Fourteen races wrapped up the 2021 Woodbine season on December 5 and it was fitting that a pair of trainees from the MARK CASSE stable, the runaway leading barn, battled down the stretch in the final stakes race of the year.
Classic winner SIR WINSTON, winner of the 2019 Belmont Stakes over the very good Tacitus, returned to his favourite 1 1/2 mile distance for the Grade 3 Valedictory Stakes and muscled past 3-year-old FROSTED OVER to win the $150,000 stakes, his first stake win since the Belmont. The Casse pair were 8 3/4 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Collective Force. The time of 2:31.41 earned the horse a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
Bred and owned by American owner Tracy Farmer, Sir Winston, who was bought back as a yearling for $50,000, had just a single allowance win from his Belmont score through September 2020. He came to Woodbine in August and won an optional claiming event before finishing a close second to Mighty Heart and Special Forces in the Autumn Stakes (G2) and Durham Cup (G3). Sir Winston has six wins in 19 races and earnings of $1,189,973.
Sadly, the Valedictory was marred by the fatal breakdown of the promising 3-year-old JELGO, owned by John Handbury and trained by Matt Douglas.
Fans plowed a record (for a final racing day) $8.5 million through the windows and off-track.
Casse’s team including assistants David Adams and Kathryn Sullivan sent out the winners of 110 races in 2021. It was Casse’s second-highest total for a Woodbine meeting and most in a decade – he had 119 wins in 2011.
Patrick Husbands, who rode the 5-year-old horse by Awesome Again – La Gran Balladora by Afleet Alex, would shock viewers in the postrace interview when he suggested he may be retiring from riding.
“I want to say thanks to Mark…time out,” said an emotional Husbands, who teamed with Casse to net the most jockey-trainer stakes victories at the meet with 10. “I had a hard week. I texted Mark around 11:30 on Wednesday night and Mark returned my call Thursday morning and I would not answer the phone. I said, ‘Mark, I’m done.’ And he said, ‘You can’t do this, Patrick. You can’t go out like this. You have to let Woodbine know that you are finished.’
In my heart, I want to be here. I wanted to make today, right now, my last ride at Woodbine. Woodbine was great to me. But Mark told me I had the whole winter to think about it. I tip my hat off to Mark. He was there for me from day one. Everyone was there for me through my injuries. So, I will think about it through the winter.”
This was the 13th Woodbine title for Casse who had about twice as many wins as trainers in second and third. He sent out 27 stakes winners and the earners of over $8.1 million.
“For us, not just in Toronto, and all over, it’s been a really good year. I’m excited because we have a lot of nice young prospects too with God of Love winning the Grey and Cup and Saucer, Mrs. Barbara winning the Mazarine, Golden Glider – those kinds of horses. The horse I ran on Saturday at Woodbine, Sir for Sure, he’s a maiden, but he’s a really nice horse, and it will be fun to watch him going long next year.”
When did Casse know it was going to be a prosperous campaign?
“You never know. I’m kind of like the gambler playing poker. I never count my money when I’m sitting at the table.”
Casse has high praise for his team at Woodbine.
“We have wonderful people that have been with us for a long time. They are very dedicated and passionate in what they do, day in and day out. A lot of people might not know, but our entire staff is all Canadians. This was a trying year for everybody because of the late start, but we made sure the horses were ready.”
Casse is hopeful the 2022 Woodbine racing season brings with it a return to normalcy.
“Our season is geared towards Woodbine. Obviously, we run at different places, but over the years, we’ve built up a strong Canadian group, not just in horses, but owners. They want to see their horses and get out there and enjoy the racing, so hopefully, in 2022, we can all have the type of year everyone is used to.”
It was a good battle for second place in the trainer standings and MARTIN DREXLER edged KEVIN ATTARD 56 to 55. Drexler will have horses stabled at Palm Meadows Training Centre in Boynton Beach, Florida, his first foray south with horses in training.
