Ontario Racing/Thoroughbred Improvement Program

The quartet of Ontario-bred yearlings Canuck Racing Club purchased at last week’s Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society (Ontario Division) Canadian Premier Yearling Sale are the same age as the club itself which has burst onto Ontario’s racing scene in the past 12 months, building an impressive stable, and making up for what it lacks in service […]

The 2023 Canadian Premier Yearling Sale took place this week and the foals of dams purchased through Ontario Racing’s Mare Purchase Program (MPP) outpaced the sale average and median. Eleven foals from the 2022 MPP were cataloged, and the six that sold went for an average of $27,333 and a median of $26,500, 14 and […]

“If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball,” is the famous line delivered by 3-year-old gelding Patches O’Houlihan’s namesake character in the movie Dodgeball. Frank Di Giulio Jr. doesn’t know if his homebred can dodge a wrench, but he definitely knows he can run. The son of Reload has four wins in […]

Paramount Prince was dominant in the $150,000 Plate Trial on Sunday July 23 at Woodbine Racetrack, one of the last key preps for the King’s Plate on August 20, and his victory was thrilling for all the connections, including breeder Ericka Rusnak. Rusnak, a resident of Stouffville, Ont., has been breeding Thoroughbreds for close to […]

Ontario Racing’s Thoroughbred Improvement Program (TIP) has announced the recipients of the $200,000 distributed to breeders through its Ontario Sired Reward of Excellence Program. The Ontario Sired Reward of Excellence Program annually awards $50,000 to the breeders of the three highest worldwide earners in four categories, 2-year-old males, 2-year-old females, 3-year-old males, and 3-year-old females. […]

One year ago, trainer Dale Desruisseaux traveled to Lexington, Ky., to attend the 2022 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. His goal was to venture into the breeding side of the horse racing business by purchasing an in-foal broodmare. Desruisseaux, who trains a moderate-sized stable based out of Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ont., didn’t […]

Seven new stallions are joining the Ontario ranks in 2023, as the provincial breeding program continues to be one of fastest growing jurisdictions in North America. Avie’s Flatter, Collusion Illusion, Mohaymen, Serve The King (GB), and Tamarkuz will all stand stud in Ontario for the first time, while Ami’s Flatter and Guipago return to the province. […]

Ontario stallion Cold Hard Dash gave Belinda Taggart one last holiday gift as the calendar flipped to 2023, by topping the American Quarter Horse Association’s most recent leading sire by percentage of winners list. The December edition of the American Quarter Horse Racing Journal provided updated sire lists as of Oct. 28, 2022, and Cold […]

Purchasing two in-foal broodmares at the 2022 Keeneland November Breeding Stock sale doubled the size of Apricot Valley Thoroughbreds’ broodmare band. The mares Tiptoe and Turning Point were the latest step in Colin Davis’s methodical entrance into the racing game. Davis, a resident of Cobourg, Ont., is new to racehorse breeding and ownership, but familiar […]