fifth, albeit only 2 ½ lengths behind the winner, in the Connaught Cup (G2T), contested over 7 ½ furlongs on the inner turf on July 19 at Woodbine.
“He’s a very nice horse,” praised Day Phillips. “He’s looking forward to running at a little added distance from his last race. He has a little more room to work with this time, which should suit him quite well.”
Versatility is the calling card of Wyoming Bill, who brings a mark of 3-4-3 and $244,150 in purse earnings from 18 starts into his fifth graded stakes engagement.
The chestnut horse launched his career in June of 2024 and broke his maiden in his third start, a half-length victory at 1 1/8 miles over the Woodbine main track in August of that year. He was fifth in the 2024 Prince of Wales, second jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, in what was his first try at the stakes level,
Wyoming Bill’s most recent win came this May when he recorded a 2 ¼-length triumph at 1 1/16 miles on the Woodbin main track.
“We’re just hoping he can put it all together and get it done at the stakes level,” said Day Phillips. “He’s a pretty cool dude. He runs well on the inner turf, but I think he’ll enjoy getting back on the E.P. Taylor turf as well.”
Bred in Ontario by Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry, Wyoming Bill was raced by the couple after being an RNA at $390,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. At the end of 2025, Day Phillips purchased Wyoming Bill from the Fitzhenrys for a new partnership, Latitude Adjustment Racing, for $130,000 at the Fasig-Tipton December Digital Selected Sale. Kevin Pena Salgado is the groom.
Recent works: On August 1, Wyoming Bill worked 4 furlongs on the main track and stopped the clock in :48.40. One week later, he breezed 4 furlongs in :48.20 over the same surface.
“He had a very nice breeze on Saturday,” said Day Phillips. “He’s a very cool customer when he goes out for training. He walks out and stands and stares at everybody, then goes about his business. For the most part, he switches off and gallops very relaxed. He’s very easy on himself.”
Fast Facts: Trainer Lou Cavalaris has a record seven King Edward wins. Robin Platts and Dave Penna share the record (four) for most wins by a jockey. Sam-Son Farm leads all owners with nine wins. Wire In took the first running in 1903. Inferno took three straight editions, from 1906-08.
Field for the $200,000 Grade 2 bet365 King Edward
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – Irish Aces – Pietro Moran – Brendan Walsh
2 – G T Five Hundred – Jose Campos – Dale Desruisseaux
3 – Gas Me Up – Fraser Aebly – Kevin Attard
4 – Seminole Chief – Rafael Hernandez – Joe Sharp
5 – Wyoming Bill – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Catherine Day Phillips
6 – Piper’s Factor – John Velazquez – Katerina Vassilieva
Uncle Dodo and jockey Romero Maragh winning the Victoria Stakes on July 12, 2026 at Woodbine (Michael Burns Photo)
Uncle Dodo takes to the turf for bet365 Soaring Free
Stakes winner Uncle Dodo takes aim at the $150,000 bet365 Soaring Free, a 6 ½-furlong race for two-year-olds contested on the E.P. Taylor turf, Saturday at Woodbine. Part of a King’s Plate card that features six stakes, the Soaring Free, a key local prep ahead of next month’s $500,000 bet365 Summer Stakes (G1T) has attracted eight hopefuls, including Uncle Dodo.
Trained by Barb Minshall for owner and breeder Hoolie Racing Stable, LLC, the son of Uncle Mo out of the Shackleford mare Dream It Is broke his maiden in style, taking the Victoria Stakes, a 5 ½-furlong main track event for two-year-olds, on July 12.
“He had a bit of a foot issue going in, so his training schedule was a little disjointed,” said Minshall. “He was just very game, which was even more impressive considering he had missed a few days training heading into the race.
Uncle Dodo debuted on June 14 at the same distance and over the same surface as the Victoria.
Off a step slowly, the bay colt was gaining fast down the lane and finished third, just over a half-length behind the winner.
“He matured a lot off that first run,” said Minshall. “He was smart right from the beginning, but after that first run, he knew what it was all about.”
Minshall, in the middle of another strong campaign, is looking for her young charge to take another step forward on Saturday. “He doesn’t really start running until he gets a little bit of ground under him. Once he gets a few furlongs under him, he really starts to find his gear. I think that is always an advantage when you have a young horse. But it’s always a big question mark when you put horses on the turf for the first time.” Jessica Zehuancatl-Contreras is the groom.
