SPLASH OF BOURBON (Old Forester) and HUMORMEASTORY (Frac Daddy) were the winners of the second leg of the four-race Ontario Sired Heritage Series for three-year-olds at Woodbine on July 26.
In 2026, the Ontario Sired Heritage Series will feature a total of four races – three opening legs and one final – for both three-year-old colts & geldings and three-year-old fillies. The total purse structure for the series is $1.08 million, offering three $150,000 preliminary legs per race, per division. The Heritage series will conclude with a pair of $150,000 finals for both divisions (estimated).
$70,000 in bonuses will be paid at the end of the series to the top three horses in each division based upon a point system from first through sixth place. The standings are updated below.
The THUNDER BAY STAKES, worth $150,000, was for fillies at six furlongs and it was Souper Sporty, winner of the first leg of the series, the Georgian Bay Stakes, who took off to a long lead out of the gate under Sahin Civaci. The Zilli Racing Stable daughter of Souper Speedy negated the chances of any other speed horse running well, but her splits of 22.35 and 45.34 were a bit too quick for her to sustain.
Moving wide on the turn from mid-pack was the red-hot Splash of Bourbon, a Tucci Holdings homebred under Fraser Aebly who charged to her third consecutive win and her first stakes win and placing. Up for second along the inside was Gail Wood’s Arianna’s Tour (Souper Speedy) while Souper Sporty held third. The time was 1:11.29, just a tick off the time the boys ran in the Lake Superior Stakes.
“She can kind of do anything,” said Aebly. “She’s a really smart filly. I wanted to let her break, let her find her feet, let her get comfortable. She did that. And when I started to move her, she fired for me, she really fired today.”
Trainer Sid Attard put blinkers on Splash of Bourbon following a second-place finish in her season opener on May 9 when she was a runner-up. She is unbeaten with her new blinkers. The filly is now four for seven in her career with earnings of $175,072.
The Tuccis bred their mare First Girl to Old Forester four years ago to get Splash of Bourbon. Old Forester passed away in November 2024. First Girl, by First Dude, won four of 20 races and over $104,000 for the Tuccis. Her first foal is the placed filly Aint No Girly Girl.
The fillies leaderboard for the Heritage Series:
Souper Sporty – 15
Splash of Bourbon – 10
Souper Diva – 7
Arianna’s Tour – 7
Sipping History – 5
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The $151,000 LAKE SUPERIOR STAKES for colts and geldings, also at six furlongs, also had plenty of speed runners in the field and an off-the-pace runner won. Colebrook Farms’ homebred Humormeastory, coming off his maiden win in an optional claiming race. rumbled down the middle of the track under Jalon Samuel to win for trainer Patrick Dixon.
The grey gelding, who once again broke behind the field, trailed front-runner Quadzilla and the chasing Wine After Whiskey, who went 22.59 and 46.12. Wine After Whiskey grabbed the lead and looked home free in early stretch before Samuel and Humormeastory charged in time to win by half a length in 1:11.01. Wine After Whiskey, heavily bet down to even-money, held second over 52-to-1 shot Auntie’s Bambino.
“He just does not want to break sharp,” said trainer Patrick Dixon. “He wants to get his feet underneath him and we didn’t really want to change that style of him. We knew there would be a lot of speed in this race, so if anything the race would set up perfectly for him.”
Humormeastory has two wins in his three starts and $122,942 in earnings. John Brnjas’s Colebrook Farms bred the gelding, who is out of the Sharp Humor mare Tory’s Humorgirl, who was placed three times in five starts. Tory’s Humorgirl has seven Ontario-bred named foals and two other winners, Foxxy Belle (9 wins, $345,000) and stakes placed Jocularity.
Tory’s Humorgirl’s third dam is Selene and Seaway Stakes winner Little to Do, the dam of nine-time winner Joy’s Countess, a daughter of Geiger Counter.
The colts and geldings leaderboard:
Wine After Whiskey – 14
Duckduckduck – 10
Humormeastory – 10
Aunti’s Bambino – 8
Gone With Duwyn – 8
Fraser Aebly guides Splash of Bourbon to victory in the $150,000 Thunder Bay Stakes for owner Tucci Holdings and trainer Sid Attard. (Woodbine/ Michael Burns Photo)
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