Woodbine Saturday: Tyson Takes Cup, Minshall On a Roll

The well-bred grey colt TYSON won his second consecutive graded stakes race at Woodbine when he fought to victory in the July 29 Seagram Cup (G2) over five rivals.

The $178,850 race at 1 1/16 miles over a Tapeta surface that had seen plenty of rain in the previous 24 hours but played fair all day was certainly Tyson’s for the taking. Owned and bred by John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings and Stretch Run Ventures (of father-in-law Edward McGhee), Tyson loped along through slow pace fractions under Rafael Hernandez while being hounded by Carrothers, a $35,000 claim in February who had beaten Tyson in the Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes when second.

Carrothers, trained by Martin Drexler and ridden by Sahin Civaci, made a strong bid at Tyson turning for home and looked like he might edge past, but Tyson delivered a knock-out punch and went on to win by three lengths in 1:43.26. Artie’s Storm kept on for third.

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Tyson, a four-year-old by Tapit – Honouring by Smart Strike, now has four wins from five races and earnings of $225,205. He previously won the Grade 3 Dominion Day Stakes on July 1.

John Sikura, who co-bred and co-owns Tyson under the Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings Inc. banner along with Stretch Run Ventures, LLC, lauded the effort of the colt he named after former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.

“It’s one of our best pedigrees, one that we’ve cultivated for more than 30 years,” started Sikura. “I have great admiration for Mike Tyson, and I thought this is a special horse, so I wanted to name him Tyson. Wonderful horse, beautifully bred and I want to thank everyone at the farm for the great job they’ve done, and Josie, for being a magnificent trainer and holding this horse together and getting him on the right track. It looks like he’s going to be a champion. I love Canada and I love Woodbine. It’s great to be here, particularly when you win.”

Carroll, who won the 2011 Seagram Cup with James Street and the 2019 and 2020 editions with Mr Ritz (GB), also had rave reviews for the Kentucky-bred, now 4-0-1 from five career starts.

“This horse just improves steadily,” said Carroll. “He’s a very unseasoned horse compared to his competition. He has matured so much with racing. He’s gone from a big, goofy boy to a horse that has just settled down and turned into a very classic kind of horse.”

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BARBARA MINSHALL is having a stellar season, whether it is with her own small collection of horses or those of clients such as Legion Bloodstock and Hoolie Racing. Minshall has won with a bunch of two-year-olds this year – Tunechi last weekend for Legion plus Pontiac, Triple Trea – and Saturday her own filly FOURFIFTYFOUR won her career debut with a big effort in a 6 furlong dash under Ryan Munger. A daughter of Ontario sire Perfect Timber, Fourfiftyfour stayed close to the pace while wide, surged to the lead in the stretch and held off War Painter, by Ontario sire Danish Dynaformer, to win in 1:10.75.

Minshall has good luck with Perfect Timer, a stakes placed son of Perfect Soul (Ire). Her own filly Fortyfiveseventy was third in the Woodbine Oaks and she was just a $4,000 yearling purchase at the Fasig Tipton October yearling sale. Minshall was back there last year and picked up Fourfiftyfour for $10,000. Both fillies were bred by Charles Fipke, who also raced Perfect Timber.

There was a another exciting juvenile race on Saturday as first-time starters CHASING BOURBON (Old Forester) and VANDOO (Souper Speedy) dead heated to win in a 5 furlong dash.

Chasing Bourbon, who looks chestnut but is actually a roan, is a homebred for Sherry McLean’s Northern Dawn Stables and the gelding is also owned by trainer Krista Cole Simpson. This guy charged at the filly Vandoo, owned by Canuck Racing Club, and shared the win.

Vandoo, previously named Speedy Mona and trained by Kevin Attard, is the first winner for the new syndicate Canuck Racing Club, made up of a lot of new owners. Vandoo was bred by Heste Sport and was bought by the Canuck Club, organized by Donato Lanni, for $22,000 at last year’s CTHS Ontario yearling sale.