Woodbine Week In Review

The 21st week of Woodbine's 2010 thoroughbred meet took place from last Wednesday, August 18th to Sunday, August 22nd. This weekly feature on At The Post will be a week in review of the events at Woodbine Racetrack.



Stakes Recap

It was a relatively light stakes program this week as only three stakes races took place this past weekend, including one graded stakes race on the Sunday card.

Eternal Search Stakes - The first stakes race of the weekend was the $125,000 Eternal Search Stakes on Saturday. The eighth race of Saturday's program was for three year old fillies and was run at one mile and one sixteenth. Jacally, ridden by Eurico Rosa Da Silva, took the race by a head over Dancing Raven, ridden by Justin Stein. Da Silva took Jacally to the front early in the race and the horse never faltered. An interesting note in this race; the third place horse Venus Bay appeared to have plenty of run in her turning for home, but the horse veered way out to the outside. By the time Cory Fraser got her straight it was too late but when you watch the replay I think that if this horse had stayed the course, she would have won it.

Belle Mahone Stakes - Da Silva went two for two in stakes races when he took the $100,000 Belle Mahone Stakes on a top three year old filly, Biofuel. The sixth race of Sunday's program was for fillies and mares aged three years old and up and was run at one mile and one sixteenth. Da Silva decided to stalk the field in this race, as Biofuel trailed most of the way. When the field turned for home, Da Silva was forced to go four wide and need a lot out of Biofuel to pull out the victory. It looked for a while that he was going to come up just short, but Biofuel mounted a late kick and just snatched the victory away from Askbut I Won'ttell, ridden by Mike Smith. Da Silva made an emphatic fist pump as Biofuel crossed the line in first, which was well deserved.

Grade II Sky Classic Stakes - Marsh Side, ridden by Edgar Prado, won the Grade II $250,000 Sky Classic Stakes on Sunday. The eighth race of Sunday's program was for three year olds and up and was run at one mile and one quarter on turf. Marsh Side, the 3/5 favourite in the race, broke well from the outside on the E.P. Taylor turf course that was listed as soft due to heavy rain in the Toronto area over the weekend. Prado sat Marsh Side just off the pacesetter, Casual Dude and Steven Bahen, down the backstretch and began to make his move at the midpoint of the turn. Marsh Side took the lead at the top of the stretch and opened up on the rest of the field to win easy by four lengths over Windward Islands and Chantal Sutherland.



Race of the Week

After pouring through the races this week, this week's Race of the Week is the first race from the Thurday, August 19th, program. This race was a Maiden Allowance race for fillies and mares aged three years old and upward. The race was one mile and one sixteenth in distance and carried a purse of $37,900. The eventual winner of the race, Rusted Through, ridden by Emma-Jayne Wilson, fires like a rocket down the stretch to take the race by about half a length over the favoured Narrate and Chantal Sutherland. Rusted Through trailed the entire race but made a sensational run to the front to win it. Check out the replay below:




Jockey of the Week - Eurico Rosa Da Silva

Eurico Rosa Da Silva has been named At The Post's first ever Jockey of the Week. Woodbine's leading rider finished last week with seven victories, including two stakes wins, five second place finishes, and two third place finishes. Da Silva won the honour over apprentice jockey Omar Moreno, who is quietly moving up the Woodbine ranks. Moreno won five races last week and also added six second place finishes.


One Jockey Returns While Another Goes Down

While one jockey returned to action from injury this weekend, another one went down with an injury in a scary scene on Saturday. Tyler Pizarro, who broke his collarbone at the beginning of July, returned from his injury and rode in several races on both Saturday and Sunday. Looking at the entry list for races this week, it looks like Pizarro will be back to regular riding at Woodbine in no time.

Another jockey at Woodbine was lucky to walk away from an incident in the seventh race on Saturday. As posted on At The Post on Saturday, Emma-Jayne Wilson fell off her mount as the field turned for home in a race featuring two year olds. Luckily for Wilson, she was able to walk away from the incident and spent some time in hospital for observation. It appears she may be out of action for at least this week as entry lists for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday did not feature her. Hopefully Wilson, one of Woodbine's top riders, can make a speedy recovery and return to racing as soon as possible.

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