December 18, 2023
TORONTO — By Matthew Lomon
Killer B’s
The legendary Houston Astros trio of Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and Derek Bell, also known as the Killer B’s, would be very happy with the result of race number four on Woodbine Saturday’s card.
Flowers ‘n Berries (even-money), Speedy Bubbles (4-1), Silver Bullet Lady (3-1), and Bridge to Nowhere (19-1), in that order, landed as the top four finishers to complete the Killer B’s superfecta.
In other words, if you put the four horses in the field of eight with ‘B’ in their name into a $1 superfecta, you would have left with $226.35.
While betting by letter may not be a recommended strategy, it sure makes for an exciting story.
Family Tradition
Winning the $101,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) at Los Alamitos is officially a Midnight family tradition after Midnight Memories captured the 2023 edition of the 1 1/16-mile contest this past Saturday.
The 4-year-old filly, who’s put together a very strong resume through eight starts, added a third graded win in the very race her mother Tiz Midnight won back in 2014.
On top of joining mom as a Bayakoa champion, Midnight Memories also surpassed her career win total (four) in three less starts.
Now sitting at 5-0-2, Midnight Memories has more than lived up to the strong example set by dear old mom.
The legacy win paid $4.
Vindication!
After five fruitless tries, War Campaign is finally a stakes winner. The 4-year-old colt outshined the competition on Saturday at Oaklawn to secure the $200,000 Tinsel Stakes by 1 ½ lengths.
Closing with the fourth-lowest odds in the field of six behind Strong Quality (7-5), Speed Bias (5-2), and Denington (3-1), War Campaign, at 6-1, delivered one of the cleanest start-to-finish performances of his career when it mattered most.
Trained by Philip Sims, the Kentucky-bred competitor has hovered around the money for most of his career, going 4-4-3 through 16 starts.
The Tinsel triumph, which also ended a five-race winless streak, paid a handsome $14.60.
Wynner Wynner
In last week’s ‘What’s on Track,’ we talked about Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) favorite Coach Prime, and how the colt will need to avoid following in the footsteps of his namesake… that did not happen.
Instead, it was 13-1 long shot Wynstock who electrified the crowd and stole the show. The 2-year-old colt entered as one of three Bob Baffert trainees, amongst whom included Coach Prime (4-5) and Wine Me Up (2-1).
The heavily favored pair ended up finishing third and fourth, respectively.
For Wynstock, the half-length win was his second in four tries and first of the graded or stakes varieties. It paid a very healthy $29.40.
That’s a Wrap
The 2023 thoroughbred racing season at Woodbine came to a close this past Sunday on a dreary afternoon in Toronto.
Twelve hopefuls took to the all-weather track for a chance to be remembered as the winner of the final race of the year at Canada’s premier racing venue.
That honor went to the aptly named Jimmies Big Day. With Woodbine’s leading rider Kazushi Kimura calling the shots, the 4-year-old Buttigieg Training Centre product used a perfectly timed surge to slide by the pack for a 2 ¾-length score.
What stands as the most memorable victory to date for Jimmies Big Day pushed his overall line to 3-0-1 through 12 career runs.
The closeout win paid an even $10.