Sunday Stakes Heating Up at Woodbine

Carrothers, a 4-year-old son of Mshawish-Queenofperfection, will tackle 1 1/16-miles on the Tapeta and eight rivals, in Sunday’s Grade 3 $150,000 Seagram Cup at Woodbine.

Slated as race eight on the 11-race card, which also features the running of the $250,000 Bison City Stakes, second jewel in the Canadian Triple Tiara Series, the Seagram Cup, for 3-year-olds and up, marks the first race outside of England and the U.S. for Carrothers.

Owned by MyRacehorse, Medallion Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, and Edward Kelly Jr., the gelding will test the Toronto oval Tapeta in what will be the 11th start of his career.

Scroll to continue with content

Bred in Kentucky by Sienna Farms LLC, Carrothers, trained by Kent Sweezey, comes to Canada on a winning note. The dark bay, under Junior Alvarado, drew off for a 2 ½-length score in a 1 1/16-mile main track race at Gulfstream on July 17.

“We had a little bit of trouble with him,” said Harry Rice, East Coast Racing Manager with MyRacehorse. “We couldn’t really figure out what he wanted to do when we brought him over from Europe. He had a couple of nice races over there and we got him over here with Bill [trainer, Mott]. We tried him on the turf in his first start because he wasn’t breezing great on the dirt, he wasn’t galloping out. We did that and it wasn’t a great result. I think he had one of his best races [January 8, at Aqueduct] in the winter, where he finished third but was disqualified and placed last.”

Eventually, a change in game plan and location was put in place for Carrothers.

“We talked and thought we had to go back to what we know with him, so we transferred him over to Kent and sent him to Florida to race on the synthetic after two off-key starts in New York,” noted Rice. “He ran a nice fourth where he came on a bit. Then we took a step back and decided to take the blinkers off and add a cheekpiece on, to try and get a little more ‘Euro’ into him more than anything else. And it proved to work. Junior [Alvarado] told us he had figured him out after that fourth and he got him out of the gate perfectly and went on to a nice win last time out.”

While the initial thought was to keep Carrothers in Florida, the chance to contest the Seagram Cup prompted the connections to head to Ontario.

“We were looking for races in Florida, to keep him down there on the synthetic, but at the end of the day, there wasn’t a stakes race for him, so we made the decision to take a shot at Woodbine.”

Emma-Jayne Wilson will partner Carrothers. The multiple graded stakes winning rider won the 2008 edition of the race with Artie Hot.

“It’s awesome we have Emma riding. We were going to see if Junior could make the trip up, but he has too many obligations in New York, which is perfectly fine. Kent and I sat down and thought about who would be good for Carrothers. He asked me what I thought about Emma, and I said, ‘Well, from a personal standpoint, I’d love it because my dad is her valet when she rides in New York.’ But I left that decision up to him. We both really like Emma, and hopefully she can deliver one of those patient rides she’s so good at and we can get a win.”

The Seagram will be the first North American stakes test for Carrothers, who brings a record of 3-1-0 from 10 starts into the race.

“I think he’s a horse that’s very determined,” praised Rice. “He isn’t going to pass a ton of horses, but he’s not going to let a lot of horses pass him as well.”

Five fillies will chase top prize in the Bison City Stakes, for 3-year-old fillies foaled in Canada. Moira, who won this year’s edition of the Woodbine Oaks presented by Budweiser, won’t contest the Bison City, but will instead run in the $1 million Queen’s Plate, on August 21.

Sister Seagull, second to Moira in the Oaks, will leave from post two in the Bison City, which goes as race nine. The Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry homebred sports a record of 1-1-1 from six starts for trainer Catherine Day Phillips. Antonio Gallardo will ride the daughter of Hard Spun-Sweet Kitten.

First post for Sunday’s card is 1:00 p.m. Fans can also watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com and the Dark Horse Bets app.

$150,000 SEAGRAM CUP STAKES

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Cash Dividend – Leo Salles – Denyse McClachrie
2 – War Bomber (IRE) (S) – Sahin Civaci – Norm McKnight
3 – Haddassah – Gary Boulanger – Kevin Attard
4 – Frosted Over – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse
5 – Clayton – Antonio Gallardo – Kevin Attard
6 – Artie’s Storm – David Moran – Paul Buttigieg
7 – Carrothers – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Kent Sweezey
8 – Special Forces – Luis Contreras – Kevin Attard
9 – Tap It to Win – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse

$250,000 BISON CITY STAKES

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Strega – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard
2 – Sister Seagull – Antonio Gallardo – Catherine Day Phillips
3 – Lady Brew – Leo Salles – Steven Chircop
4 – Pioneer’s Edge – Justin Stein – Josie Carroll
5 – Souper Flashy – Luis Contreras – Kevin Attard