Duke of Love came out of his debut win in good order. Josie Carroll said he jogged up sound this morning and was in great spirits. Attached is Duke of Love’s DRF past performance, showing he ran a 77 Beyer Speed Figure. This is a very good BSF especially on the synthetic Tapeta surface which tends to produce slower times.
If you are interested in purchasing a win photo please contact Woodbine track photographer Michael Burns at michaelburnsphoto@gmail.com.
It was the best of beginnings for our 2-year-old Duke of Love, who won his debut Sunday by 1 ¾ lengths over the Tapeta surface at Woodbine to give MyRacehorse its first win in Canada.
The colt was sent off as the 2-1 favorite for the 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight race with a field of 10. The son of Cupid broke well under Justin Stein, quickly settling in a close fourth, which he maintained going into the far turn.
Duke of Love made his move in mid-turn, and entering the stretch, Stein decided to take him to the rail. There, Duke of Love raced professionally in passing his last opponent and lengthening his stride.
There was a brief concern after the stewards’ inquiry sign went up, involving Duke of Love and runner-up Uncle Joe around the quarter pole. The stewards, however, quickly decided no change should be made.
The winning time was 1:03.47.
“I think this is going to be a very nice horse,” winning trainer Josie Carroll said. “We were thrilled to have MyRacehorse come up to Canada, and hopefully they’re starting with a good one here.”
Duke of Love worked a half mile out of the gate yesterday morning on the all-weather surface at Woodbine in 48.60 seconds. Josie Carroll reported that Duke of Love broke well and traveled nicely throughout the work. Josie added that we are a few weeks away from debuting our 2-year-old Cupid colt, with a possible start on either Nov. 14th or 20th.
Duke of Love worked five furlongs over the all-weather surface at Woodbine yesterday morning. Starting in behind horses, Josie Carroll instructed her rider to bring him through on the rail to finish up together in a time of 1:00.80. Josie was very impressed with the way Duke of Love handled getting kickback and how easily he went through the opening when asked.
Please enjoy this video of Duke of Love getting a bath after his work
Duke of Love worked five furlongs in company yesterday morning on the all-weather surface at Woodbine in a time of 1:04.20. The slow work, good for 54th out of 57 for the morning, was done by design. This was Duke of Love’s first five-furlong work and Josie Carroll usually instructs her riders to go slow and not let horses do too much when stretching out in distances. You can see in the attached video that Duke of Love was able to complete the work easily, while pulling away from his workmate to the inside of him.
Josie added that our 2-year-old Ontario-bred Cupid colt is just a few works away from running, and should make his afternoon debut in early November.