ETOBICOKE, Ontario, CMC – Ace Barbadian reinsman Patrick Husbands secured the bag aboard the favorite Ticker Tape Home in the CAN $125 000 Fury Stakes featured on the 10-race card on Saturday at the Woodbine racetrack in Canada.
Husbands, 50, put Ticker Tape Home into an early lead in the seven-furlong trip on the all-weather track and then toyed with his rivals to grab a four-length win.
The result gave Husbands his fifth stakes win and 15th overall for the season at the top racing facility in the country, where he is fourth in the jockeys’ standings behind.
It was a triumphant return for Ticker Tape Home after two tough stakes races in February and March at Tampa Bay Downs in the United States.
The three-year-old, dark bay filly thoroughly dominated eight foes to clock one minute, 22.15 seconds, a shade more than two seconds off the track record.
“She was going into this race good,” Husbands said. “She ran a tough race (an eighth in the Suncoast Stakes on February 11 at Tampa Bay Downs). Then she came back here, and I got on her about five times, and she came into this race good.”
Husbands glided Ticker Tape Home out of the gate, seized control in the opening jumps, and held a clear advantage after an opening quarter of 0:23.13.
Ticker Tape Home was still running comfortably and was a half-length in front after a half-mile of 0:45.83 with plenty left in the tank turning for home.
At the head of the lane, it was simply a question of by how much the Mark Casse trainee was going to win, and Husbands got her to kick clear in the stretch to deliver a firm answer and finish ahead of stablemates, Elysian Field, under Sahin Civaci, and Me and My Shadow, under Emma-Jayne Wilson.
The Live Oak homebred arrived at the Woodbine for this race off a seventh in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks on March 11 at Tampa Bay Downs, and she is now 2-2-0 from eight starts.
“She went into this race good, and she’s developing as a nice filly,” Husbands said.
Also on the card, Jason Hoyte, another Barbadian jockey, drove the 20-1 outsider Umneyaat to victory by a neck for long-serving Jamaica-born trainer Michael McDonald in the CAN $61 800 sixth race over one mile on the inner turf.
Hoyte put Umneyaat into a stalking position three to four wide on the outside, steadily wore down the leaders, took over about 70 meters from the finish, and prevailed to win in 1 min, 36.96 secs, a little bit off the track record.
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