Recent works: Uncle Dodo breezed 5 furlongs in 1:02.20 over the turf training track on Aug. 7.
“I think you have to race them on the turf to know if they can truly handle it,” said Minshall. “He handled the ground fine in his breeze and did everything right. The dogs were way out, and the grass might have been a little soft because of all the rain we had. The jock [Romero Maragh] was on him and said he had a ton of horse the whole time. He probably could have gone by his workmates pretty easily, but it was just a maintenance breeze to see how he gets over it and Romero said he felt very comfortable. We’ll just go from there and see if he can handle it on race day.”
Fast facts: Soaring Free was Canada’s Horse of the Year and Outstanding Turf Male in 2004 after capturing the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile. Soaring Free retired in 2006 at age 7 after trying for his third win in the Shakertown at Keeneland, losing by less than three lengths. He compiled a record of 15 wins (10 in stakes races) and four seconds in 27 starts and purse earnings of $2,110,371. The Sam-Son Farm homebred was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2013.
Field for the $150,000 bet365 Soaring Free Stakes
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – Uncle Kef – Carlos Barbosa – Kevin Rice
2 – Quipster – Pietro Moran – Kevin Attard
3 – Mrs D – Jose Campos – Steven Chircop
4 – Humble and Kind – Sahin Civaci – Mark Casse
5 – Uncle Dodo – Romero Ramsay Maragh – Barb Minshall
6 – Speaker’s Speech – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse
7 – De la Renta – Fraser Aebly – Kevin Attard
8 – Through the Years (IRE) – John Velazquez – Wesley Ward
Power of Destiny (GB) looks to deliver in Grade 2 Canadian
Power of Destiny (GB) will make her fourth start at Woodbine, this time in the $200,000 Canadian Stakes Presented by The Japan Racing Association (G2T), on Saturday, King’s Plate Day. Trained by Jamie Begg, Power of Destiny (GB), to be ridden by John Velazquez, will take on six rivals in the 1 1/16-mile inner turf event for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up.
Since coming to North America, the five-year-old bay has posted a trio of top-three finishes from four starts, including a second in her Canadian debut, a 1 1/16-mile main track race, on May 3 at Woodbine.
Following an off-the-board finish in the Belle Mahone Stakes (G3) on May 30, the daughter of Sea The Stars (IRE) out of the unraced Kingman (GB) mare Rux Power (GB) won her North American turf debut, taking a 1 1/16-mile inner turf allowance optional claimer by a hard-fought neck.
“That was a good win,” said Begg. “And the filly (Majaz (GB)) of Mark’s (trainer, Casse) that she beat is a pretty nice horse, so it was a very nice performance on her part. We had the two starts into her on the synthetic at Woodbine and then she put it all together on the grass.”
Bred by King Power Racing Co. Ltd, Power of Destiny (GB) arrives at the Canadian off a third in a 1 1/8-mile inner turf race at Saratoga on Aug. 5.
“We stretched her out for that race,” said Begg. “To me, I thought she was more a miler to a mile and a sixteenth tops, even though in Europe they didn’t run her shorter than a mile and three-eighths. She wasn’t keyed up, but she was definitely ready for that race in Saratoga, and she put in a very good effort. It kind of showed us that she is the real deal. She came out of it well, too.
“We had nominated her to this race, so even though it’s a quick turnaround, we are confident in her. I feel a lot of these turf miler mares are able to bounce back on short rest. I like her a lot and I like her chances in this race. There are some tough ones here, but she is definitely in the mix.”
The bay was purchased for 40,000 guineas at the 2025 Tattersalls December Mares Sale by Begg and Joe Miller, for the ownership group of Rancho Temescal Thoroughbred Partners, Upland Flats Racing, Jonathan Wilmot and Nick Bauer.
“Joe Miller is the representative at Tattersalls, and he is also the manager for the partners in this mare. He had very much highlighted her as a horse we could really look at. She was very highly rated in Europe, which caused her to carry a lot of weight when she was running. Two races before we brought her over here, she was carrying 140 pounds. The idea was that when she ran in the ‘one other than’ races here, she could carry around 121 pounds, which is far more reasonable than 140.
