A stakes winner from one mile to 1 1/2 miles, on turf and synthetic, and with more than $2.1 million in earnings, there isn't too much Get Smokin hasn't accomplished in his six seasons at the track. The venerable gelding, a crowd favorite with a need-the-lead mentality, returns to the races for his seventh year of racing as a battle-hardened 8-year-old in the CA$175,000 Eclipse Stakes (G2) May 31 at Woodbine.
Trained by Mark Casse for Ironhorse Racing Stable, BlackRidge Stables, T-N-T Equine Holdings, and Saratoga Seven Racing Partners, Get Smokin has accrued six stakes victories during his tenure at the track. The gelding is exiting a 2024 season bookended with graded victories, landing the 1 3/8-mile United Nations Stakes (G2T) in July at Monmouth Park before capping his campaign in Woodbine's Valedictory Stakes (G3) going 1 1/2 miles over the synthetic Dec. 7.
Fourth in last year's Eclipse after tiring late, Get Smokin gets the services of 2024 Sovereign Award-winning jockey Sahin Civaci for Saturday's 1 1/16-mile contest. The son of Get Stormy will tote the high weight of 124 pounds in the Eclipse, 4 pounds more than his closest competitor.
Get Smokin is one of two entries for Casse, who will saddle another accomplished hardy gelding in D. J. Stable's Webslinger. A grade 2 winner and twice runner-up at the grade 1 level, Webslinger will be making his first outing in more than eight months when he starts in the Eclipse. The son of Constitution was last seen finishing second to Truly Quality in last summer's Colonial Cup Stakes at Colonial Downs.
Patrick Husbands gets the call on Webslinger in his Canadian debut.
A notable challenger to the Casse pair is the Wertheimer et Frere homebred Dataman, a multiple stakes winner on the turf for trainer Graham Motion. The Tapit gelding opened his 5-year-old season with a victory in a one-mile turf allowance optional claimer at Laurel Park May 3. New York-based rider Manny Franco heads north to ride Dataman.
Woodbine, Saturday, May 31, 2025, Race 9Entries: bet365 Eclipse S. (G2)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Possiblemente (KY) Rafael Manuel Hernandez 118 Martin Drexler 10/1 2 2Dataman (KY) Manuel Franco 120 H. Graham Motion 5/1 3 3Get Smokin (KY) Sahin Civaci 124 Mark E. Casse 9/5 4 4Cool Kiss (ON) Pietro Moran 118 Martin Drexler 20/1 5 5Classic Mo Town (FL) Eswan Flores 118 Martin Drexler 8/1 6 6Stanley House (ON) Leo Salles 118 Michael P. De Paulo 12/1 7 7Webslinger (KY) Patrick Husbands 120 Mark E. Casse 2/1 8 8Dancin in Da'nile (ON) Jose Luis Campos 118 Gail Cox 20/1
Undercard Stakes
- 2024 Canadian Horse of the Year Patches O'Houlihan towers over a small field of four in the CA$150,000 Jacques Cartier Stakes (G3). A homebred for Frank D. Di Giulio Jr. and trained by Robert Tiller, the brilliant gelding kicked off his 5-year-old campaign with an emphatic four-length score in the May 4 Thorncliffe Stakes, where he established a new Woodbine track mark of 1:02.28 for 5 1/2 furlongs on the synthetic course.
- Multiple stakes winner Toupie, a turf sprint specialist for Motion, ships into Woodbine hoping to steal the prize in the CA$150,000 Royal North Stakes (G3T) for older fillies and mares going 6 1/2 furlongs on the lawn. Toupie's biggest threat comes from local standout Earhart, an explosive last-out winner of Woodbine's Whimsical Stakes (G3) May 3.
- A United States-based contender should also be favored in Saturday's final race of the card in the CA$150,000 Belle Mahone Stakes (G3). Resolute Racing's Dana's Beauty, an eight-time winner over the synthetic, makes her Woodbine debut for trainer Mike Maker. The 7-year-old daughter of Not This Time exits a 3 1/2-length tally in Turfway Park's Latonia Stakes March 22.
Entries: Jacques Cartier S. (G3)
Woodbine, Saturday, May 31, 2025, Race 1
- Grade III
- 6f
- All Weather Track
- $150,000
- 4 yo's & up
- 1:05 PM (local)
| PP | Horse | Jockey | Wgt | Trainer | M/L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1Old Chestnut (FL) | Eswan Flores | 120 | Martin Drexler | 12/1 |
| 2 | 2Patches O'Houlihan (ON) | Sofia Vives | 126 | Robert P. Tiller | 1/9 |
| 3 | 3Simcoe (ON) | Rafael Manuel Hernandez | 120 | Katerina Vassilieva | 6/1 |
| 4 | 4Okiro (KY) | Pietro Moran | 122 | Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. | 8/1 |
Woodbine, Saturday, May 31, 2025, Race 8Entries: HPIbet Royal North S. (G3T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Metaphysical (KY) Sofia Vives 120 Tony Michael Gattellaro 20/1 2 2Toupie (KY) Manuel Franco 126 H. Graham Motion 5/2 3 3Freedom Speaks (KY) Fraser Aebly 120 Heather Smullen 8/1 4 4Dancing Duchess (ON) Sahin Civaci 122 Mark E. Casse 15/1 5 5Ready to Jam (KY) Pietro Moran 120 Mark E. Casse 12/1 6 6Ticker Tape Home (ON) Patrick Husbands 122 Mark E. Casse 10/1 7 7Ms. Tart (KY) Huber Villa-Gomez 120 Kevin Rice 12/1 8 8Earhart (FR) Rafael Manuel Hernandez 122 Josie Carroll 2/1 9 9Weehawken (KY) Eswan Flores 120 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. 20/1 10 10Gal in a Rush (KY) Ryan Munger 122 Miguel Clement 6/1
Woodbine, Saturday, May 31, 2025, Race 10Entries: Belle Mahone S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Dana's Beauty (KY) Patrick Husbands 125 Michael J. Maker 5/2 2 2Caitlinhergrtness (ON) Rafael Manuel Hernandez 121 Kevin Attard 2/1 3 3Fortyfiveseventy (ON) Daisuke Fukumoto 119 Barbara J. Minshall 20/1 4 4Literate (KY) Sahin Civaci 119 Martin Drexler 6/1 5 5Kin's Concerto (ON) Sofia Vives 121 Josie Carroll 20/1 6 6Ready for Shirl (KY) Fraser Aebly 119 Roger L. Attfield 15/1 7 7For Flying (BRZ) Manuel Franco 119 H. Graham Motion 8/1 8 8Freedom Speaks (KY) Jose Luis Campos 119 Heather Smullen 12/1 9 9Fashionably Fab (ON) Pietro Moran 125 Kevin Attard 5/1
