Top 3 Woodbine Weekend Highlights (May 4-5)

Win

It was a sweet treat for jockey Patrick Husbands and trainer Mark Casse, who teamed up to win their Woodbine stakes win in as many days, this time with Candy Overload in Sunday’s $100,000 Thorncliffe.

The son of Reload-Mini Candy, who paid $7 for the victory, now has seven wins, six seconds, and a pair of thirds from 23 lifetime starts.

“He is all class,” praised Husbands. “He fooled me. I breezed him last week. I think he ran 1:04. He didn’t want to work, didn’t want to gallop, but race day, he came out and gave 110 per cent.”

Place

Pierre, bred by Tall Oaks Farm and owned by Al and Bill Ulwelling, broke his maiden in Saturday’s fifth race. The Ontario-bred son of Tapiture, with Rafael Hernandez in the irons, dug in gamely to win the six-furlong main track race by a head.

Sent off as the even-money choice, Pierre paid $4 for the win.

Show

Play the Music, a 4-year-old daughter of Mo Town, topped the charts in Saturday’s $135,000 Whimsical Stakes Presented by Bulleit Bourbon. The potent one-two Hall of Fame punch of jockey Patrick Husbands and Mark Casse delivered yet another stakes score, this time for owner Glassman Racing LLC.

“She was just doing it easy, easy, easy and she won big,” said Husbands, of the $300,000 2-year-old purchase.

Noteworthy

Apprentice Fraser Aebly won the first two races on Sunday’s card. He teamed with Sunyani to take the first and Zoning Order to win the second. The Aebly Daily Double returned $8.05 for $1.

Amanda Vandermeersch guided Crumlin Lad to victory in Sunday’s seventh race, which delivered a $73.30 win payout.

Jockey Sofia Vives recorded a hat trick on Sunday.

On Tap

Live racing continues this coming weekend. First post is 1:10 p.m. for both Saturday and Sunday.

Chris Lomon, Woodbine Communications / @WoodbineComms