There were smiles for miles at Woodbine Racetrack on Saturday, April 22 as the 2023 Thoroughbred season opened its 133-day meeting. Fans, staff and horsepeople, many of which had not seen each other since closing day in December, spent the day catching up and of course taking in the nine quick races on the card.
Mother Nature also obliged as the heavy rain from the morning stopped just before the field for the first race came onto the track. Fillies and mares racing for a purse of $29,000 paraded in front of what was a very busy grandstand and at 1:11 p.m. the gals broke from the gate.
It was SILVER TUNES, an 8-to-1 longshot, who led all the way through 4 1/2 furlongs under apprentice rider Amanda Vandermeersch to take the year’s opening dash in 52.39. Trained by Barrington Siddo for his nephew Radcliffe Siddo of Radcliffe Racing Stable, Silver Tunes paid $18.30 for those who bet her to win.
“It feels very good,” said Barrington Siddo about winning the first race of the Woodbine season. ” I [won on opening day] last year too, but at Fort Erie.”
Siddo, coming off his best season in his fourth year as a trainer with 13 wins, said when Silver Tunes (Chitu – Nile Tunes by Pioneerof the Nile) came to him and his nephew more than a year ago, she was in need of a freshening. The mare’s last race was on May 26 of 2022 at Gulfstream Park. She was competing for $7,500 claiming yesterday.
“When she came to us she just looked like she needed some care, so we gave her time off. And here we are today.”
Silver Tunes trained in Florida this winter while Siddo, who is from Jamaica, stayed home in Mississauga following eye surgery.
For Vandermeersch, it was her 16th career win following a strong career-opening season in 2022. She spent her first winter in Florida this year, riding at Palm Meadows training centre.
Vandermeersch, who grew up on a tobacco farm, got into racing through owner Maureen Hewitt-Topp. Topp had a couple of horses at a farm where Vandermeersch was training a horse for pleasure riding and asked the young rider to exercise one of her Thoroughbreds. That horse was Piston Broke, who went on to be a multiple winner and is now a popular outrider pony at Ajax Downs. Vandermeersch was working as a nurse at the time she met Hewitt-Topp and eventually took a job exercising horses with trainer Saul McHugh.
“It’s a great feeling any time you win and it’s special to win the first race of the season,” said Vandermeersch. “My horse [Silver Tunes], I knew she would break well, and she just kept on going. It was a big effort.”
Wagering on opening day was $3,242,809, just above the $3,207,411 from a year ago.
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MY FINAL TRICK once again won a race on opening day of the Woodbine season. The gutsy bay Ontario-bred mare, who raced 15 times in 2022 and took three wins including one on opening day, battled hard in race 2 and won the $7,500 claiming dash at 4 1/2 furlongs. Owned and bred by Daryl Hasmatali’s Silver King Racing, the Old Forester six-year-old was ridden by Jason Hoyte, who did not carry a whip. John Coryat is the listed trainer.
My Final Trick was claimed from the race by Joe Humber.
Race 3 was won by odds-on favourite CANADIANSWEETHEART for the 2022 Sovereign Award winning owner Bruno Schickedanz. Trained by Martin Drexler and ridden by Sovereign Award winner Kazushi Kimura, the three-year-old filly was winning her fourth straight race. She raced three wide throughout the 5 furlongs and edged clear to take the $25,000 claiming event. Canadiansweetheart is a daughter of Ransom the Moon from Terri’s Pass by War Pass, bred by Shannondoe Farm in St. Thomas. The filly was just a $3,000 CTHS Ontario Mixed Sale yearling purchase by Racing Canada.
Namdy Raghunath and Sheila Mohan’s KINETIC STONE (Big Screen – Ravensroft by Ghostzapper) won a maiden optional dash, race 4, under Declan Carroll. The quick grey three-year-old, placed twice in five races last season, led all the way along the inside to win by 1 1/4 lengths. A $5,000 yearling purchase by Mohan from the 2021 CTHS Ontario yearling sale, Kinetic Stone picked up $39,540 for the win. The gelding is trained by Ravendra Raghunath.
Alberta-bred THEODOROPOULOS won her maiden in race 5 for owner Henley Thoroughbreds and trainer Katerina Vassilieva. The four-year-old filly by Constitution – Dona Bontia by El Prado (Ire) was coming off a pair of outings in Florida, which marked her first races since last summer. Chris Husbands tracked favourite I’m a Bourbon Girl aboard ‘Theo’ and then went by off the turn for home on the way to victory. The winner, who has had two other trainers in her 7 career races, was bred by Janet and Bo Stone.
Race 6, a competitive allowance race worth $111,000, was won by Al and Bill Ulwelling’s BASALT STREET, who darted up the rail under apprentice Sophia Vives to win for the 6th time in her career. The Louisiana-bred mare was coming back from a stint in New Orleans and returning to the barn of trainer Kevin Attard. A four-year-old by Uncaptured, Basalt Street was behind horses off the turn and steadying in traffic before she found some room while saving ground. She nabbed Botta Swing, the impressive debut winner from last spring who rallied five wide, and then was ridden out past the finish line. Her time was a quick 57.68.
Bull and Bear Stables’ ALLEN DIGGS won a $111,600 maiden allowance race to begin the late Pick 3. It was a long awaited score for the four-year-old who had shown plenty of promise since his debut last spring. Trained by Bill Tharrenos, who would win the last race of the day also, Allen Digges won a long battle with Coherence to win under ‘KK’. Allen Diggs is a son of Cairo Prince.
Race 8 was a longshot players dream race as the odds-on choice Magniloquent, one of a trio of horses sent to Woodbine for opening day by American trainer Wesley Ward, faded after going 21.51 for the first two furlongs. It was SACRED DANCER who picked up the pieces in deep stretch under jockey Jodein Anderson. The Giant Gizmo Ontario-bred was racing for the first time off the claim by Kata and Don Pleterski, who took the filly in December for $25,000. Sacred Dancer was 12-to-1.
The final race of the day was perhaps one of the most exciting, especially if you wagered on TOO MUCH VINO at 3-to-1. In from Florida for owner James Fleming and trainer Bill Tharrenos and coming off a big maiden win in January, Too Much Vino broke very slowly under Emma-Jayne Wilson and was well back early in the 5 furlong race.
But when a wild pace battle ensued (21.74), it was good news for Wilson and Too Much Vino. Despite still having almost 10 lengths to make up inside the quarter pole, the pair motored along the two path and grabbed the lead late over Northern Passage.
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