Woodbine Racetrack

Woodbine Racetrack

Woodbine Racetrack logo
Location	555 Rexdale Boulevard Toronto, Ontario, Canada M9W 5L2
Owned by	Woodbine Entertainment Group
Date opened	June 12, 1956
Course type	Flat thoroughbred/harness
Notable races	Canadian International Stakes (Grade I) Queen's Plate Breeders' Stakes Woodbine Mile (Grade I) E.P. Taylor Stakes (Grade I) Nearctic Stakes (Grade I) Northern Dancer Turf Stakes (Grade I)
Official website

Woodbine Racetrack is a Canadian race track for thoroughbred and standardbred racing at 555 Rexdale Boulevard in the city of Toronto, Ontario, formerly in the city of Etobicoke. It is the only horse racing track in North America which stages, or is capable of staging, thoroughbred and standardbred horse racing programs on the same day. However its sister track, Woodbine Mohawk Park located in Campbellville, Ontario hosts most of the major standardbred races in the summer. It is owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group, formerly known as the Ontario Jockey Club.

The track was opened in 1956. It has been extensively remodelled since 1993, and since 1994 has three racecourses.

History

Exterior of Woodbine Racetrack. The racetrack carries on the name of the original building, which operated east of the present racetrack.

The current Woodbine carries the name originally used by a racetrack which operated in east Toronto, at Queen Street East and Kingston Road, from 1874 through 1993. (While the Old Woodbine Race Course was at the south end of Woodbine Avenue, the current Woodbine is nowhere near it.) On June 12, 1956 the name was transferred to the new racetrack which would be known as New Woodbine Racetrack until 1963 when the "New" was dropped from the name. The old track was converted to a combined thoroughbred and standardbred track known thereafter as Old Woodbine or, for most of the rest of its history, as Greenwood Raceway (during standardbred meets) and Greenwood Race Track (during thoroughbred meets). The two thoroughbred and two standardbred meets conducted at Greenwood were transferred to the new Woodbine in 1994, which was until then exclusively devoted to thoroughbred racing. On July 4, 2010 Queen Elizabeth II visited the Racetrack as part of her state visit to Canada, viewing the 151st running of The Queen's Plate Stakes, as well as taking part in the presentation of trophies.

The track was the opening venue for the 1976 Summer Paralympics.

The Breeders' Cup was held at Woodbine in 1996. The Arlington Million was held at Woodbine in 1988.

The Woodbine facility is also home to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

In 2018, the track began using a GPS-based timing system.^[1]

Physical attributes

Taylor turf course is a irregularly shaped racecourse.

The outermost E. P. Taylor turf course for thoroughbreds is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long with a chute allowing races of 1.125 miles (1.811 km) to be run around one turn. It is irregularly shaped, the clubhouse turn departing from the traditional North American oval, and the backstretch is from 2.5 feet (76 cm) to 3 feet (91 cm) higher than the homestretch. The Taylor turf course and the main dirt course at Belmont Park on New York's Long Island are the only mile-and-a-half layouts in North American thoroughbred racing. In 2016, Woodbine will contest up to 40 turf races running clockwise (right-hand turns) in what are being billed as "EuroTurf" races.^[2]

Inside the Taylor course is the 1 mile (1.6 km) synthetic course for Thoroughbreds. As of 2016, the surface is Tapeta;^[3] it was Polytrack between 2006 and 2015, and a natural dirt surface prior to that. Two chutes facilitate races at seven furlongs [.875 miles (1.408 km)] and at 1.25 miles (2.01 km).

Inside the Tapeta course is an oval Standardbred racecourse seven-eighths of a mile .875 miles (1.408 km) in circumference, made of crushed limestone.

The ground floor of the stands houses a slot machine parlour. Some of the income from the slot machines is used to supplement the horserace purses.

Standardbred races

Woodbine has been a regular host for the Breeders Crown. Since the event changed to a one-night format in 2010, the facility has hosted three times—2011, 2012, and 2015.

Woodbine was also the host of the C$1,500,000 North America Cup for three-year old pacing colts and geldings from 1994–2006. That race along with the Elegant Image Stakes for three-year old filly trotters and the Good Times Stakes for three-year old colt and gelding trotters, have been moved to Woodbine's sister track, Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Starting in 2018, all standardbred racing has been moved to Woodbine Mohawk, as the 7/8 standardbred track is being converted into a 2nd turf course^[4]

Thoroughbred races

The record for most wins by a jockey on a single raceday at Woodbine is seven, set by Richard Grubb on May 16, 1967, and twice equaled by the legendary Canadian jockey Sandy Hawley, first on May 22, 1972 and then again on October 10, 1974.

Queen Elizabeth II attends the Queen's Plate in 2010. Founded in 1860, it is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race.

Major Stakes races for Thoroughbreds run annually at Woodbine include the:

• Queen's Plate, a stakes for three-year-old Canadian-bred thoroughbreds, first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. Because the race is restricted to Canadian-bred horses, it is not eligible for grading, despite being one of Canada's most prestigious races
• Northern Dancer Turf Stakes, a turf mile-and-one-half Grade 1 stakes run in early fall as the final prep for the Canadian International or Breeders' Cup Turf
• Breeders' Stakes, a stakes for three-year-old Canadian-bred thoroughbreds, third leg of the Canadian Triple Crown
• Woodbine Mile, a grade I thoroughbred turf stakes
• Canadian International, a grade 1 thoroughbred turf stakes
• E. P. Taylor Stakes, a grade 1 Thoroughbred turf race for fillies and mares

References

External links

• Woodbine Racetrack
• Woodbine Racetrack at the NTRA
• Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University – Archival photographs of Woodbine Racetrack from the Toronto Telegram fonds.

Coordinates: 43°42′45.09″N 79°36′7.35″W / 43.7125250°N 79.6020417°W / 43.7125250; -79.6020417