Getting to Know Wedding Toast

Wedding Toast won the 2015 Ogden Phipps Stakes and earned a spot in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
When Wedding Toast loaded into the gate on June 6 for the Ogden Phipps Stakes, she had a huge challenge in front of her in the form of Untapable. But 1 minute and 40 seconds later, the Street Sense filly became the first North American female to earn a spot in the Oct. 30 Breeders’ Cup Distaff by winning the Win and You’re In challenge race.
But who is this mare who beat last year’s champion 3-year-old filly? Let’s take a look.
Race Résumé
Wedding Toast is nearly unbeatable in New York, winning six of her eight starts at tracks in the state, including four stakes races. The Ogden Phipps was her first career Grade 1 victory.
The first loss of Wedding Toast’s career could probably be scratched off her record as it was at 6 ½ furlongs and was in her debut. Of her three tries at shorter than a mile. Wedding Toast only has one victory. After that victory she won four in a row with all but one of those wins coming in wire-to-wire fashion showing that she is probably better when she has the lead (or is sitting just off of it).
Wedding Toast made only one start as a 4-year-old and that start also ended her winning streak. The filly who ended the win streak was none other than the previous year’s Kentucky Oaks winner Princess of Sylmar, one of the standout 3-year-old fillies of 2013.
Wedding Toast wasn’t seen again until January of this year but made her 4-year-old debut a winning one in the Miami Shores Handicap. In her next two starts this year, Wedding Toast never hit the lead but finished just 1 ½ lengths off of House Rules (who she beat in the Ogden Phipps) in the Rampart Stakes and was fourth, 5 ¾ lengths back in the Madison Stakes.
Shipping back to New York has been where we’ve seen Wedding Toast return to her pre-layoff self. For the first time in her career, Wedding Toast was able to win after sitting farther back than third during the race, running in fourth place for the first half of the Ruffian in May. She pulled away to win by four lengths after being 1 ½ lengths in front at the stretch call of the race.
But the Ruffian wasn’t as impressive as the Ogden Phipps, where she was allowed to set the pace up front with no one any nearer than a length at any call of the race. Untapable was fighting to hang on for second in the closing stages of the stretch run while Wedding Toast romped away to finish first by five lengths.
2015 OGDEN PHIPPS STAKES

Video courtesy of the New York Racing Association
Wedding Toast is definitely one of those horses who loves New York but with a win outside of the state in only three attempts, I don’t think you can say she only runs well on the New York tracks. As for running in the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, I do think she had an excuse for her only run there as it was at seven furlongs and the mare seems to do her best running at a mile or more.
The Breeders’ Cup Distaff at 1 1/8 miles seems like it should be an ideal distance for Wedding Toast as she has two wins in two tries at that distance. One thing that may be worrisome in relation to the Breeders’ Cup is what kind of running styles she’ll have to compete with. The 3-year-old filly division seems to have quite a few horses who share her pace setting/sit right off the leader style, which could lead to a hard time for the mare if many of them enter. Of course, with the Breeders’ Cup nearly five months away, that isn’t something that should be worried about too much at this point.
For those who care about speed figures, it is worth noting that Wedding Toast ran a career-best 116 Equibase Speed Figure in the Ogden Phipps. That figure is tied near the top of the 4-year-olds and up female division for dirt runners in the United States.
Pedigree
Wedding Toast shouldn’t have much trouble going the Distaff distance if one relies on her pedigree as well as her performances.
Wedding Toast is by 2006 champion 2-year-old male and 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, who has turned into quite the sire. Street Sense has 34 stakes winners with 14 graded stakes winners and Grade 1 winners in both the northern and southern hemispheres. As of June 8, 2015 Street Sense is one of the top stallions in the nation, ranking No. 7 on the Blood-Horse General Sires list. In the first five months of the year, the stallion already has 13 stakes winners from 277 runners.
Wedding Toast’s female family holds its own as well. Her dam Golden Sheba never raced but is by Travers Stakes winner Coronado’s Quest. Wedding Toast is Golden Sheba’s third foal and was her first foal to race, with her other horse to hit the track, a filly named Fine Lookin, earning multiple placings on the track as a 2-year-old last year.
The majority of Wedding Toast’s female family’s class comes from her second dam. Mari’s Sheba was third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks but her true talent came out as a producer. She is the dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Congaree, who won Grade 1 races at distances from seven furlongs to 1 ¼ miles  and who was a favorite for the Kentucky Derby at one point before finishing third in the 2001 edition of the race.
Mari’s Sheba is also the dam of the stakes winner Sangaree, who was a multiple graded stakes-placed horse in addition to being the grand dam of the stakes-placed Storm Belt.
Farther back in Wedding Toast’s pedigree is Italian Horse of the Year Pigeon Voyageur and French Group 3 winner Ocean Falls.
Wedding Toast has already proven that she can go the 1 1/8 miles of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff if her connections decide to send her there. If her winning record didn’t do enough to give those looking at her confidence in her ability at the top level, the combination of her speed figures and the distance ability in her pedigree should give them some confidence that in addition to being one of the best older females running right now, she also has a heck of a shot in the Breeders’ Cup this fall.