TORONTO, December 11, 2025 – The $100,000 Steady Growth Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile main track feature for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds and upward, headlines Sunday’s final card of the 2025 Woodbine Thoroughbred season. Awesome Bourbon, a 5-year-old son of Not Bourbon out of the Sea The Stars (IRE) mare Sea The Awesome (IRE), chases his fifth win of the campaign and first career stakes crown. Trained by Abraham Katryan for owner Carlo D’Amato, the bay arrives at his fifth stakes engagement off a troubled trip in the Kennedy Road Stakes (G2) on November 15. After looking for a seam in upper stretch, Awesome Bourbon lost his path at the furlong marker and re-rallied but was in tight in the final strides to the wire. After crossing the line in third, he was elevated to second, less than a length behind the winner. “It was a very tough trip,” said Katryan. “He is a very powerful horse and he kept on fighting. He surprised me because I know that he prefers turf to Tapeta. But he was feeling good and he wanted to run. I was very happy with the grit he showed – that is what I always look for in a racehorse.” Bred in Kentucky by Charles Fipke, Awesome Bourbon broke his maiden in his fifth start, taking a six-furlong main track race by 1 ¾ lengths at Woodbine on August 14, 2022. He was third in his first stakes race, the Bull Page, run on the E.P. Taylor turf, on September 24, 2022, third in last year’s Overskate Stakes and fifth, only 2 ½ lengths behind the winner, in this year’s Overskate. Awesome Bourbon rhymed off three consecutive scores, from August 16 to September 28, all on the Woodbine inner turf, two of them at 7 ½ furlongs. Awesome Bourbon and jockey Rafael Hernandez winning Race 6 on September 28, 2025 at Woodbine (Michael Burns Photo) In 10 starts this season, he has recorded four wins and a pair of seconds. “You get a horse like this, and he can be dangerous at any level,” said Katryan, who has 671 lifetime wins, including 31 at the stakes level. “I learned this year that he is game and he loves to run. He can go to the lead or sit off it a little bit. As a trainer, he is the type of horse who I would be concerned with if I was racing against him. If you think you can let him go to the lead, he will just go and if you go too fast in front of him, he can sit behind you. I am very fortunate to have a horse like this.” Awesome Bourbon breezed four furlongs in :49.80 over the main track on December 5. “He came out of his last race doing very well,” said Katryan, who won the 2000 edition of the Steady Growth with One Way Love and the 2002 running with Runaway Love. “He always has his game face on race day – he is much more relaxed than he is in the morning. I am happy with him on how he is coming into this one. This guy – he is a big, heavy horse – has had a very good year and we’d love to see him get a stakes win.” Sporting a record of 6-7-3 ($304,944 in purse earnings) from 21 starts, Awesome Bourbon was a $27,000 purchase at the 2024 OBS Winter Mixed Sale. Also slated to run are multiple graded stakes winner Cruden Bay, multiple stakes winner No More Options, three-time winner Jaggersgotagun, multiple stakes winner Rapid Test, multiple stakes placed Souped Up, 2024 Overskate Stakes winner Hunt Master, multiple graded stakes winner Paramount Prince and 2024 Niagara Stakes winner Lac Macaza. A son of Briartic out of the Crepello (GB) mare Crelita, Steady Growth won the 1979 Queen’s Plate by 2 ½ lengths for owner and breeder Kinghaven Farms. The champion chestnut, who also won the 1979 Arlington Classic (G2), went 5-3-2 from 14 starts. He is the sire of 1989 Canadian Champion Older Horse, multiple stakes winner Steady Power. First post time for the 12-race card is 1:05 p.m. Fans can wager on all the action through HPIbet.com and bet365. The wagering menu for the race includes Rolling Double, Exacta, 0.20 Trifecta, 0.20 Superfecta, 0.20 Pick 3 (Races 10-11-12) and $1 Swinger. Fans can also look forward to a Jackpot Hi-5 mandatory payout on Saturday. The carryover currently sits at $269,656.92. The wager is unavailable on Thursday and Friday ahead of the mandatory. Field for the Steady Growth – Race 10 Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer 1 – Cruden Bay (S) – Fraser Aebly – Don MacRae 2 – Awesome Bourbon – Pietro Moran – Abraham Katryan 3 – No More Options – Leo Salles – Zeljko Krcmar 4 – Jaggersgotagun – Xarel Forde – Gail Hughes 5 – Rapid Test – Austin Adams – Catherine Day Phillips 6 – Souped Up – Rafael Hernandez – Ron Sadler 7 – Hunt Master – Jeffrey Alderson – Martin Hinckson 8 – Paramount Prince – Ryan Munger – Mark Casse 9 – Lac Macaza – Daisuke Fukumoto – Julia Carey Chris Lomon, Woodbine Share This:Share
