Delphia Among Four for Attard in 14-Horse Woodbine Oaks

Trainer Kevin Attard will have four chances to win his third straight CA$500,000 Woodbine Oaks, one of four stakes on an 11-race card July 23 at Woodbine.

Inaugurated in 1956, the filly classic, which has attracted 14 Canadian-foaled 3-year-old fillies carrying 121 pounds over 1 1/8 miles on the synthetic Tapeta surface, is the 10th race at 6 p.m. ET. The winning connections will receive CA$300,000.

Sunday’s card also features the CA$150,000 Plate Trial Stakes—a key prep ahead of the Aug. 20 King’s Plate—the CA$175,000 Connaught Cup Stakes (G2T), and CA$150,000 Trillium Stakes (G3).

After winning the 2021 Oaks with eventual Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Munnyfor Ro , and the 2022 edition with Queen’s Plate (now King’s Plate) winner and Canada’s reigning Horse of the Year Moira , Attard will look to duplicate that success with the quartet of Courtly Ro , Delphia , Fashionably Fab ,and Wickenheiser . They range in price on the morning line from 8-1 odds (Delphia) to 20-1 (Courtly Ro).

“To win one Oaks is a big accomplishment and something all of us at the barn are really proud of. And to win two straight was beyond incredible,” Attard said. “This is the type of race you dream about winning and hopefully that dream isn’t over yet. It takes a lot to get a horse to this kind of race. It takes a team effort and I’m lucky to be part of a great one.”

Delphia made an impressive first impression on her connections courtesy of a dazzling debut June 15.

The daughter of Mucho Macho Man rallied to win the 1 1/16-mile Tapeta race by three lengths for owners X-Men Racing 2 and SF Racing

“The connections and everyone at the barn were looking forward to Delphia’s first race and she certainly didn’t disappoint. It was a professional performance from start to finish,” Attard said. “To go two turns in your first start and do it that well was very impressive.”

Favored in the race at 5-2 odds is Live Oak Plantation’s Ticker Tape Home , a four-length last-out winner of the Fury Stakes for trainer Mark Casse. The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro is 2-2-0 in eight starts overall.

“She’s training very well,” Casse said. “She’s a very talented filly. It’s whether she can get the distance. Her pedigree says she should, but nobody knows a mile and an eighth until you do it. I think all three of our horses are legitimate contenders.”

Casse also starts Team Valor International and Gary Barber’s Fury runner-up Elysian Field and D J Stable’s Fury show finisher Me and My Shadow .

Invading from the United States is Peter Brant’s Big Brass Bed for trainer Chad Brown. The chestnut daughter of Nyquist , unraced at age 2, finished third on the Gulfstream Park turf in her April debut, before breaking her maiden at 1 1/16 miles over the Monmouth Park grass in May. She heads into the Oaks off a fourth at Belmont Park in a 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claimer on the inner turf June 22.

In other stakes action on the card—Live Oak Plantation’s Souper Hoity Toity is favored over Kentucky shipper Kate’s Kingdom in the Trillum; Bound for Nowhere is the 8-5 morning-line choice in the Connaught Cup for owner-trainer Wesley Ward; and Stanley House is the same price for trainer Michael DePaulo and owners John and Diana Russell to win the Plate Trial.

Both the Plate Trial and Woodbine Oaks could propel horses toward starts in next month’s King’s Plate.