Inner turf course debuts Friday

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine’s new $8 million inner turf course is scheduled to be used Friday for the first time. The first race on it is a $25,000 claimer.

The seven-furlong layout was the harness track from 1994 to 2017, when Woodbine’s Standardbred division was moved to Woodbine at Mohawk Park.

Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson rode Dun Drum in a five-furlong trial race in lane 2 on the new course last Friday.

“I’m so excited for this inner turf,” Wilson said. “For the first trip around there, I was really pleased. Kudos to Woodbine for putting up a good chunk of money.”

The course is banked at 2 degrees on the straightaways and 6 degrees in the middle of the turns. The four lanes are at 0 feet, 12 feet, 24 feet, and 36 feet. The distances that can be used are five furlongs, 7 1/2 furlongs, one mile, 1 1/16 miles, 1 3/8 miles, and 1 1/2 miles. The length of the stretch is 978 feet.

“My biggest curiosity was the makeup of the track, and the changes made,” Wilson said. “We watched the Standardbreds go around it for years. I like that they had us in lane 2. I stayed out a little in the four path, just to see if it was going to move my horse around on the banking. It was really smooth and fluid, the same as when you get in lane 5 on (the main turf), where you really feel the crown. It’s going to take a little bit of learning to see how it plays when they push us out into lane 4.”