Uncle Dodo takes to the turf for bet365 Soaring Free / Smart purchase: Power of Destiny (GB) looks to deliver in Grade 2 Canadian
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TORONTO, August 13, 2026 – Stakes winner Uncle Dodo takes aim at the $150,000 bet365 Soaring Free, a 6 ½-furlong race for 2-year-olds contested on the E.P. Taylor turf, Saturday at Woodbine.
Part of a King’s Plate card that features six stakes, the Soaring Free, a key local prep ahead of next month’s $500,000 bet365 Summer Stakes (G1T) has attracted eight hopefuls, including Uncle Dodo.
Trained by Barb Minshall for owner and breeder Hoolie Racing Stable, LLC, the son of Uncle Mo out of the Shackleford mare Dream It Is broke his maiden in style, taking the Victoria Stakes, a 5 ½-furlong main track event for 2-year-olds, on July 12.
“He had a bit of a foot issue going in, so his training schedule was a little disjointed,” said Minshall. “He was just very game, which was even more impressive considering he had missed a few days training heading into the race.
Uncle Dodo debuted on June 14 at the same distance and over the same surface as the Victoria.
Off a step slowly, the bay colt was gaining fast down the lane and finished third, just over a half-length behind the winner.
“He matured a lot off that first run,” said Minshall. “He was smart right from the beginning, but after that first run, he knew what it was all about.”
Minshall, in the middle of another strong campaign, is looking for her young charge to take another step forward on Saturday.
“He doesn’t really start running until he gets a little bit of ground under him. Once he gets a few furlongs under him, he really starts to find his gear. I think that is always an advantage when you have a young horse.
“But it’s always a big question mark when you put horses on the turf for the first time.”
Jessica Zehuancatl-Contreras is the groom.
Recent works: Uncle Dodo breezed 5 furlongs in 1:02.20 over the turf training track on Aug. 7.
“I think you have to race them on the turf to know if they can truly handle it,” said Minshall. “He handled the ground fine in his breeze and did everything right. The dogs were way out, and the grass might have been a little soft because of all the rain we had. The jock [Romero Maragh] was on him and said he had a ton of horse the whole time. He probably could have gone by his workmates pretty easily, but it was just a maintenance breeze to see how he gets over it and Romero said he felt very comfortable. We’ll just go from there and see if he can handle it on race day.”
Fast facts: Soaring Free was Canada’s Horse of the Year and Outstanding Turf Male in 2004 after capturing the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile. Soaring Free retired in 2006 at age 7 after trying for his third win in the Shakertown at Keeneland, losing by less than three lengths. He compiled a record of 15 wins (10 in stakes races) and four seconds in 27 starts and purse earnings of $2,110,371. The Sam-Son Farm homebred was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2013.
Wagering menu for the Soaring Free: Includes Rolling Double / Exacta / 0.20 Trifecta / 0.20 Superfecta / 0.20 Pick 3 (Races 6-7-8) / 0.20 / Pick4 (Races 6-7-8-9) / $1 Swinger
Field for the $150,000 bet365 Soaring Free Stakes
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – Uncle Kef – Carlos Barbosa – Kevin Rice
2 – Quipster – Pietro Moran – Kevin Attard
3 – Mrs D – Jose Campos – Steven Chircop
4 – Humble and Kind – Sahin Civaci – Mark Casse
5 – Uncle Dodo – Romero Ramsay Maragh – Barb Minshall
6 – Speaker’s Speech – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse
7 – De la Renta – Fraser Aebly – Kevin Attard
8 – Through the Years (IRE) – John Velazquez – Wesley Ward
Chris Lomon, Woodbine
Smart purchase: Power of Destiny (GB) looks to deliver in Grade 2 Canadian
TORONTO, August 13, 2026 – Power of Destiny (GB) will make her fourth start at Woodbine, this time in the $200,000 Canadian Stakes Presented by The Japan Racing Association (G2T), on Saturday, King’s Plate Day.