LEADING JOCKEYS
Woodbine’s leading rider of 2021, KAZUSHI KIMURA, put an exclamation point on his first title – the first Japanese rider to win a riding title in North America – by winning race 14 in pelting freezing rain on Mike DePaulo’s TIZ ROMANTIC.
Kimura won 138 races at Woodbine. In another good battle, Rafael Hernandez edged Emma-Jayne Wilson for second-place, 84-83.
“It’s a special achievement, and it was one of my dreams,” said the 22-year-old Kimura. “Everybody wants to be a leading rider, but it’s not easy. We just need great riding skills and good horses, good support from the trainers and owners for the whole season to be able to get the title. This year, I’d say I improved, and I got good support from trainers and owners. I appreciate that help for me to get the riding title.”
Born in Hokkaido, Kimura joined the Woodbine jockey colony as a 19-year-old apprentice in 2018 and made a strong first impression. He finished his first Woodbine campaign sixth in the standings with 89 wins and his mounts totaled more than $2.3 million in earnings. His first victory came aboard 70-1 longshot Tornado Cat, and his first stakes win came aboard Speedy Soul in the Muskoka. The Eclipse Award winner as North America’s outstanding apprentice, Kimura also won the Sovereign Award equivalent in both 2018 and 2019.
This year, Kimura won eight stakes at the Toronto oval, including with Corelli in the Grade 3 Singspiel, Our Secret Agent in the Grade 3 Hendrie, Frosted Over in the Grade 3 Ontario Derby and Swinging Mandy in the Victorian Queen.
LEADING OWNERS
Two of Casse’s clients, GARY BARBER and LIVE OAK PLANTATION, finished 1-2 in the owner standings by purses. Barber won 24 races for his third straight title. Canadian Ivan Dalos was third.
Bruno Schickedanz led all owners by wins with 34.
Owner Sts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings Win %
1 Gary Barber 131 24 19 15 $1,343,901 18%
2 Live Oak Plantation 68 19 7 4 $1,119,250 28%
3 Ivan Dalos 81 12 11 12 $916,918 15%
4 Bruno Schickedanz 233 34 28 20 $838,960 15%
5 Stronach Stables 66 6 8 11 $796,736 9%
6 Chiefswood Stables Limited 85 12 13 9 $762,020 14%
7 Buttigieg Training Centre 144 18 13 11 $733,541 13%
8 Godolphin, LLC 14 3 1 3 $729,882 21%
9 Colebrook Farms 194 17 19 17 $716,518 9%
10 Brandon Greer 5 3 1 0 $704,953 60%
LEADING HORSES
By purse winnings, Brandon and Terry Greer’s TOWN CRUISE topped horses at the meeting with just over $704,000, most of that coming from his upset win in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile. The son of Ontario stallion Town Prize won three of five races in 2021.
Four horses won five races at the meeting and all were Ontario-breds.:
LORENA, one of the top 3-year-old fillies of the year, won four stakes races. Bred by Dr. Liam Gannon, the daughter of Ontario sire Souper Speedy raced for Kai Olguin, Brent and Russ McLellan and Stuart Simon.
The remarkable 8-year-old chestnut LAPOCHKA, owned by Eight Star Racing Stables and trained by Vito Armata, went five-for-nine at Woodbine and won on the last day of racing with another 90 Beyer Figure against $62,500 optional claiming rivals. It was not long ago that the gelding was claimed for $7,500 (late in 2019). He is an English Channel fellow bred by Richard Lister.
DANCING DOLL, an Ontario-bred as well, went five for six at Woodbine after a winter in Florida. The Artie Schiller 5-year-old mare, bred by James Perron Racing Stable, began the year for Natural Eight Stable and was claimed by TEC Stable in August for $25,000.
And ORBALINE was a late-season sensation after winning her maiden in the summer for $10,000 claiming. Orbaline, by Orb, won four straight including an optional event on the last day of racing for Kirk Sutherland and trainer Harold Ladouceur. Orbaline was bred by Al and Ulwelling.
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