Rookies step into the Grade 3 spotlight for the $175,000 bet365 Grey Stakes
Gold Standard Racing Stable LLC’s Speaker’s Speech will tackle two turns and the main track for the first time in the 1 11/6-mile test for two-year-olds that drew seven hopefuls, including stablemate Play It Again, also owned by Gold Standard Racing Stable LLC. In his most recent start, Speaker’s Speech finished third in the Algonquin (G3T) on Oct. 3. After being stuck behind a wall of runners, the bay was full of run late and finished with a flourish.
“This is a very nice horse, who is very smart,” said jockey Rafael Hernandez, who has a colony-leading 14 stakes wins in 2026. “In the last race, we were in behind a lot of horses, but he didn’t give up,” “When we got room, he was full of run. You could tell he wanted to chase the other horses down. He galloped out very strong, too.”
The son of Speaker’s Corner out of the Summer Bird mare Danessa Deluxe made his career bow on Aug. 15, in the 6 ½-furlong Soaring Free Stakes, run over the E.P. Taylor turf, missing by a head to De la Renta, who will contest the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Oct. 30.
“He was very game in his first start,” said Hernandez, who has teamed with Casse for a meet-leading 23 jockey/trainer wins, accompanied by a 34.84 percent strike rate. “He fought right to the wire against a very, very good horse. He showed what kind of fight he has. He has a lot of determination.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing him stretch out. He has a great stride and does things very easily. He never fights you and he does whatever you ask him to do. He has a good mind and loves to compete.”
Bred in Kentucky by Tommy Wente Jr. and Scott Stephens, the colt was an $875,000 purchase at the 2026 Ocala Breeders’ Sale Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training. Ivan “Billy” Forde is the groom.
Recent works: Speaker’s Speech covered four furlongs in :49.00 over the main track on Oct. 18, duplicating the time on the same surface six days later.
Fast facts: Notable winners include Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductees Horometer (1933), Kennedy Road (1970), Sunny’s Halo (1982), and Sky Classic (1989). Dancer’s Image won the 1967 race and went on to capture the following year’s Kentucky Derby, as did Mine That Bird in 2009. J. K. L. Ross, owner of the first United States Triple Crown Champion, Sir Barton, won this race five years in a row with future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame trainer Henry McDaniel.
Hernandez and Casse teamed with God of Love to win the 2021 running of the Grey. Hernandez has won three editions, while Casse has won on five occasions.
Wagering menu for the Grey: Includes Rolling Double / Exacta / 0.20 Trifecta / 0.20 Superfecta / 0.20 Pick 3 (Races 8-9-10) / $1 Swinger.
Field for the Grade 3 Grey
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – Play It Again – Fraser Aebly – Mark Casse
2 – Speaker’s Speech – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse
3 – Uncle Dodo – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Barb Minshall
4 – King’s Counsel – Daisuke Fukumoto – Barb Minshall
5 – Authentic Gold – Jose Campos – Katerina Vassilieva
6 – Okarito – Ryan Munger – Eoin Harty
7 – Freedom Hall – Pietro Moran – Michael Trombetta
Mrs D rolls into Grade 3 Mazarine off first graded triumph
Fresh off her first graded score, Mrs D brings winning momentum into Sunday’s $175,000 Mazarine (G3) Presented by Seedlip, a 1 1/16-mile main track test for two-year-old fillies, at Woodbine. Trained by Steven Chircop for owner JDLP Holdings, Mrs D delivered her most impressive outing to date in a tenacious triumph of the Algonquin Stakes (G3) on Oct. 3 at Woodbine.
“She’s a really nice horse,” said Chircop. “We thought that earlier on in her career but to see it come to fruition is definitely special.”
Impressed on multiple fronts, what stood out most to Chircop was how she did it and who she did it against – a group that included fellow budding star Go for Launch, who was slated to contest the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) before being scratched due to injury.
“The fact that she had a different running style, and that she beat some really good horses really struck me,” said Chircop of the half-length tally over five furlongs on the inner turf.
