2024 was a year for the books with many stars getting a chance to shine. Some even made history. We take a look back at some of the year’s defining moments at Woodbine Racetrack, showcasing why Canadian thoroughbred racing continues to make its mark on the world stage.
The season kicked off April 27 and right away, then-apprentice Sofia Vives showed she was all business, taking a remarkable five races on the card. That day she took the feature race, the Star Shoot Stakes with Sabatini. The three-year-old Uncle Mo filly broke her maiden in style for team Josie Carroll and the partnership of NK Racing and LNJ Foxwoods.
Vives would impressively close out the meet as Woodbine’s fourth most winning jockey with 66 wins, just shy of $3 million in earnings. All this en route to what’s already shaping-up to be a successful winter campaign in New York. Highlights this season guiding Woodbine Oaks winner Kin’s Concerto (July 20) and Toronto Cup winner Piper’s Factor (Aug. 31) to the winners’ enclosure for famed Chiefswood Stables. And there might have been another incredible star she piloted.
We’ll tell you about that in a bit.
All eyes were on Gary Barber’s My Boy Prince early in the meet. The reigning champion two-year-old male came back in dominant form, winning three consecutive stakes races including the King Corrie Stakes on May 19, the Queenston Stakes June 9 and the Plate Trial on July 20, cementing himself as the deserving favourite in the 165th running of the King’s Plate. He ultimately would run a hard-fought second in the country’s most prestigious race, under his regular pilot, Sahin Civaci.
Vancouver-born Civaci ends 2024 as the top jockey in Canada with 170 wins and $6.6 million in earnings, an accomplished feat considering he only arrived on the Woodbine circuit in 2019. A highlight was him recording a smashing six wins on the card at Woodbine Nov. 23, 2024.
Notable mounts this year included reigning champion filly Elysian Field recapturing her winning form in the Grade II Maple Leaf Stakes on Nov. 9, Hurricane Clair winning the Wonder Where Stakes on Sept. 8, and the well-regarded Pop Idol winning the Shadywell Stakes on Nov. 23.
A significant part of his success is his winning partnership with 16-time leading trainer Mark Casse, who closed the meet with 108 victories (setting a record with 33 stakes scores) and $7.3 million in earnings.
There must be something in the waters of British Columbia that makes for talented jockeys. West Coast transplant Fraser Aebly has stamped himself as one to look out for, asserting himself as top talent. He ended the 2024 season as Woodbine’s third-leading rider with 73 wins and $2.9 million in earnings.
He had a pinnacle day winning his first pair of stakes races on Oct. 12 with Josie Carroll charge A Game in the Ontario Fashion Stakes and also Sid Attard-trainee Ecstasy in the Ontario Damsel Stakes. He guided Notorious Gangster – again for Carroll – to win the Coronation Futurity on Nov. 30. The race is seen as an early reading of tea leaves for next year’s King’s Plate. This is all the more noteworthy considering he just began his career at Woodbine about two years ago only.
2023 King’s Plate winner Paramount Prince came back stronger than ever in 2024, scoring consecutive graded stake wins under his regular partner Patrick Husbands on June 29 in the Grade III Dominion Day Stakes, and the Grade II Seagram Cup on July 27. Paramount Prince is co-owned by Gary Barber and Michael Langlois, and trained by team Mark Casse.
The reigning champion’s two-year-old half-sister Souper Supreme (both are from Ericka Rusnak’s mare Platinum Steel), also has proven to be talented, winning a pair of restricted stakes at the meet for the same connections.
All eyes were on Emma-Jayne Wilson earlier this summer, as she neared the record for highest-earning female jockey of all time. After a few close calls in the days leading up to it, history would be made July 11, with Wilson surpassing Julie Krone’s previous record of $90,126,584 USD.
Perfect Lady Bee, breaking her maiden at first go, made that historic win extra poetic. Wilson and Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield have had a long-standing relationship as a team, and it was serendipitous that the story wrote itself this way.
Even with her season cut short due to injury, Wilson still landed in the top five of Woodbine’s 2024 jockey standings with 55 wins.
2022 Canadian champion sprinter and turf horse Filo di Arianna has shown incredible resilience and longevity. At age eight, this Brazilian-bred son of Drosselmeyer still is in the best form of his career. He’s owned by the partnership of Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Peter Deutsch, and won a pair of important Grade II races this summer at Woodbine under Kazushi Kimura – the Highlander Stakes on June 29 and the King Edward Stakes on Aug. 23.
Not only this, he ran an impressive second in the Grade I Woodbine Mile, behind stablemate Win For The Money who upset the race under Patrick Husbands. An even better frame of reference, he ran a strong second against the outstanding Cogburn in the Grade II Twin Spires Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs back in May.
2024 was nothing short of an epic year for Team Kevin Attard, ending the Woodbine meet with 80 wins and $4.7 million in earnings. One highlight for them was winning the weather-postponed 165 King’s Plate on Aug. 23 with filly Caitlinhergrtness, ridden by champion Rafael Hernandez, who also had an accomplished year finishing second in Woodbine jockey standings with 140 wins and $6.3 million in earnings.
