Former two-time champion Shane Ellis’s three-timer at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada, on May 9, 2024 is also a timely reminder that former champions Dane Nelson, Anthony Thomas, Christopher Mamdeen, and Dane Dawkins are currently riding in North America.

Incidentally, Reyan Lewis, the 2023 champion, is seemingly not ready to engage with a firm recent offer to be in Canada. With Tevin Foster and Raddesh Roman, at the start of the day on 49 and 38 wins respectively, dominating four-and-half months in, a new champion will emerge here at the end of the 2024 racing year.

In the opening event of the programme, Roman, for the first of a five-timer, was aboard 7-2 bet Kingswood. He persuaded the nine-year-old grey horse to control the pace from early and scored by over eight lengths at 1,400 metres for trainer Saqlain Roman.

In race two, Roman, for his second, partnered another wide-margin winner by a similar advantage in the form of Crimson (3-5) saddled by Ryan Darby.

The Tevin Foster response to Roman was not immediate as his mount
Sneaky Joe (3-5) was as many as eight-and-a-quarter length second in the 1,400-metre third event.

Trained by Lydia Anglin, Anika Belle (9-2) was guided by two-kilogramme claimer Shane Richardson. Unusually and rarely if ever, the winning advantages for the first three races over the same 1,400-metre trips were identical.

Race four, over, 1,100 metres, gave vociferous Foster supporters some joy, as
Flyblujet (USA), declared by 14-time champion Philip Feanny, was a three-length winning favourite at odds of 8-5.

With the Foster fan club now in a better mood, it was enhanced to the nth degree in race five over 1,000 metres straight. Winner Teflon Don (3-5) was in a “could-go-either-way” battle with Magnificent Force (USA) ridden by Oneil Mullings, but the Foster skill set delivered by a short head for trainer Jason DaCosta.

For race six, it was time for the resumption of the Raddesh Roman extravaganza to resume on the way to five or possibly more. The third for the title-chasing reinsman was confirmed, with three-and-a-half lengths to spare, by 3-5 favourite Traveller’s Lodge, prepared by Christopher Pearson for the 1,000-metre straight gallop.

The extravaganza was on pause for race seven as champion Reyan Lewis was in front all the way with the Anthony Nunes-schooled maiden
Smart Trick (4-5) over the 1,400 metres of race seven.

Favourite Bold Move, a 1-5 bet in the market, scored by six-and-a-quarter lengths in the 1,100-metre race eight for Roman’s fourth. Successful trainer Gary Subratie, who saddled career winner number 800 recently, is now on a journey to another century of trips to the winners’ enclosure.

In race nine, Roman was only third aboard Power From Above (10-1), as the 1,400-metre exertion was won by American importee Easy As A. B. C. (3-1), a two-time winner over there, ridden by Roderick DaCosta for conditioner Donovan Hutchinson.

Roman securing his five-timer for the third time this year was a classic case of saving the best for last. This, in the feature 1,800-metre closing event staged in honour of long-standing owner Yvonne Mattis in recognition of Mother’s Day 2024.

The five-year-old gelding Justin Biden (11-1) was declared by Lawrence Freemantle. Always in the front rank, the winner, clear 200 metres out, stayed on strongly to keep the advantage of two-lengths-and-a-quarter safely.

The Training Feat Award is presented to Freemantle for the late-life improvement of Justin Biden, running over an unfamiliar distance in a very competitive field and delivering on the criteria of speed, stamina, and courage to claim the Best Winning Gallop Award.

Given the sundry degrees of difficulty in winning on Teflon Don and Justin Biden, Roman is unchallenged for the Jockey Award.