TORONTO, Canada, CMC – Barbadian jockeys Jason Hoyte and Keveh Nicholls tasted success at Woodbine when they logged single wins on Thursday’s eight-race card.
Hoyte captured the CAN$23 700 race three aboard 7-1 choice Text Me Up while Nicholls paired with 8-1 bet Taylormoon to win race eight, also worth $23 700.
With just a few weeks left in the Woodbine campaign, Nicholls has posted 23 wins from 221 starts, while Hoyte has ridden 17 winners from 222 rides.
Kazushi Kimura is the runaway leader with 138 winners from 698 starts, with Sahin Civaci (117) and Rafael Hernandez (102) also passing the 100 mark.
Hoyte first saw the winners’ enclosure; the 36-year-old combined with six-year-old chestnut mare Text Me Up to beat the three-year-old and upward fillies and mares by three-quarters of a length.
Going seven furlongs, Hoyte stalked with Text Me Up as 72-1 longshot Spirit Belle clocked the early fractions of 23.24 seconds for the quarter and 46.85 for the half, with 11-1 bet Stole the Ring and 4-1 chance Tis a Pity in contention.
In the stretch run, Hoyte got Text Me Up into a strong position and managed to get the better of Tis a Pity for the win.
Meanwhile, the 37-year-old Nicholls’s win came in a five-furlong dash when he piloted three-year-old filly Taylormoon to a 1-¼ length score over the three-year-old and upward fillies and mares.
My favorite Fedaline and 14-1 choice, Thatsitthatsall, dueled through the early splits before Taylormoon caught them in the deep stretch.
The Woodbine season wraps up on December 17.
and then 