Breeders' Stakes – Test of a Champion

BY JENNIFER MORRISON

A field of nine Canadian bred 3-year-olds will race 1 1/2 miles around the inner turf on Sunday, Sept. 27 at Woodbine in the third jewel of Canada's Triple Crown, the Breeders' Stakes. Arguably the toughest of three races of the Crown to win, the Breeders' has a purse of $400,000 and a long and unique history.

2024 Breeder’s Stakes

This is the 135th running of the Breeders'  and 12 times it has been won by horses that won the Queen's/King's Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, the first two legs of the series.

Since Wando won the 2003 Breeders’ and became [the last] Triple Crown winner, many Breeders’ winners did not win the Plate or Prince of Wales and or did not run in one or either race. Just three horses – A Bit o' Gold, Tone Broke and Mighty Heart -  have won two of the three races since Wando's sweep. Since it is such a specialty race, owners and trainers are often pointing their long-distance grass horses to the Breeders' long before the Triple Crown begins.

Winning trends

The first trend you need to know about the Breeders’ is that the favourite has had a rough time winning the classic race. In 2009 it was 46-to-1 shot Perfect Shower, trained by the great Roger Attfield, and in 2010, 65-to-1 bomb Miami Deco upset the field. Camp Creek stunned at 26-to-1 in 2016 and British Royalty slogged home on soft turf at 24-to-1 in 2021.

The last two winners of the Breeders', Roscar and Touch'n Ride, both owned by Chiefswood Stables, were 7 to 2 and 4 to 1 respectively.

As a sidenote, the Breeders’ is held about a month later than usual since the COVID pandemic delayed the 2020 King’s Plate by almost two months. The Triple Crown races were never moved back to their original dates and that has contributed to slightly weaker fields for the Breeders’ as many three-year-olds have been put away for the season.

Since 1900, there have only been two horses break their maiden in the Breeders’: Fair Montague in 1915 and Miami Deco in 2010.However, maidens do well in the race as far as placing in exotic wagers. Last year, the filly Saccharine was second in the Breeders' at 5 to 1.

Eight fillies have won the Breeders’ since 1980, but none since 2012. Fillies have been second in the last two running of the race, the aforementioned Saccharine and Elysian Field in 2023.

There was a time when fillies dominated the Breeders’, stars such as Bounding Away, Carotene and Dance Smartly. Now there are plenty more opportunities locally and at other tracks for fillies who love the grass. But certainly in the early fall of their three-year-old campaign, a filly is very capable of beating the boys in this race.

One of the similarities in Breeders’ Stakes winners is that most have the classic long-distance and turf pedigree. Recent winners of the Breeders have European breeding by sires such as Giant’s Causeway, Perfect Soul (Ire) and Sligo Bay (Ire) and classic American studs such as English Channel, Stormy Atlantic, Scat Daddy and Lemon Drop Kid.

Let's apply the trends to the 2025 field:

This year's Breeders' favourite will be Plate runner-up Tom's Magic, a proven stakes winner on grass in the US and a colt who has a good chance to end the streak of losing favourites in the race. Chiefswood Stables, seeking its third straight win in the race, has Borealis Trail in the field and he could be the second favourite.

Mike Burns Photo

Three fillies have been entered: Wonder Where Stakes winner Aristella,Wonder Where runner-up Scat Girl and the maiden D'aurum.

On pedigree, a number of this year's starters have classic, long distance grass breeding such as Tom's Magic, by American Triple Crown winner Justify, Borealis Trail, by Quality Road, Sedbury's Ghost, who is out of a Sligo Bay mare, Faber, from an Into Mischief mare and Scat Girl, who is out of a Scat Daddy mare.

Trainers who have won than a couple of Breeders' include Rachel Halden (Aristella and Borealis Trail) and Roger Attfield (Ciunas).

The Picks: It is hard to pick against TOM'S MAGIC, who probably should have won the Plate but for a rocky journey. The value in the race will be working in one of the longshots into exactas and triactors with the logical choice.

One of the interesting price plays in the field would be FABER, who has won on the inner grass course and he continues to show that he loves long distances.

Cheering Section – Devon Gittens

Easily one of the busiest trainers on the Woodbine backstretch is DEVON GITTENS, who is in the midst of his best year as conditioner, currently sitting sixth on the leaderboard with 24 victories. He also has a string of horses at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg where he has won 11 races this year.

Gittens is just in his second full season as a trainer at Woodbine.

Born in Barbados, Gittens learned to ride at some of the major farms in his homeland including Hopefield Farm.  His passion for galloping horses led to him exercising up to 40 horses some days, He was invited to work at Assiniboia Downs by manager Darren Dunn and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

When Gittens approached Ontario owner Bruno Schickedanz, one of North America's leading owners, he was given a chance with some horses at Woodbine. In his first month at the Rexdale track, Gittens sent out This Katz For Real to win his maiden at 72 to 1 for Schickedanz.

As of September 21, Gittens has a larger stable of horses for Schickedanz and he's already started the same number of horses in 2025 as he did in all of last year.

And Gittens has had some fun with his own horse this year. Hard to Capture, a filly he claimed for $10,000 has won twice in 2025 and earned over $37,000 (US).

Gittens is a horseplayer's dream trainer too as his average win odds are currently over 15 to 1!