Woodbine Diaries: Destination Toronto

What could be better than a weekend at Woodbine in Toronto, Ontario for the track’s signature fall race, the Ricoh Woodbine Mile? In addition to being an incredibly competitive horse race, the Woodbine Mile also is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” contest. That means that the victor in this Sunday’s Woodbine Mile earns an all-expenses paid trip to the Breeders’ Cup Mile this Oct. 31 at Keeneland Race Course. 
A lot is on the line in this million-dollar race north of the border, and I was eager to get out of bed and on my way this morning to make it to Toronto in time for the post position draw.

OK, so I need multiple alarms to wake me up. I’m only human, and I also had absolutely no intention of missing my flight to the Woodbine Mile.
Speaking of, the flight from New York to Toronto is so easy – it’s just a little over an hour long, and because I arrived in Canada pretty early in the day, I was through customs in minutes. Woodbine is a very short cab ride from Pearson Airport, so I managed to arrive at the track with plenty of time to spare before the post position draw festivities kicked off around noon.

I’m so glad that I did, because it was a perfectly spectacular day at Woodbine. The sun was shining, there was a cool breeze and the beautiful turf course that makes this track famous was as lush and green as a rainforest.

One of the cool and unusual (for North America, at least) features about the Woodbine grass course is that it’s on the outside of the main track. (The main track refers to either the dirt – or , in Woodbine’s case, the synthetic surface – upon which most of a day’s races are run. The turf course, meanwhile, is usually reserved for only a few races on an afternoon.) Most of the time, grass courses contained within the oval of the main track. Here, however, the turf is the crown jewel of Woodbine, and the 1 1/2-mile turf course wraps not only around the main track but also the picturesque receiving barn that serves as a temporary home to horses visiting Canada from abroad.

Pretty neat, right?
After admiring the turf course and taking in a little bit of the beautiful weather, it was time for me to head over to the post position draw. This event is the ceremony that assigns a starting gate position to the horses running in major races, and it’s usually a double-blind draw. That means that both a horse’s name as well as a stall number are randomly selected together, and it can be a tense time for owners, trainers, and jockeys since a horse’s post position can be a major factor in the strategy for a race.
As I headed into the Woodbine Mile draw, the track’s starting gate was waiting for me just outside of the building; if you ever wondered what Thoroughbreds and their jockeys see in the moments before a race begins, wonder no more:

When I headed inside, the Woodbine Mile trophy was waiting at center stage, surrounded by the owners, trainers and jockeys connected to the Woodbine Mile runners. It was a full house, especially with myriad media members in attendance.

Woodbine’s new track announcer Robert Geller presided over the ceremonies, introducing a litany of people, including a representative from Ricoh (the Woodbine Mile’s sponsor) to WEGCares, the charitable arm of the racetrack.

After those introductions, Woodbine treated us to a brief video that outlined the career highlights of each of the Mile contenders.

After the video, it was time for the draw to truly begin. This year’s celebrity drawmaster was Toronto Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf, who is better known to me as Elisha Cuthbert’s husband. (What? I really liked “24,” but I don’t know much about hockey. Does this mean I’m going to be asked to leave Canada?) Phaneuf did a great job, answering questions ranging from his family’s history with horse racing to his life as an NHL hockey player. He even played a game of fill-in-the-blank with Robert Geller, which got a lot of laughs.

After a bit of banter, it was time to settle down to the business end of the afternoon: the post position draw itself. Eleven horses and 11 starting gate stalls later, the Woodbine Mile was ready to go. Ladies and gentlemen, here are the post positions and odds for Sunday’s race:

If that’s a little hard to read, Woodbine’s Twitter feed has a much clearer version of the draw results:

Your 2015 Ricoh #WoMile field! #WinAndYoureIn #BC15 pic.twitter.com/awS7yxhXJO
— Woodbine Racetrack (@WoodbineRacing) September 10, 2015

Wonderful! With the Mile post positions assigned, it was time to tuck into a little lunch. And my “little” I mean luxurious: Woodbine’s catering team served up beautiful salads, savory hot dishes, and – my favorite – fresh and smoked local fish. Plus there was an entire desert buffet, which included things like truffles, peach cobbler and white chocolate ice cream. Needless to say, I was in heaven.

After my delicious meal, it was time for me to retire to the press box to get some work done and hatch a plan for my blog coverage for the rest of Woodbine Mile week. I’ll be in the barn area for the next few days, so I’ll be sure to take lots of photos of the Mile contenders as well as other runners competing this weekend. I am also determined to meet Gator Kitten, eat at least two of Woodbine’s amazing roast beef sandwiches and get at least one awesome sunrise shot if possible.
Needless to say, it’s going to be a fun week. I hope you’ll join me back here as I share my adventures! Let me know if you have any photo requests (within reason!) for this weekend in the comments, and I’ll do my best to include them in my future blogs.
Thanks! Let me know if you have any questions.