The daughter of Omaha Beach, owned by WinStar Farm and Siena Farm, became the 39th filly to win the Plate.
Her success wasn’t just limited to Canada, however, as she placed an impressive third in the Grade I Queen Elizabeth II Cup Challenge at Keeneland on Oct. 12. She finished behind She Looks Pretty, who won one of Woodbine’s definitive stakes races back in 2023, the Grade I Natalma Stakes.
Full Count Felicia is yet another brilliant story for Team Kevin Attard. The five-year-old War Front mare owned by Gold Square LLC, scored huge, winning the Grade I E.P. Taylor Stakes wire-to-wire under Kazushi Kimura on Sept. 14, in an upset over her legendary stablemate Moira. Just prior to that, she flaunted her fitness, victorious in the Grade II Canadian Stakes on Aug. 10 under Rafael Hernandez.
Tenacious Kevin Attard pupil Fashionably Fab would once again go on to be one of the best in her division in 2024. After winning four stakes in a row in 2023 as a three-year-old, the daughter of Silent Name added to her impressive résumé with a trio of stakes scores this year, the Belle Mahone Stakes on June 1 under apprentice Pietro Moran, followed by the Ontario Matron Stakes Sept. 14 and the La Prevoyante Stakes Dec. 14, under Pietro’s father, David.
Bred and owned by Terra Racing Stable, what made her win in the Ontario Matron so symbolic was that David Moran picked up the mount for his son, whose season was cut short due to injury. He honoured Pietro by wearing his helmet for the win.
Horse racing isn’t only about bloodstock lineage, it’s also is about unbreakable familial bond among its people.
But then again, sometimes it really is about bloodlines.
Case in point, though broodmare Complicated might be based in Kentucky for owners William Harrigan and Mike Pietrangelo, she continues to have a big impact locally, blessing Canadian racing with some very talented runners.
Her latest, And One More Time, won the Grade I Natalma Stakes on Sept. 14 under Rafael Hernandez, for Live Oak Plantation and Team Mark Casse.
Her half-sister Simply In Front, developed by Woodbine trainer Patrick Dixon along with Eddie Kenneally for Colebrook Stable, won the race of a lifetime in the AGS Music City Stakes Sept. 7 at Kentucky Downs – a $2 million Grade II race.
Let’s not forget other half-siblings Honor D Lady who continues to compete at the top level in the U.S., having earned almost $750,000, and also popular Roger Attfield trainee Churchtown, who has earned just shy of $375,000.
The rapidly improving Dresden Row is one of the biggest surprise stories of 2024. Together with South African pride Ryan Munger, the son of Lord Nelson has risen the ranks, defeating not only those in his three-year-old division, but also older competition. He upset the likes of Paramount Prince in the Grade III Durham Cup Stakes on Sept. 28, doubling-up in the Grade III Ontario Derby Oct, 19, denying the very popular Swift Delivery, owned in part by NFL star Travis Kelce. This Lorne Richards trainee, owned by True North Stable, ran a valiant second in the Grade II Autumn Stakes on Nov. 16, strengthening his case as, perhaps, the best three-year-old horse in Canada.
Patches O’Houlihan had a near flawless 2024 season, winning an incredible four stakes races, beginning with the Pink Lloyd Stakes on July 28 – the race named in honour of his iconic stable alumni. Following this were wins under rising star Sofia Vives in the Grade III Bold Venture Stakes on Aug. 23, the Grade III Vigil Stakes Sept. 14 and the Grade II Nearctic on Oct. 5.
The four-year-old Reload gelding owned by Frank DiGiulio Jr. and trained by Bob Tiller, would not go down without a fight, vying tooth-and-nail to be a respectable second to 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Nobals in the Grade II Kennedy Road Stakes on Nov. 16. This Ontario-bred belongs among the world’s best, even if he didn’t get to illustrate it, being scratched from an engagement in the Holiday Cheer Turfway Park Synthetic Championship.
The future holds much promise for racing in Ontario. The 2024 CTHS Premier Yearling Sale held on Aug. 28 saw an 11 per cent increase in sales over 2023 with 143 yearlings selling for a total $3,727,700. This year’s sales topper was HIP No. 88, an exciting colt by Nyquist-Mrs. Hudson, consigned by Cara Bloodstock and bred by David Anderson of Anderson Farms.
And last but not least, how ironic is it that the greatest 2024 moment in Canadian racing didn’t even take place in Canada?
Super-mare Moira made Canada so proud, leaving her hoofprints in history.
The Kevin Attard trainee, owned by the team of Madaket Stables LLC, SF Racing LLC and X-Men Racing, became the seventh Canadian-bred horse to win a Breeders’ Cup race, taking the $2 million Filly & Mare Turf on Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
Moira, pictured below with longtime companion and exercise rider Korina McLean (photo supplied by McLean), is only the third horse ever to win a Queen/King’s Plate-Breeders’ Cup double. Horses like this are once in a lifetime and we are so honoured to have witnessed this affecting and proudly Canadian story.
Though she now calls Australia home, she will forever be ours.
Though we say goodbye to 2024 with memories, some sweet and some bittersweet, we look ahead to 2025 with anticipation and promise at stories waiting to be written.
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