Mr. Entertainment, Chris Bosh, Tears It Up At The Woodbine Oaks Draw

The draw for the 2009 Woodbine Oaks was held at WEGZ this afternoon featuring celebrity draw master Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors. Bosh stands 6ft 10 in tall and simply towered over track announcer Dan Loiselle who was MC of the event.

Exactly just how tall is Chris Bosh?


Loiselle took the opportunity to interview the 25 year-old All-Star and Olympic gold medalist on his numerous achievements and also to poke a little fun at the power forward for his infamous Youtube channel.

Steve Lym and Dan Loiselle struggle to get into the photograph


When asked if he had ever attended the races while living in Texas, Bosh smiled grimly and said, "I've been to Lone Star and...they have some of my money down there." Misery loves company - and the whole crowd cracked up at that one. There was another funny moment when Loiselle inquired as to the whereabouts of his Olympic medal and Bosh cracked, "My mom has it. She won't let me have it and now nobody else can get it."

There was a moment for many of us present to feel our age when Bosh described how surreal it was to play for the Olympic squad when he remembered watching Team USA perform in the 1992 Olympics. Ouch, imagine being able to remember 1992?

Bosh smiled and cracked jokes through much of the interview and it should be noted that the hard-working player and budding entertainer does a lot of good work for the cities of Toronto and his native Dallas through his Chris Bosh Foundation. Bosh also famously donated $1,000,000 to Toronto charity legacy programs after signing a $US 65M contract to play for the Raptors.

Bosh was mobbed by Toronto media following the draw.


As a Toronto resident, I can vouch for Bosh's popularity in the city. Loiselle commented during Bosh's introduction, "Without a doubt, he (Bosh) has become the face and the leader of the Toronto Raptors." The man has certainly made the most of being the fourth player selected in a strong draft class which included Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade. The above-noted contract will be expiring after this season and media reps from all the local TV stations and newspapers were on hand to find out about Bosh's basketball future.

Speaking of the future, Bosh will become the first athlete in the world to launch his own application for both the iPhone and the iPod. The 25 year-old is cornering the entertainment market after becoming a Youtube sensation with his online videos where he portrays a number of different characters. One video, which features Bosh as a car salesman urged fans to vote Bosh into the 2008 NBA all-star game has been viewed over 700,000 times. Bosh capitalized on this popularity to sign a deal with Warner Music which will see a DVD released this year featuring videos and music.



And of course,Bosh is on Twitter which brings us to the next point of this post. The one and only Twitterin' Joe Talamo will be at Woodbine on Sunday to steer Wynning Ride as one of four "import" jocks, the others being Alan Garcia (Academicienne), Eibar Coa (Miss Blakely) and Stewart Elliott (Milwaukee Appeal.) I'm looking forward to seeing our very strong group of local jocks taking on a stellar quartet of invaders from south of the border.

The draw for the Oaks, which is run at a distance of 1 1/8M for a purse of $500K restricted to Canadian-bred fillies,went as follows:

Academicienne (Post 12)
Double Malt (Post 11)
First Circle (Post 6)
Gore Bay (Post 10)
High Mist (Post 9)
Koonunga Hill (Post 8)
Milwaukee Appeal (Post 4)
Miss Blakely (Post 14)
Politelyprecocious (Post 2)
Secret Wish (Post 3)
Soul of Nataka (Post 5)
Tasty Temptation (Post 13)
Wynning Ride (Post 7)
Indigo North (Post 1)

Hunch bettors please make note of the fact that Milwaukee Appeal drew Bosh's #4. Trainer Scott Fairlie is happy with that position stating, "I’m very happy with it. She’s very easy to ride and you can place her anywhere.”

Triple Dead Heat will post a preview and selection for the Woodbine Oaks on Saturday.