“She beat an undefeated Flightline filly (Go for Launch) who just won a stakes race at Saratoga (Bolton Landing), and she won the race going away. Any time you can win a graded stake at any point in your career, it’s always a little bit more special, but the fact she was able to beat some nice fillies, and boys, going five-eighths, was really nice.”
The result was especially meaningful given the road that led to it. “It was more of an emotional race since we opted to skip the Natalma and wait for the Algonquin,” added Chircop. “The horse worked so well, and so many times horses do things in the morning, and you hope that it translates in the afternoon, but it doesn’t always. So, to see her run as expected was really nice.
“I didn’t know that she was going to win the race, but I knew she was going to run a really good race, and to see her do that and put us into the Breeders’ Cup spotlight was pretty special.”
With Mrs D’s stock on the rise following the Algonquin, a potential trip to Keeneland for the 43rd Breeders’ Cup began to feel increasingly real.
Unfortunately, it didn’t materialize as such for the daughter of Bolt d’Oro out of the Distorted Humor mare True Elegance. “It was definitely heartbreaking, I won’t lie,” said Chircop. “I was really hoping that she would get there because she’s doing so well. Again, same thing, I don’t know if she would win the Breeders’ Cup, but I knew she wouldn’t have disgraced herself and she was going to run really well.
“So, yes, there’s been a little bit of a heartbreak, and we’ve been following the race closely, but I can only control what we can control, and it wasn’t meant to be this year.”
Chircop sees an early opportunity to bolster his filly’s bid for next year’s Breeders’ Cup. “Now with her stretching out, it might create other avenues for different races, and by the grace of God, we can get there next year with the same kind of horse in the same kind of shape. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.”
The bay, bred in Kentucky by Dixiana Farms, faces a substantial step up from five furlongs in the Algonquin to 1 1/16 miles in the Mazarine.
Chircop has faith in Mrs D’s ability to handle it. “She’s a really kind horse to train in the morning – she’s not aggressive, she’s very easy, and you can get her to do what you want.
“When we were working as a two-year-old, she was always better than her company and we were always able to keep them together head-and-head until we wanted to test her. So, with her coming off the pace in that race [Algonquin], it just gives a little bit more confidence that she’s not a ‘need-the-lead’ type of horse and she can settle.
“Now, stretching out from five-eighths to 1 1/16 miles – is it ideal? Not by any means, but I’m hoping that her class prevails, and she does have a little bit of distance in her pedigree, which suggests that with the right kind of field and the right kind of trip, she should be good enough to get it done.”
Mrs D was a $100,000 purchase at the 2025 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale. Ershell Lewin is the groom.
Recent works: Mrs D has worked twice over the Woodbine main track since the Algonquin on Oct. 3. She breezed four furlongs in :50.20 on Oct. 16 and five furlongs in :59.60 on Oct. 25.
“She’s doing as good as she’s ever done in her life. She worked in :59.60, and she worked really easy, galloped out really good, which was definitely encouraging. If we didn’t like how she worked, she wasn’t going to run but she’s on top of her game right now.”
Fast facts: Mark Casse holds the race record for most wins (10) by a trainer. Patrick Husbands holds the race record for most wins by a jockey, with eight. Inaugurated in 1965 at Greenwood, in 1980 it was moved to Woodbine. Solar Park won the inaugural running.
Wagering menu for the Mazarine: Includes Rolling Double / Exacta / 0.20 Trifecta / 0.20 Superfecta / 0.20 Pick 3 (Races 3-4-5) / $1 Swinger.
Field for the Grade 3 Mazarine
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – Epic Affair – Ryan Munger – Gail Cox
2 – Homeawayfromhome – Pietro Moran – Brendan Walsh
3 – Mrs D – Jose Campos – Steven Chircop
4 – Sunday Finery – Sahin Civaci – Jamie Begg
5 – Mo Cookie – Rico Walcott – Mike De Paulo
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