It’s the championship season at Woodbine for the two-year-olds and on November 3, the next round of major races for the juveniles will take place on the Tapeta surface.
The $135,000 bet365 Grey Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles and the Mazarine Stakes (G3) for two-year-old fillies are open races, putting US-breds against Canadian-breds. Some of the better locally-bred youngsters are passing on the Grey and awaiting the restricted Coronation Futurity or Princess Elizabeth Stakes on Nov. 30.
This year’s Grey Stakes, the 115th running, has a fascinating mix of juveniles who have been racing well on the turf, a couple of sprinting stakes winners, and three fillies that have been cross-entered in both the Grey and Mazarine.
Historical Notes on the bet365 Grey
While the Grey was first run in 1906 (and named for the then Governor General of Canada, Earl Grey) it didn’t become consistently a 1 1/16 mile main track race until 1956. The Grey has had its date moved a few times in recent years – it used to be held after the Coronation, which meant that many Grey winners had at least one route race under their belt. Today, the race is run after the restricted Cup & Saucer Stakes on turf and the seven furlong Display Stakes. The winners of those two races historically have not gone on to win the Grey.
Interestingly, six of the last 10 winners of the Grey were making just their second or third career start. Only one recent winner had raced more than four times before the Grey – Two Ghosts was making his sixth start in last year’s Grey.
As the Grey is an open race, American-breds have a very good record in the race. Eight of the last 11 winners were bred in the US and four of those were shipping into Woodbine for the first time.
The running style of recent Grey Stakes winners has varied, with a slight edge to horses stalking or rallying.
Mark Casse has won five of the last 16 runnings and needs just one more to tie the record of six set by Henry McDaniel in the 1920s.
Mark Casse factor
Woodbine’s perennial leading trainer Mark Casse, who has set a record for number of stakes wins in a Woodbine season this year with 30, has entered four juveniles in the Grey and three of them are fillies. All three fillies are cross-entered in the Mazarine which is race eight, the race before the Grey.
Casse’s lone colt entrant is the undefeated (#3) TAPIT KISSIT WINIT who drew off to win a two-turn turf race on Oct. 10. This will be his first try on Tapeta, but his dam Let It Ride Mom loved Woodbine’s all-weather track. The three Casse fillies are: (#1) SHIFTY, who was very impressive winning the Catch a Glimpse Stakes on turf, but not as great in the Miss Grillo Stakes (G2) last time at Aqueduct; (#4) READY TO BATTLE, who won her maiden on the Tapeta at seven furlongs and was fifth in the Natalma Stakes (G1) on turf; and (#9) NO TIME, who had a rough trip against colts in the Cup & Saucer Stakes for Canadian-breds.
At the time of this writing it is uncertain if one of the fillies will stay in the field for the Grey.
And the Thomas Angle
American trainer Jonathan Thomas has raced horses at Woodbine for several years and in 2024 he has sent 12 horses to Woodbine and won seven races, including two graded stakes races. He has entered (#7) VAMOS CARLITOS in the Grey off an impressive debut win over a very muddy track at Horseshoe Indiana on Sept. 23. The Kentucky-bred by the hot sire Catholic Boy is first time with Lasix and Thomas has almost a 50 per cent rate of winning with that change in the last two seasons.
Final thoughts
The fillies appear to be a bit more advanced than the colts in the Grey Stakes field, in particular Ready for Battle and No Time, the former who fared well in the Grade 1 Natalma. I would include either one or both of those fillies in wagers if they competed.
I like Vamos Carlitos, not only because of the professionalism he showed in his debut and his connections, but he is also listed at 8-to-1 in the early odds. It’s not likely the colt will be those odds at post time, but he is value at anything higher than 5-to-2.
If you are interested in playing exactas or trifectas, you should consider (#2) FABER, who raced very greenly in the Cup & Saucer, TAPIT KISSIT WINIT, and Display Stakes winner (#10) THUNDERING.
Good luck with your bet365 wagers!
$135,000 bet365 Grey Stakes (G3)
Race 9 Woodbine, Nov. 3
Post Horse Trainer Jockey Odds
1. Shifty, (F), M Casse, S Civaci 8-1
2. Faber, K Attard, F Aebly 15-1
3. Tapit Kissit Winit, M Casse, P Husbands 3-1
4. Ready to Battle, (F), M Casse, P Husbands 10-1
5. Dewolf, K Attard, R Hernandez 9-2
6. He’s Not Joking, J Carroll, K Kimura 6-1
7. Vamos Carlitos, J Thomas, V Cheminaud 8-1
8. Coolcollected, P Dixon, R Munger 20-1
9. No Time, M Casse, S Civaci 10-1
10. Thundering, P Dixon, E Flores 7-2
