Photo Essay: All Hail The Woodbine Workouts!

My apologies for the shorter posts this week. I am in New York on "vacation' but will be posting lots of news and photos from my trip to Belmont on Saturday afternoon for the Shuvee. I hope to have the results of my New York experience up on the blog by next Friday.

Congratulations are in order to Rachel Alexandra and Mine That Bird after a thrilling performance in the Preakness. I was awed by Mine That Bird's ferocious kick deep in the stretch to get up for place. It was an impressive turn of foot to recover from a poor start and still have energy left despite a wide trip. The Derby champion did not let his triple crown dreams without a fight.

Rachel Alexandra was pushed wide the whole way around the track and yet never seemed uncomfortable. When asked, the filly accelerated to the lead with more than enough in the tank to win confirming Calvin Borel's proclamations that Rachel Alexandra is indeed a special horse.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the triple crown makes its way to Belmont Park. It would seem as though that long Belmont stretch run certainly suits the stamina and kick of Mine That Bird, but my gut tells me a New York local just might have a third triple crown surprise waiting for us. So, Mr. Zito...is there another Birdstone waiting in the wings?

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On Saturday May 9th, I was out at Woodbine bright and early to meet Ian Black's Queen's Plate contender Southdale. You can read all about that experience in the first installment of my Path To The Queen's Plate series. While on the backstretch I took several photos and video of other horses going about their training to share in the blog. As you'll see in one of the videos, the weather took quite a turn when hail pelted the backstretch!

(As always, double left-click the photo to enlarge and click on your "Back" button to return to the blog.)

Horses make their way to the track for a morning gallop


A little bit overcast but surprisingly warm


A white blur streaks across the backstretch


After tiring out on the track, this horse came over to say hello.


Here's bit of video from the morning workouts.


Woodbine's beautiful turf course will soon be ready for use


I could feel the moisture in the air and headed inside just in time to save myself from being pelted by hail!


It gets a little cold in Canada in the summer time!



The Woodbine poly briefly became a puddled frosty mess


It's not dirt. It's kinda linty and I think the colourful bits are wax?


Triple Dead Heat will continue posting during the week from NYC and update the regular weekly features such as the Woodbine Watch List and Outrageous Odds on my return to Woodbine on Friday.