Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Caribbean jockeys line up for lucrative Woodbine

Published:Sunday | February 27, 2022 | 12:11 AM
Woodbine racetrack
Woodbine racetrack

TORONTO (CMC):

CARIBBEAN JOCKEYS will be in line for massive purses after celebrated racetrack Woodbine announced its 2022 added-money schedule valued at nearly CAN$17 million.

Riders, who last season featured the likes of Barbadian legend Patrick Husbands, fellow countryman Keveh Nicholls and Jamaican Shaun Bridgmohan, will have available to them 37 graded stakes and two million classics – the historic Queen’s Plate and Ricoh Woodbine Mile.

There will also be Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series ‘Win and You’re In’ events in the campaign which runs from April 16 to December 11 and covers 133 race days.

“We are proud to once again provide the very best in Thoroughbred racing,” said Woodbine’s director of Thoroughbred Racing, Tim Lawson.

“After a highly successful 2021 season, we are looking forward to another fantastic year of racing, which features a wealth of phenomenal stakes offerings for horse people and fans.”

The season, which marks the first full one since 2019 following disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, will be headlined by the 163rd running of the storied Queen’s Plate on August 21 – a race won twice by Husbands.

FIRST LEG

As usual, the Queen’s Plate will mark the first leg of Canada’s Triple Crown with the $400,000 Prince of Wales on September 13 at Fort Erie, followed by the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes on October 2, rounding out the series.

The Canadian Triple Tiara for three-year-old fillies will be launched by the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks and completed by the $250,000 Bison City Stakes on August 14 and the $250,000 Wonder Where Stakes on September 11.

Six days later, all eyes will focus on Woodbine for the Woodbine Mile will forms part of the Breeders’ Cup ‘Win and You’re In’ series.

“We are feeling very optimistic that 2022 will be a strong season for our entire team and racing community at Woodbine,” Lawson continued.

“We’re heading in the right direction for a return to normal and our racing team has done a great job lining up a stakes calendar that provides excitement all season.

“All horseplayers, fans, and participants will immediately take note of several significant days on the calendar that will shine a tremendous light on our world-class racing product at Woodbine.”

Husbands, 48, has been one of Woodbine’s top orders for the last two decades. He finished fourth with 67 wins and $4.6 million in winnings last season but indicated last December the campaign may have been his last.