Opening Weekend!

By Steve Buffery

Miss Vyvyanne is a mare on a tear.

And that has her trainer, Gail Cox, extremely excited.

Cox is thrilled about Miss Vyvyanne’s outstanding performances of late, and is also pumped about the 2026 Woodbine season getting underway on Sat., April 18.

Miss Vyvyanne, the daughter of Rainbow Heir-Caribean Beat, heads to home to Woodbine after recording four straight victories, including a dominating 1 ¼ length triumph in the $75,000 (US) Golden Beach Handicap at Gulfstream Park in Florida on April 11 – with Woodbine regular Pietro Moran in the saddle.

Since being claimed for $32,000 at Woodbine last June, Miss Vyvyanne has paid back her new owner’s initial investment many times over. After winning her last start for previous owner Frank Russo and trainer William Tharrenos on June 28 at Woodbine, Miss Vyvyanne stumbled in her debut for conditioner trainer Gail Cox and owners Ralph Murray and Calstar Farm Inc., finishing fifth, but then concluded her 2025 Woodbine campaign with optional claiming allowance wins at five furlongs on turf before winning two more this winter at Gulfstream Park.

There’s definitely a buzz around this six-year-old chestnut mare.

“She’s really stepped up her game,” said Cox, from her winter training headquarters at Payson Park, Florida. “I thought maybe she would be a little bit more hyper and cranked up because she’s so speedy, but she’s really nice to train. Eats well, easy enough to gallop. I’d say she’s above and beyond what we thought. She’s a great claim.

“I think there were three people on that day (of the claim) and we won the shake,” Cox added. “You hope they hold their worth what you claimed them for. But she really seemed to excel. She was fast and ultra consistent. She’s just such a consistent filly. A little one-dimensional because she needed the leads, that kind of thing. But pretty consistent. Julia Carey had her and did well with her, (Martin) Drexler did well with her, and Billy (Tharrenos) as well.”

Miss Vyvyanne’s fourth trainer since beginning her career on Nov. 9 2024, Cox hopes to keep her new stable star around for a while.

“She’s becoming a bit valuable as a broodmare,” said Willowdale native Cox, a multi-graded stakes winning trainer who started her training career at Woodbine in 2006. “We gave her some time off in October after the turf season which really helped her. I think it’s the best thing we could have done. 

“I guess the next step would be to see if she can get some black type (stakes) because she’s actually run through most of her conditions,” added Cox. “So now, we’ll go home and regroup and decide where she’s going next.”

Cox began riding for the legendary Sam-Son Farm stable as a youngster when the Milton-based operation bred and raised hunter/jumpers before transitioning to thoroughbreds. In 2017, Cox began training for Sam-Son and enjoyed tremendous success, her biggest score coming in the 2019 Grade 1 Ricoh Woodbine Mile with El Tormenta. Sadly, Sam-Son began dispersing its breeding and racing stock in 2020.

“The Sam-Son Farm years were unbeatable and I miss having them as owners and breeders. But we just carry on,” said Cox, a winner of $11,094,224 in career purse earnings and 179 races, including 25 stakes. And now with the Woodbine season starting on Saturday, Cox is hoping to add to those totals, and not just with Miss Vyvyanne.

“It’s exciting, especially when you have some fresh horses in the barn,” the veteran trainer said.

That includes a pair of good-looking two-year-old fillies, Classic Lines and Epic Affair.

“They’ve started breezing here (at Payson Park),” said Cox. “Classic Lines is a half to Shotgun Wedding, which Jamie Begg had at Woodbine. And the other filly (Epic Affair) is out of a mare that I trained, Rideforthecause.”

Classic Lines is the daughter of multi-graded stakes winner Munnings and Epic Affair’s father is Grade 1 winner Epicenter.

“And I have (three-year-old filly) Miss Maxine, who would be an Oaks eligible,” said Cox.

Miss Maxine, co-owned by Cox and John Menary, posted a pair of seconds in her two starts at Woodbine in 2025.

Also in her stable is the Dancin in Da’nile a winner of four races, with earnings of $388,083 (US).

Cox has high hopes for the seven-year-old workhorse.

“He was scratched in the gate at Gulfstream, his last start,” she said. “They went to tail him and he started kicking and wound up cutting his stifle a little bit. He came back and he was fine so we have to go to Plan B. He’s first on the also-ran in the ($400,000 US) Elkhorn Stakes at Keeneland (April 18). He’s been training great and I’ve been very happy with him.”

The dawning of the 2026 Woodbine thoroughbred racing season offers a plethora of intriguing story lines, including whether veteran jockey Rafael Hernandez can defend his 2025 rider title. Hot on his heels is Eclipse Award winning apprentice Pietro Moran, who finished the 2025 Woodbine campaign with 139 victories, nine behind Hernandez.  Fraser Aebly was third last year with 94 wins.

Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse earned his 17th Woodbine training title last year with 97 wins, including 12 stakes winners - his runners accumulating more than $5.7 million (USD) in purse earnings at Woodbine. Martin Drexler placed second among trainers with 81 but has decided to step back from racing this year. Rising conditioning superstar Kevin Attard picked up 65 victories in 2025 - ranked second in purse earnings with $4.2 million (US) - and won his second straight King’s Plate with Mansetti.

Bruno Schickedanz secured his 11th consecutive Woodbine owners’ title (by wins), recording 79 wins and more than $2 million (USD) in purse earnings during the 2025 season. Chiefswood Stables Ltd. finished second among owners with 27 wins and $1.6 million in purse earnings. Gary Barber ranked third in wins with 22 and purse earnings of $1.3 million, while Mansetti owners Al and Bill Ulwelling were third in purse earnings with $1.4 million and 19 scores.