Woodbine postpones Pattison International thoroughbred race for a year

By Canadian Press

TORONTO — The 83rd running of the $1-million Pattison Canadian International is going to have to wait a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The International, one of Woodbine Racetrack’s top fall races, was missing from Woodbine Entertainment’s revamped 2020 stakes schedule that was released Wednesday. The International annually attracted some of Europe’s top horses but the novel coronavirus outbreak has made global travel challenging, to say the least.

Jim Lawson, the CEO of Woodbine Entertainment, said the pandemic was a big reason for the omission.

“The big concern is we don’t know where we’re going to be at,” Lawson said. “This race relies a lot on international horses and we just weren’t confident this year and felt like, ‘You know what? We’re really going to be under a lot of stress to think we can get international horses in here.’

“We just don’t know . . . and so this might be the year to take a pause on that.”

But Lawson cautioned the race is only being postponed for one year.

“We’ll bring it back,” he said. “We can maintain our graded status for one year.”

The novel coronavirus pandemic forced Woodbine to postpone the April 18 start to its 2020 thoroughbred card. Live thoroughbred racing will now begin June 6 without spectators.

The Pattison Canadian International was originally scheduled to go Oct. 18 at Woodbine Racetrack. But Pattison will be the presenting sponsor for the Grade 1 $300,000 Northern Dancer, a 1 1/2-mile turf race that will be run Oct. 18 at Woodbine.

The Grade 1 $600,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes and Grade 2 $250,000 Nearctic Stakes will also be on the Oct. 18 card.

And the Grade 1 $1-million Ricoh Woodbine Mile will go Sept. 19.

“We know we’re going to do well with the Mile,” Lawson said. “We do well with the Mile with American horses, it’s just become somewhat of the premier event leading into the Breeders’ Cup.”

“We are going to go ahead with the E.P. Taylor, it’s a Grade 1 for fillies and the fillies love the Grade 1 races. We think people, including Americans, will go out of their way for the E.P. Taylor.”

Traditionally, the E.P. Taylor Stakes has been run on the same card as the International. Starship Jubilee, with Woodbine-based jockey Luis Contreras aboard, won last year’s 1 1/4-mile turf event.

The International, a 1 1/2-mile turf race, has an impressive list of notable winners, including the legendary Secretariat.

The ’73 American Triple Crown champion capped his illustrious racing career with a dominant 6 1/2-length International victory at Woodbine.

Bunty Lawless, named Canada’s horse of the half century in 1951, won in 1938 and ’41, while Dahlia became the first European-based horse to claim the International in 1974.

Dahlia, bred in the U.S. but raised in France, also became the first horse to win Grade 1 stakes events in England, France, Ireland, Canada and the U.S.

Since 1971, eight horses that have won the International have also capture Eclipse Awards as Champion turf horses that season.

Irish-bred Desert Encounter successfully defended his International title last year with a fourth straight victory overall. Desert Encounter became the first horse since Joshua Tree (2012-13) to win consecutive International races.

Canada’s Triple Crown will begin Sept. 12 with the $1-million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine. The $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes will go Sept. 29 at Fort Erie Racetrack, with the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes, the 1 1/2-mile turf event, slated for Oct. 24, also at Woodbine.

The Plate will go a week after the Kentucky Derby. That race, traditionally the first leg of the American Triple Crown, usually goes the first Saturday in May but will now be run Sept. 5.

As well, the $125,000 Plate Trial and $500,000 Woodbine Oaks,two key prep races for the Queen’s Plate, will both be held Aug. 15 at Woodbine. The Oaks is Canada’s premier event for three-year-old fillies and the opening leg of the Canadian Triple Tiara.

The 2020 stakes program will include $13.8 million in purses. The Plate and Mile will run on consecutive weekends for the first time in Woodbine history.

The 2020 thoroughbred racing card will run through Dec. 13.

 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2020.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press

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