A week after his longtime boss passed away at the age of 78, RICK HIYASHI saddled his first winner as a trainer. Hiyashi has worked for Paul Buttigieg for decades and in recent years has been managing the runners at the track since Buttigieg became ill.
With the news that the racing stable and training centre will continue on, as per his wife Sandy Giffen and one of his sons, Shawn, Hiyashi brought over the sizy chestnut first-time starter HOLIDAY ROSE, a Buttigieg/Giffen homebred, on Thursday evening. Under Desean Bynoe, Holiday Rose stayed far off the sizzling hot pace and then motored up the inside to win nicely.
A daughter of Ami’s Holiday – Rose in the Forest by Old Forest, Holiday Rose is a three-year-old who was bought back by Buttigieg as a yearling for $10,000.
Last Saturday after the four graded stakes races, the final race of the day was a 1 1/16 mile maiden race for fillies and anyone paying attention to workouts at Woodbine would have been interested in SULTANA, a four-year-old making her debut for Lanni Bloodstock. A long, tall daughter of Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, Sultana was purchased from the Ocala Breeders’ Sales June in 2023 for $50,000, having sold for just $8,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. For that sale she worked two furlongs in 21.00.
But it was not until last fall she posted her first workout and she resumed training with Kevin Attard this spring. Sent off at almost 8-to-1 last week and under Pietro Moran, Sultana was crunched on either side coming out of the gate and was soon far off the pace. She had just one filly beaten down the backside before she started to turn on the jets. Rallying wide and fast, Sultana was up to win by 1 3/4 lengths in 1:44.22 for a smart 74 Beyer Speed Figure.
New York stakes winner LOST ARK, by Violence, has returned to training after entering stud at Northern Dawn Farm in Hillsburgh this winter. An attractive horse who has won from sprints to 1 1/4 miles, Lost Ark is a half-brother to champion Nest. Lost Ark, a five-year-old, worked three furlongs for trainer Krista Cole last weekend.
Woodbine was forced to cancel racing on June 6 due to the high air quality rating in the Toronto area. Just as in 2023 when racing and training was halted due to forest fires, there are fires in Saskatchewan and Alberta burning and the smoke has been visible in Ontario this week.
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