There were several super performances from Canadian bred 2-year-olds at Woodbine on October 11 on a mild afternoon under light showers. The rain, in fact, seemed to make the Woodbine Tapeta surface quite fast and speed favouring. There were a pair of 2-year-old stakes races at 7 furlongs and a maiden special weight race on the grass.
The Green family of D.J. Stable have made the Display Stakes their own in recent years, so has Mark Casse, who had won seven editions of the open race worth $143,500 this year coming into Sunday’s edition.
As with most stakes races at Woodbine this season, the entries were light. Just five juveniles were entered and one of the favourites, Quipster, ended up being scratched at the gate when he acted up.
The betting support ended up landing on ODENKIRK, a Canadian/Ontario bred colt by Nyquist who had won his debut for Len and Jon Green’s D.J. Stable only two weeks earlier at six furlongs on the grass. Rafael Hernandez was back to ride the colt who was a narrow favourite over Victoria Stakes winner Uncle Dodo.
Despite the small field, there was an unusual amount of bumping at the start but Odenkirk quickly cleared away from the crowd and was never really challenged the rest of the way. He won by 5 2/4 lengths in 1:22.30 over Uncle Dodo (Uncle Mo) who was up to beat his stablemate Verge by a head for second place. Unbridled Freedom, a maiden, finished fourth.
This was the third D.J. Stable and Casse victory in the Display, following Jupiter, last year’s winner, and Helium (2020).
This was Hernandez’s 15th stakes win of the 2026 season.
The last Display winner to go on and win the King’s Plate was With Approval in 1988.
Odenkirk, whose name is the same as the last name of popular TV and movie star Bob Oderkirk, was bought by D.J. Stable for $130,000 from breeder Anderson Farms (Ontario), Inc. at the 2025 Keeneland September yearling sale.
The colt’s dam is Astrollinthepark , by Divine Park, who won the Roxelana Overnight Stakes worth $75,000 and five of 19 races with earnings of over $283,000. She began her broodmare career with Anderson, producing a Hard Spun colt who has won four races and a winner, Shadow on the Sun, by More Than Ready. The mare’s 3-year-old, Cyclone Taylor, was a recent maiden allowance winner at Woodbine.
Astrollinthepark, already a half sister to Grade 1 winner Hard Aces, is also a half sister to this year’s fast 3-year-old filly in the United States, Mashallah, a Grade 3 winner.
The next race for 2-year-olds is the Grey Stakes (G3) next month.
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