TORONTO, August 15, 2026 — Souped Up won a nose-to-nose stretch battle over Western Whirl to take Saturday’s $175,000 (G3) Bold Venture stakes in a photo finish for 3-year-olds and up contested over 6 ½ furlongs on the main tapeta track at Woodbine Racetrack. Winning jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson said Souped Up, sent off at 10-1, was extremely game as he fought past an equally-tough Western Whirl to win by a head. “There are only two words for it: dug in,” Wilson said. “This horse comes every single time to play. I rode him quite a few years back, and I’ve always been a fan of his.” It was the biggest victory and first stakes win of Souped Up’s career. Western Whirl (9-2, Fraser Aebly) and Souped Up battled right out of the gate, with the former taking the early lead and Poulin in O T (6-1, Ryan Munger) also in the mix on the front. Wilson hunted Western Whirl through fractions of :23.10, :46.30 and 1:10.58. Coming out of the turn, four horses were virtually nose-to-nose before Souped Up and Western Whirl edged ahead of the pack and battled stride-for-stride in the lane in the field of seven. “The trip was beauty,” Wilson said. “I was sitting just off him, and when I asked [Souped Up] to dig, he dug, and every time I asked him for more, he gave me more… I was quite confident that I won it, but I waited… until I was unofficially informed, and I gave myself a bit of a shout out loud. I was pretty happy with that.” Watch the race replay here. The winning time was 1:17.06. Souped Up and jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson winning the Bold Venture Stakes on August 15, 2026 at Woodbine (Michael Burns Photo) The $105,000 payday pushed the 6-year-old Ontario Bred gelded son of Souper Speedy out of the Pure Prize mare Jevina over $400,000 lifetime for trainer Ron Sadler and owners Linda Theil and Harri Hosein. “Ron does a fantastic job, and [Souped Up] comes to play,” Wilson said. “Every one of Ron’s horses come to play every time, and he did it today. Souped Up was bred by Chris and John Harris. Notorious Gangster (Rafael Hernandez), the 4-5 favourite, was third, followed by Its Bourbon Thirty (Pietro Moran) Dave Briggs, for Woodbine Share This:Share
