Weekend Racing Picks: Woodbine Racetrack
Saturday, June 13 marks the return of stakes racing to Woodbine Racetrack outside Toronto, Canada. The 2020 meet, which was slated to start in April, opened June 6.
Race 7 - $100,000 Woodstock Stakes
Best Bet: #4 Clayton (3/1 ML)Â has only run once, but it was an impressive maiden victory November 17 over this course at five furlongs. His Bodemeister x Smart Strike pedigree suggests the stretch to six panels will be no problem, and trainer Kevin Attard has been giving him steady workouts since then to prepare for this return.
Longshot: #1 Aye Aye Sir (6/1 ML) comes in for trainer Wesley Ward after making all of his starts on the turf to date. This will be his first try on synthetic. If he can get the lead, he could be dangerous on the front end under Jerome Lermyte.
Race 8 - $100,000 Star Shoot Stakes
Best Bet of the Day: #10 New York Groove (5/2 ML) was an impressive stakes winner here in November, then ran in two graded events going long to kick off 2020. The Michael Trombetta trainee cuts back in distance, and drops in class, to return to the scene of her biggest win.
Longshot: #8 Coach Lori is 10 – 1 shot on the morning line, but has the Mark Casse/Emma Jayne Wilson tag team here in her 2020 debut. The daughter of Cairo Prince won her only start, on the grass here last year, after a slow start and wide rally. She has been training steadily at a training center all winner, with three local works to prepare for this.
Other Races to Watch
Race 2 - #10 Vespolina (4/1 ML) drew outside and makes her return to the races under hot-riding Emma Jayne Wilson. She is in for the $40,000 tag where she broke her maiden last fall, and should be able to settle and make one run.
Race 10 - #4 American Tap (5/1) won second out here in October, scoring by more than four lengths for Casse. The daughter of Tapiture had not worked locally but had a strong bullet at a training center at the end of May. Also interesting in this race is #7 Weed Be Happy trained by Tony Gattellaro, 4-1 is a great price on a strong maiden breaker who ran well in stakes company last fall going a mile.