There are some big-name horses in action at Woodbine this weekend, several who could be on their way to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at at Santa Anita next month.
Woodbine’s strong stakes schedule and impeccable facilities have long been the envy of tracks in North America and that is why the stars of the sport continue to show up at the Toronto track.
In fact, Woodbine has a long history of luring the biggest stars of racing and one of those will be celebrated this week. SECRETARIAT, considered one of the greatest Thoroughbreds of them all, ended his career at Woodbine in the Canadian International in 1973, the highlight race this weekend.
Up first is Saturday’s DURHAM CUP (G3) a race that caught the eye of British trainer team Simon and Ed Crisford who have brought $3 million earner ALGIERS (Ire) to Woodbine to use the 1 1/16 mile Tapeta stakes race as a stepping-stone to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
The Durham Cup, inaugurated in 1906 but not run a few times, is 113 years old in 2023. It appears the last horse to win the Durham Cup and head to the Breeders’ Cup was A FLEETS DANCER, who won the 2001 Durham (on dirt) by 5 lengths and then finished 11th to Tiznow in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Belmont Park.
Algiers, a six-year-old son of Shamardal owned by Rabbah Bloodstock LLC, has not raced since March when he was thriving on the dirt in Dubai. After impressively winning the first two Challenge rounds on the path to the $12 million Dubai World Cup, the Godolphin-bred was the second choice behind the recently defending champion Country Grammer in the main event.
Country Grammar failed to fire, finishing seventh, but a monstrous performance by Japanese invader Ushba Tesoro left Algiers the runner-up, beaten 2 ¾ lengths with the 2022 Saudi Cup winner Emblem Road a nose back in third in the $12 million race over about 1 ¼ miles on March 25.
Ushba Tesoro is eyeing a date in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on November 4.
Team Crisford had entered Algiers in last weekend’s Woodward Stakes over 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct but circumstances led them to scrap that plan.
Ed Crisford said the combination of the uncertainty over Aqueduct’s main track following 8.65 inches of rain and the inability to train several mornings leading up to the race were the reasons for the scratch. The plan had been to run in the Woodward to find out how Algiers handled a North American dirt track prior to a potential start in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
“We didn’t think the track was going to be suitable for our particular horse,” Simon Crisford said. “I thought he would have run a big race. He can run at Woodbine and get a race under his belt, and we can take it from there.”
Supplemented to the Durham Cup for $2,250, Algiers will be racing over a synthetic surface for the second time in his career, the first having come last November in the listed Churchill Stakes over 1 ¼ miles at Lingfield Park in England.
Algiers was beaten a nose there as the runner-up behind Missed the Cut, who has since been sold and relocated to California and won Santa Anita’s Grade 3 Tokyo City Cup over 1 ½ miles of dirt last weekend.
While Algiers will be heavily favoured, there are some accomplished North American older horses in the field. Treason is owned by LNJ Foxwoods and MSK Racing Ventures and is trained by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Josie Carroll.
The lightly-raced five-year-old gelding had fared well over the local Tapeta surface with a victory in the Grade 2, 1 1/16-mile Eclipse and a second-place finish behind stablemate Tyson in the Grade 3, 1 1/8 mile Dominion Day.
In his latest outing, Treason ended a close second in the Grade 2 King Edward over one mile on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course.
“The turf is something we did to open up some other avenues for him, and he ran very well,” said Carroll. “We absolutely thought about running him in the Woodbine Mile, and weighed our options, and just decided that this would probably be a better spot for him.”
~ with files from Woodbine Media
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