“It was funny because at that sale, the guys in the group were pretty gung-ho about taking a swing at buying her. There were a couple of horses that were going for quite a bit of money but weren’t on our radar. Joe had earmarked this mare, and we were willing to go up to £100,000 on her. And when we bought her for only 40, each one of the partners figured they had bought her themselves. But they are all great with having her in partnership. We got a pretty good bargain and are playing with house money at this point.”
Alfredo Ramos is the groom of Power of Destiny (GB), who sports a mark of 3-3-4 from 20 starts, along with $125,470 in purse earnings.
Fast facts: Champion trainer Kevin Attard has won four editions of the Canadian, in 2018 and 2019 with Starship Jubilee, in 2023 with Moira and in 2024 with Full Count Felicia. King Maple won the inaugural running in 1955.
Field for the Canadian Stakes Presented by The Japan Racing Association (G2T)
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – Lupa (IRE) – Fraser Aebly – Josie Carroll
2 – War Painter – Sahin Civaci – Kevin Attard
3 – Awesomesauce – Jose Campos – Joe Sharp
4 – Eponine (IRE) – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard
5 – Queens Command (IRE) – Eswan Flores – Katerina Vassilieva
6 – Proctor Street – Pietro Moran – Brendan Walsh
7 – Power of Destiny (GB) – John Velazquez – Jamie Begg
Epic Affair ready for Catch a Glimpse test
Epic Affair, a daughter of Epicenter out of the Speightstown mare Reluctant Bride, takes on nine rivals in the $150,000 Catch a Glimpse, Saturday at Woodbine. Trained by Gail Cox, who owns with John Menary, Epic Affair arrives at the Catch a Glimpse, a 6 ½-furlong test over the E.P. Taylor turf for two-year-old fillies, off a third-place effort in her career bow on July 25.
Ridden by Ryan Munger, who will be aboard on Saturday, the dark bay filly chased along the inside in the 5-furlong maiden special weight that was run on the inner turf, before closing to secure third in the race run in :56.50 over firm ground.
“I thought it was great,” said Cox. “I was impressed with her. We knew that was not the ideal distance she wanted to go – she’s not a fast sprinter – but I thought she handled herself well and was closing in on end. She has a big, long stride and she showed it on that day. We wanted to see how she ran before we made any further decisions on where to run her and that performance led us to here.”
Cox lauded the filly’s maturity despite just having one race under her saddle. “She is easy to deal with and has a great mind. She is very willing to do whatever you ask of her. I think that first race helped qualify what I thought about her, which is that she wants to go a little bit further. I can’t say that I know the turf will move her up, it’s just having her going farther and that these races are there for her.
“This is a tough race. The horse (Go for Launch) who won the race she was in isn’t in this one, but the horse (Royal Foxtrot) who was second will be and she is a nice one as well.”
Bred in Kentucky by Delia Nash and Jun Park, Epic Affair was a $95,000 purchase at the 2025 Keeneland Association September Yearling Sale.
“I like Epicenter a lot and I thought he would be a good new sire,” said Cox. “She’s a good-looking, decent-sized filly, who had a great walk, so I really liked her.” The groom is Carlos Balbuena.
Recent works: Epic Affair covered 4 furlongs in :47.80 over the main track on Aug. 8.
“It was a great breeze, in-hand,” said Cox. “She always works really quite easily. She went with an older horse, and I was impressed in how she went about it from start to finish.”
Fast facts: The Catch a Glimpse was run for the first time in 2018, with My Gal Betty winning the inaugural edition. The race is named for Canada’s 2015 Horse of the Year, who won the Natalma Stakes at Woodbine before capturing the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and five other graded turf stakes. Mark Casse trained the City Zip filly for owners Gary Barber, Michael James Ambler and Windways Farm.
Field for the $150,000 Catch a Glimpse Stakes
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – Liberty Beach – Romero Ramsay Maragh – Mark Casse
2 – Royal Foxtrot – Fraser Aebly – Mark Casse
3 – Meloni – John Velazquez – Kevin Attard
4 – Epic Affair – Ryan Munger – Gail Cox
5 – Ghost Me – Sahin Civaci – George Weaver
6 – Mo Cookie – Leo Salles – Mike De Paulo
7 – Sarayu – Pietro Moran – Jamie Begg
8 – Humble and Kind – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Mark Casse
9 – Mrs D – Jose Campos – Steven Chircop
10 – Madeleine Swann – Rafael Hernandez – Josie Carroll
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