Participants Excited for June 6 Woodbine Meet Opener

Seven weeks after its initially scheduled opening, Woodbine begins its COVID-19-delayed meet June 6 with an 11-race program that drew 116 entries and two also-eligibles.

Racing will take place without spectators and with safety protocols in keeping with the government of Ontario's Stage 1 public health guidelines. These measures include social distancing and mandatory masks except by those actively breezing, galloping, or racing horses.

Racing will take place Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m. ET and expand to four days a week when the track eventually picks up Thursdays and Fridays. Post time on Fridays will also be 1 p.m., but Thursday racing, which begins June 11, will have a first post of 3:45 p.m. to allow the track to showcase some races from 6-8 p.m. on TSN, a sports channel in Canada.

Standardbred races from Mohawk Park will also be part of the TSN broadcast.

Wagering is available via advance deposit platforms and smartphone applications, such as Woodbine's new Dark Horse app. The track will also livestream racing to its website, Woodbine.com.

Horse racing is the first major sport to return to Canada, though it couldn't come soon enough for many horsemen, who, like their counterparts in other parts of the world, are enthusiastic for its resumption. To complicate matters, last month the track and horsemen also had to manage the discovery of equine herpesvirus in a portion of its backstretch.

"It's been a long haul. There was so much uncertainty at one point, and everybody (is) just trying to get their horses ready as best as possible with no date set in mind," trainer Kevin Attard said. "It was really difficult and challenging for everybody, owners included, obviously. Now that we have some more clarity and a start date, there is a lot of feeling of optimism in the air. Everyone is gung-ho and ready to get at it."

Attard has 65 horses stabled on the Woodbine backstretch, including Starship Jubilee, the 2019 Canadian Horse of the Year, who worked an easy three furlongs on Woodbine's dirt training track May 31 in :39.

Though no firm date has been set for Starship Jubilee's return, the Nassau Stakes (G2T) June 27 is one of the options for the 7-year-old turf mare. Second in the Nassau last year, she went on to win the Canadian Stakes Presented by the Japan Racing Association (G2T) and E. P. Taylor Stakes (G1T) for owner Blue Heaven Farm.

The Indy Wind  mare went 3-for-3 in stakes races in Florida over the winter, including the Feb. 8 Suwannee River Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park and March 7 Hillsborough Stakes (G2T) at Tampa Bay Downs.

"Our target right now is maybe getting her to the Breeders' Cup," Attard said in reference to the Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) at Keeneland Nov. 7. "We're going to see when she gets ready and work from there."

Though she is not racing Saturday, a stablemate is. Terra Racing Stable's Amalfi Coast, a 4-year-old daughter of Tapizar  who ended 2019 with three consecutive stakes victories, headlines the featured ninth race, an open allowance for fillies and mares at 7 1/2 furlongs on turf with a purse of CA$112,500.

"She definitely matured into a nice filly last year," Attard said. "She's been working really well heading into this race. Her last work was pretty impressive. We expect her to kind of take off where she left off. She's in good order, and I'm excited to see her back out there. Hopefully, some big things (are) in store for this year."

Owners will not be permitted to attend racing when the meet opens this weekend, Jim Lawson, the CEO of Woodbine Entertainment, said during the track's Stronger Together video conference June 3.

"I'm hoping, like everyone, that we will be able to bring owners back and other interested parties and our customers," he said. "Don't forget we have a lot of loyal wagering customers who love to come to the track. And we get that. We want to bring them back. It's just a case of let's learn to walk here, figure out what we're doing, and as restrictions get eased, we'll be the first ones to work with our physical distancing and try to find ways to make this work."

Woodbine's stakes schedule will begin during the second weekend June 13 with the Woodstock Stakes and filly companion Star Shoot Stakes, key prep races on the road to the Queen's Plate, which was moved to Sept. 12 because of COVID-19.

One notable change is the absence of six-time outstanding jockey jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva, who retired at the end of 2019. That could create more opportunities for others.

Rafael Hernandez, for instance, rides Amalfi Coast after da Silva piloted her in her final six starts last year.

A new addition to the colony is jockey Darryll Holland, a 47-year-old native of the United Kingdom. He'll join a host of regulars that will include veteran Gary Boulanger, a recent inductee into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

"I'm just excited about the whole season just starting," Boulanger said. "I'm grateful it's finally getting underway, and I'm hoping to find the next big (horse.)"

Lawson is excited about the track's Thursday night TSN television programming and the increased exposure that racing can receive with so many sports on hiatus. He thinks that could also lead to increased wagering.

"Let's look at this with a glass half full and be positive about it and be thankful for the fact that we are all back racing this weekend," Lawson said. "There are still some hardships, and not everything is going to be perfect, but we're a long ways from where we were at the end of March and whether this thing would ever get going."