Woodbine

With a horse having to be euthanized Thursday at Woodbine and another one on Friday, the Toronto-area track has now had six fatalities since the Nov. 9 card in which two horses died and the remainder of the day's program was cancelled, as was the next scheduled day of racing. Woodbine's Tapeta surface has long been considered to be one of the safest tracks in North America, which makes the rash of breakdowns particularly unusual. "We are closely monitoring the situation and remain in continuous communication with our regulator, veterinarians,...

A five-horse spill during the opening race of Woodbine's Friday card landed jockeys Justin Stein, Edgar Zenteno, and Da-Sean Gaskin in a local hospital while Woodbine communications reported that all horses involved walked off. The incident happened on the far turn of a $10,000 maiden claimer and appeared to have been triggered by No Layups (Preservationist) clipping heels in front of the pack with Whiskey N Ice (Old Forester). As No Layups tumbled over, the field behind had little time to react and four other trailing horses also went down....

Edited Press Release Officials at Woodbine Entertainment have expressed confidence in the all-weather track at Woodbine despite recent problems with the surface resulting in the deaths of multiple horses, claiming that the track is in 'optimal condition for safe training and racing' with only a handful of live dates left in the 2024 season. In a release issued Thursday morning, the track said that, since the cancellation of the final two races on Nov. 9 and the scrapping of the Nov. 10 program in the interest of equine safety, 'Woodbine...

Longtime track superintendent Juan Meza will be retained by Woodbine Entertainment as a Racing Surfaces Consultant, the track said on Monday. Meza served as the track superintendent at Golden Gate Fields for over two decades up until the track ceased operations this past June. Like Woodbine, Golden Gate Fields held racing on a Tapeta (all-weather) racing surface, installing the synthetic track in 2007. Meza's brings an extensive knowledge in Tapeta to Woodbine and has worked closely alongside the surface manufacturer (Tapeta Footings). "The safety and well-being of both our equine...

Canadian champion Tyson (by Tapit), purchased for $175,000 by Darryl and Jill Myers when topping the final session of last week's Keeneland November sale, will stand his first season at the couple's Stone Jug Ranch which is a new Thoroughbred operation in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, the breeders said in a release on Sunday. "We've talked about [standing stallions] in the past," said the Myers's bloodstock advisor Ed Price. "But things got serious a week or two ago when we saw this horse." Bred and raced by Hill 'n' Dale Equine and...

Woodbine, which cancelled both racing and training effective two races before the end of Saturday's card after three separate incidents on the Tapeta surface, will reopen to training Wednesday morning and is scheduled to resume live racing Thursday. The all-weather surface underwent "a thorough review and extensive maintenance conducted over the last couple of days," said officials from Woodbine Entertainment in a Wednesday afternoon release. "The safety of our horses and riders is our highest priority and we have been working diligently over the last couple of days to ensure...

Emma-Jayne Wilson, involved in a Oct. 25 spill at Woodbine in which she suffered neck and pelvic fractures, remains in a Toronto hospital and is bedridden, but is already looking forward to launching a comeback when Woodbine re-opens in April. Wilson, 43, was riding the horse Ready Shakespeare (More Than Ready) in that day's second race. The horse fell after suffering an apparent heart attack and Wilson was thrown to the track. "I remember everything," she said from her hospital bed at Milton District Hospital. "Right from the git-go, I...

Woodbine Entertainment has cancelled training and the scheduled race card for Sunday, Nov. 10, as a precautionary measure to prioritize the safety and well-being of the horses and jockeys after three catastrophic breakdowns took place on Saturday, the track said in a release early on Sunday morning. On Saturday morning during workouts at Woodbine, an unnamed horse suffered a breakdown. During the second race on the card, Social Dancer (Society's Chairman) took an awkward step at the half-mile marker, had to be eased and was then vanned off via equine...

The final two races on Saturday's live racing program at Woodbine outside of Toronto, including the GIII Autumn Stakes, were cancelled "in the best interest of equine safety," according to a release from Woodbine Entertainment Group. The decision was taken following consultation with the local Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, the Jockeys' Guild and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). The track successfully staged two of the three graded events carded for Saturday, the GIII Maple Leaf Stakes and the GIII Bessarabian Stakes. The Autumn Stakes will not...

When you spend €1,400,000 on a yearling at Arqana Deauville's August Yearling Sale, there are expectations. Safe to say, Earhart (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) met those and then some to become a new 'TDN Rising Star' in her Saturday unveiling over the synthetic surface at Woodbine for LNJ Foxwoods and trainer Josie Carroll. The grey daughter of leading French stallion Siyouni, slammed into the 6-5 favorite's roll in what seemed even on paper to be an overmatched group, never let this field have a shot. Breaking from the middle of the...

If only those walls could talk. There's a room from a bygone era within the press box at Aqueduct Racetrack where members of the media congregated between races. The space's counter is still there, but you have to use your imagination when it comes to what the scene looked like in the old days. The latches on the windows that are now worn with time would be thrown open to let in the sounds of the oval below, while the crisp white shades from the fixtures would have adequately illuminated...

Keeneland has supplemented 10 horses to its Horses of Racing Age Sale scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 14, the sales company said in a Thursday press release. A total of 234 horses have been cataloged to the single-session auction, which will begin at noon ET. Additional supplements will be considered until the day of the sale. Trained by Kevin Attard and owned by X-Men Racing, Madaket and SF Racing, Tripolina is a 3-year-old by Constitution. The filly won the Display Stakes and was the runner-up in the GIII Mazarine Stakes to...