Trained by Jamie Begg, Power of Destiny (GB), to be ridden by John Velazquez, will take on six rivals in the 1 1/16-mile inner turf event for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up.
Since coming to North America, the 5-year-old bay has posted a trio of top-three finishes from four starts, including a second in her Canadian debut, a 1 1/16-mile main track race, on May 3 at Woodbine.
Following an off-the-board finish in the Belle Mahone Stakes (G3) on May 30, the daughter of Sea The Stars (IRE) out of the unraced Kingman (GB) mare Rux Power (GB) won her North American turf debut, taking a 1 1/16-mile inner turf allowance optional claimer by a hard-fought neck.
“That was a good win,” said Begg. “And the filly (Majaz (GB)) of Mark’s (trainer, Casse) that she beat is a pretty nice horse, so it was a very nice performance on her part. We had the two starts into her on the synthetic at Woodbine and then she put it all together on the grass.”
Bred by King Power Racing Co. Ltd, Power of Destiny (GB) arrives at the Canadian off a third in a 1 1/8-mile inner turf race at Saratoga on Aug. 5.
“We stretched her out for that race,” said Begg. “To me, I thought she was more a miler to a mile and a sixteenth tops, even though in Europe they didn’t run her shorter than a mile and three-eighths. She wasn’t keyed up, but she was definitely ready for that race in Saratoga, and she put in a very good effort. It kind of showed us that she is the real deal. She came out of it well, too.
“We had nominated her to this race, so even though it’s a quick turnaround, we are confident in her. I feel a lot of these turf miler mares are able to bounce back on short rest. I like her a lot and I like her chances in this race. There are some tough ones here, but she is definitely in the mix.”
The bay was purchased for 40,000 guineas at the 2025 Tattersalls December Mares Sale by Begg and Joe Miller, for the ownership group of Rancho Temescal Thoroughbred Partners, Upland Flats Racing, Jonathan Wilmot and Nick Bauer.
“Joe Miller is the representative at Tattersalls, and he is also the manager for the partners in this mare. He had very much highlighted her as a horse we could really look at. She was very highly rated in Europe, which caused her to carry a lot of weight when she was running. Two races before we brought her over here, she was carrying 140 pounds. The idea was that when she ran in the ‘one other than’ races here, she could carry around 121 pounds, which is far more reasonable than 140.
“It was funny because at that sale, the guys in the group were pretty gung-ho about taking a swing at buying her. There were a couple horses that were going for quite a bit of money but weren’t on our radar. Joe had earmarked this mare, and we were willing to go up to £100,000 on her. And when we bought her for only 40, each one of the partners figured they had bought her themselves. But they are all great with having her in partnership. We got a pretty good bargain and are playing with house money at this point.”
Alfredo Ramos is the groom of Power of Destiny (GB), who sports a mark of 3-3-4 from 20 starts, along with $125,470 in purse earnings.
Fast facts: Champion trainer Kevin Attard has won four editions of the Canadian, in 2018 and 2019 with Starship Jubilee, in 2023 with Moira and in 2024 with Full Count Felicia. King Maple won the inaugural running in 1955.
Wagering menu for the Grade 2 Canadian Stakes: Rolling Double / Exacta / 0.20 Trifecta / 0.20 Superfecta / 0.20 Pick 3 (Races 8-9-10) / $1 Swinger.
Field for the Canadian Stakes Presented by The Japan Racing Association (G2T)
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – Lupa (IRE) – Fraser Aebly – Josie Carroll
2 – War Painter – Sahin Civaci – Kevin Attard
3 – Awesomesauce – Jose Campos – Joe Sharp
4 – Eponine (IRE) – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard
5 – Queens Command (IRE) – Eswan Flores – Katerina Vassilieva
6 – Proctor Street – Pietro Moran – Brendan Walsh
7 – Power of Destiny (GB) – John Velazquez – Jamie Begg
Chris Lomon, Woodbine
