A more mature WINTERBERRY won her first two-turn stakes races of her career on August 8 when she led all the way to take the $250,000 BISON CITY STAKES at Woodbine, the second jewel of the Triple Tiara. Woodbine Oaks winner NO TIME (Not This Time) by-passed the Bison City, as she will meet the boys in the King’s Plate next week.
That left Winterberry and Shifty, like No Time trained by Mark Casse, as the two logical gals in the six-horse Bison City at 1 1/16 miles.
Both fillies are owned by Leonard and Jon Green’s D.J. Stable.
Shifty (Medaglia d’Oro) was made the heavy favourite since she was second in the Oaks and clear of Winterberry, who had tried to lead in that 1 1/8 mile Canadian classic.
In the Bison City, however, Winterberry was much more resilient on the pace as she cleared the field easily with Patrick Husbands riding and Shifty simply could not run her down. Aristella, last year’s Princess Elizabeth Stakes winner who was seventh in the Oaks, finished third.
Winterberry ran the distance in 1:44.65.
The top three finishers were all bred by David Anderson’s Anderson Farms Ont. Inc. with Aristella co-bred by Peter Berglar.
Winterberry was a $210,000 purchase from the 2023 Keeneland September sale. She is by Frosted (Tapit) out of the Bellamy Road mare Dreams Are Free, who was a two-time winner in route races and a distant relative of strong Ogden Phipps lineage; her fourth dam is Personal Ensign.
Winterberry is the first foal to race for Dreams Are Free, who has a two-year-old at Woodbine named Wolfberry, by Collected, also owned by D.J. Stable.
***
The relentless heat has continued in southern Ontario, as has the poor air quality. With forest fires popping up in northern and central Ontario currently, the danger for southern Ontario comes from the smoke if it is heavy enough. There also has not been any rain in the GTA for almost two weeks, but rain is expected Plate day, Saturday, which is expected to have a “feels like” temperature of 40 degrees C.
This will be the last weekend for racing on the E.P. Taylor turf course, as it will undergo renovation starting next week.
The combination of trainer JOSIE CARROLL and RAFAEL HERNANDEZ won two races on Saturday. They combined with the maiden filly FAITH in a maiden turf dash and in the final with RARIFIED in a maiden Tapeta race.
***
The mini war over who wants to own the mare LUZ DE LA LUNA continues and by now, the six-year-old Uncaptured mare must be very confused about where she lives. The Florida-bred was claimed by Lisa McCallum-Smith and Patrick Steane for $25,000 in 2022. The mare raced for that partnership under trainer David Borski for over a dozen races.
In October 2024, Luz de la Luna was claimed by Bruno Schickedanz, trainer Martin Drexler, for $47,000, only to be reclaimed by McCallum-Smith et al this May for $50,000. One race later, Schickedanz claimed her back for $50,000. Yesterday, the mare was re-claimed by McCallum-Smith for $50,000.
Luz de la Luna won four times for McCallum-Smith in the last two years, and once this year for Schickedanz.
Another horse this season has been involved in a similar trade war – SOUPER SUCCESS has been claimed back and forth between trainer Mike DePaulo and Martin Drexler, for Schickedanz and other owners, four times recently.
More News
