Woodbine Week In Review: Week One

The 56th thoroughbred racing season at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto got underway this past weekend, with racing taking place on both Saturday, April 2nd, and Sunday, April 3rd. Woodbine Week In Review will give you a quick summary of all of the top moments at Woodbine Racetrack in the past week, every week in 2011. Let's get started and recap week number one.



Stakes Recap

There was just one stakes race weekend, the $100,000 Debut Stakes for four-years-old and up, sired by a stallion standing in Ontario for the entire season the year of conception and registered with the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society. A field of 11 went to the post for the five-furlong sprint, with Don's Folly leaving the gate as the 2-1 favourite.

The field broke from the gate well and a group of five horses on the lead began to separate themselves from the six remaining horses. Clarkstoncharm, D's Legend Storm, Arepeatee, Drunken Love and Daniel Be Good all fought for the lead in the early going of the race, but the lead wouldn't last for long as the favourite, Don's Folly, began to fly from the back of the pack. Don's Folly went on to pick off horses one-by-one down the stretch and would eventually take over Daniel Be Good in the final sixteenth to capture the victory. D's Legend Storm would finish third.

The most impressive thing about this victory for Don's Folly to me was his ability to overcome a track bias. The early portion of Saturday's program favoured early speed before Don's Folly came from off of the pace to win. It was an impressive run that started at the top of the turn and you could tell that Don's Folly was not going to be denied of the victory.

Race Of The Week


For this week's race of the week, I'm going to highlight Sunday's 10th race. This race was a $10,000 claiming race for horses three-years-old and up. When looking at the conditions you might think, how is this race a race of the week? Well, watch for yourself and see if you can guess why....



Did you see it? What a close by Mr. Winthrop! It was nice to see him get a win after a tough year or so where he's bounced around to various racetracks trying to get a result. Just 14 months ago, Mr. Winthrop was claimed by current owner David Ross for $50,000 at the Fair Grounds and ran on Sunday here at Woodbine for a $9,500 tag. He's raced at Laurel Park, Keeneland, Fair Grounds and Woodbine over the last year and finally has secured a victory. It was a great closing kick too, enough to earn him and jockey Luis Contreras Race of the Week honours.

Jockey Of The Week - Juan Delgado


It was certainly a tough call for the first jockey of the week between two jockeys who each had great days, but the first At The Post Woodbine Jockey of the Week goes to Juan Delgado. Delgado captured four victories on opening day for trainer Wesley Ward and finished the week with four wins, two seconds and a third place finish in nine mounts this weekend. He's currently the leading rider at Woodbine and has a 44% win percentage and a 78% in-the-money percentage. It was a great weekend for Delgado, who just beat out Contreras for the award. Contreras finished his weekend with three consecutive victories on Sunday's card.


Ward Dominates Opening Day

American-based trainer Wesley Ward dominated opening day at Woodbine, recording five wins on the Opening Day program, the highest number of training wins on one program at Woodbine since 1991. Along with Ward's five wins from Saturday, he recorded two seconds and a third in his 10 starts total during the weekend. He's quickly established a three-win lead in the early going of Woodbine's trainer standings and has a 50% win percentage and an 80% in-the-money percentage.

Ward began the 2011 meet winning with New Tomorrow in Race 1. He followed that up by winning the final leg of the early pick 3 with Easy Ashley in Race 3. The great results continued with a 1-2 finish in Race 5 with Miss Lulu Belle and Goodeveningofficer. Ward's final two wins of the program came in Race 7 with City Genius and in Race 9 with Magoo.

How long Ward's winning ways will continue is unknown, however. Last season at Woodbine, Ward started just 20 runners during the entire meet, with most of them running at the beginning of the season. In the 20 starts, Ward notched seven victories, nine seconds and two thirds. With his early success, he might be tempted to stay up here longer this season.

Top 5 Jockeys

Rank	Jockey	Starts	Wins	2nds	3rds	Win %	ITM %
1	Juan Delgado	9	4	2	1	44%	78%
2	Luis Contreras	13	3	2	2	23%	54%
3	Emma-Jayne Wilson	9	2	1	1	22%	44%
4	Slade Callaghan	3	2	1	0	67%	100%
5	Gerry Olguin	5	2	0	0	40%	40%

For the full 2011 jockey standings after week one, click here. 

Top 5 Trainers

Rank	Trainer	Starts	Wins	2nds	3rds	Win %	ITM %
1	Wesley Ward	10	5	2	1	50%	80%
2	Sam Di Pasquale	5	2	1	0	40%	60%
3	Michael Pino	4	2	1	0	50%	75%
4	Stuart Simon	2	2	0	0	100%	100%
5	Michael Lightner	2	2	0	0	100%	100%

For the full 2011 trainer standings after week one, click here.

Posted in: Woodbine