Sprinters Star in Whimsical and Jacques Cartier at Woodbine

Two sprint stakes on the Woodbine schedule since the track opened in 1956 will highlight this weekend’s racing, May 13 and 14. The temperatures have started to soar recently and the action on the track will be hot.

(Note: Locked out Casino Woodbine workers are picketing all entrances to Woodbine racetrack property, so visitors to the track may experienced delays getting in.)

Fillies and mares will go 6 furlongs in the Grade 3 WHIMISICAL STAKES on Saturday, race 8 on the 9-race card, while the boys will travel the same distance in the Grade 3 JACQUES CARTIER STAKES on Mother’s Day, Sunday. Both stakes races offer a purse of $150,000-added.

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The Whimsical is named for the second filly to win the Preakness Stakes (G1), the second jewel of the American Triple Crown. Whimsical, by Orlando, won the 1906 Preakness and is one of just six fillies to have won the race.

A black-and-white photo of the filly Whimsical galloping.

Whimsical, winner of the 1906 Preakness Stakes

Inaugurated at Woodbine in 1956, the Whimsical has been run at four different distances and at three different tracks.

This year’s edition has an even-money morning line favourite in OUR FLASH DRIVE (Ghostzapper), a finalist for the Champion female Sprinter in Canada last year and winner of 5 for 14 races in her career. She posted a 99 Beyer Speed Figure when she ended 2022 with a big win in the Bessarabian Stakes (G2) at seven furlongs. Trained by Mark Casse for Love Oak Plantation, the Florida-bred may find 6 furlongs a bit short, but there is enough pace in the race for her to rally in time. Patrick Husbands rides.

Invader Baby No Worries (Mr. Speaker) was second by a neck in the WEBN Frog Stakes at Turfway Park on March 17 for trainer Tim Girten and is also a stretch runner.

Sunday’s JACQUES CARTIER STAKES is named for the French navigator and explorer credited with naming Canada, exploring the St. Lawrence River, and Canadian areas that would become French territory. First run at Greenwood in 1954, the Jacques Cartier has been won by champions such as Overskate, Hidden Treasure, Wake at Noon and Pink Lloyd.

This year’s field has attracted last year’s winner, ARZAK, for Sonata Stable and trainer Michael Trombetta. This five-year-old horse won two stakes at Woodbine last spring off the layoff and then was second in the Grade 2 Highlander Stakes before slipping off form later in the season. He has been working in fast times at Fair Hill Training Centre this spring. His natural speed gives him an edge on the closers in the field.

Ontario-sired and bred CANDY OVERLOAD, who won the Grade 2 Kennedy Road Stakes in November in his second start for owners Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Pantofel Stable and trainer Casse, is in good form in 2023. He won the Forego Stakes at Turfway Park and was a late third in the Big Daddy Stakes there on March 11. He is a deep-closing son of Reload so he will need some help with some pace to run at.

Two horses recently claimed from Casse, Old Chestnut and Ready for a Fight, are coming off wins and will be close to the early pace. Newly turned four-year-old Ironstone, a finalist for Champion 3-Year-Old Male last year, has been putting up strong prep times this spring.

New to the scene is Illium Stables’ Anarchist, a son of Distorted Humor, who was second in two Grade 3 stakes at Santa Anita this spring.