TORONTO, ON – Saturday’s $100,000 Woodstock Stakes at Woodbine was dominated by the 2-1 favorite Curlin’s Honor who wired the small five-horse field. His win here was his third career victory and is a nice return to form following his 10th place finish in the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn last time out.
Curlin’s Honor took the early lead and never gave it up, cruising to the wire with fractions of :22.65, :45.24, :57.02, and a final time of 1:08.85. The only horse that even looked to challenge Curlin’s Honor on the lead was Verboten, who stayed right off the pace and made a gutsy stretch run that proved to be not quite enough for anything other than a second place finish. Supreme Aura sat at the back of the pack for most of the race and made a strong run up to finish third while Marcus and Be Vewy Vewy Quiet finished fourth and fifth respectively.
“I’d been on him a few times in the morning and he seemed like a pretty classy horse,” said jockey Gary Boulanger, who picked up his second stakes win of the meet. “David (Adams, assistant trainer) and I talked about it and he said, ‘There isn’t a whole lot of speed in there so let him break as good as you can and see what they want to do and just ride it as it comes up.’
Curlin’s Honor returned $6.30 to win, $3.10 to place, and $2.40 to show. Verboten brought back $3.90 to place and $2.80 to show, while Supreme Aura paid $2.70 to show.
