Breeders' Stakes

Breeders' Stakes

Restricted race
Third leg in the Canadian Triple Crown
Location	Woodbine Racetrack Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Inaugurated	1889
Race type	Thoroughbred – Flat racing
Website	Woodbine Racetrack
Race information
Distance	1 1⁄2 miles (12 furlongs)
Surface	Turf
Track	Left-handed
Qualification	Three-year-olds (foaled in Canada)
Weight	Colt/Gelding: 126 lbs (57.2 kg) Filly: 121 lb (55 kg)
Purse	CDN$500,000

The Breeders' Stakes is a stakes race for Thoroughbred race horses foaled in Canada, first run in 1889. Since 1959, it has been the third race in the Canadian Triple Crown for three-year-olds. Held annually in August at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, the Breeders' Stakes follows the June running of the Queen's Plate and the July running of the Prince of Wales Stakes. At a distance of one-and-a-half miles, the Breeders' Stakes is the longest of the three Triple Crown races and is the only jewel raced on turf (the Queen's Plate is raced on Tapeta synthetic dirt and the Prince of Wales on a traditional dirt track).

In 1959, the Canadian Triple Crown was created and then won by New Providence. Six more three-year-olds, including the filly Dance Smartly, have since equalled the feat, with four of them doing so in a five-year period from 1989 to 1993.

Five horses have won the first two legs of the Triple Crown but lost on the grass in the Breeders' Stakes. They are:

In 1973 Saskatoon native, Joan Phipps made history aboard Singing Spirit. Though she finished 11th, she became the first female jockey to compete in one of the Canadian Triple Crown races. In 1999, 26 years after Phipps landmark race, Laurie Gulas rode Free Vacation to victory in the Breeders' Stakes, becoming the first female jockey to win a Canadian Triple Crown race.

In 2004, Catherine Day Phillips became the first woman trainer to win the Breeders' Stakes.

The 1994 renewal was held at Fort Erie Race Track while the Woodbine turf course was undergoing renovations.

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Wikipedia