Woodbine Mile winner Town Cruise to get a break
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Those with a horse nominated to the Overskate Stakes on Oct. 9 at Woodbine will be breathing a sigh of relief when they find out that Woodbine Mile winner Town Cruise won’t be contesting that Ontario-sired event.
Owner-trainer Brandon Greer said Tuesday that Town Cruise emerged from his gate-to-wire victory in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile in good shape but is headed to the farm. The race was a Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In qualifier, but Town Cruise isn’t BC-nominated and the BC Mile at Del Mar was never on his radar anyway.
“This is the time to send him home and just let him relax,” Greer said. “He’s happy now, and I don’t want to mess with that. He’s done so much this year. I don’t want to ask him to do any more.
“I feel that running him again this year is anti-climatic to him. We’ll let him have the winter to roll around in the snowbanks. We’ll start next year like we’re aiming for the Mile again, which still seems kind of silly and surreal to say. We’ll aim at it and see if he wants to divert from that.”
Town Cruise commenced his season with back-to-back allowance scores, after which he finished second in the Grade 2 King Edward, the local prep for the Woodbine Mile.
“Earlier in the year, the Overskate was a race I was kind of targeting, but this horse made me shift my tack a little bit,” Greer recalled.
Greer, 43, said winning the Woodbine Mile was the thrill of a lifetime for him and his father, Terry, who co-bred the 6-year-old gelding with him.
“Everybody was so kind,” Greer said. “It was just an explosion of people congratulating me. It was an absolute thrill. My dad is so happy about it. Ever since I was a little kid, he told me this is his favorite race. This was the big one.”
Town Cruise went over the $1 million mark in Canadian earnings after taking down first money of $720,000 in the Woodbine Mile, which included an Ontario-bred bonus of $120,000. The son of Town Prize is a virtual lock to win the Sovereign Award for champion male turf runner and is the leader in the clubhouse for 2021 Canadian Horse of the Year honors.
Greer said his lottery-like windfall hasn’t sunk in yet, along with the other accolades.
“I have to say the money’s not really in my head yet,” Greer explained. “It doesn’t seem real and just doesn’t seem to be in there. I’m still at that stage [of being] in awe and just enjoying the horse and how happy he is coming out of that race. He’s quite enjoying himself, and I really love that.”
Greer said he’s down to a one-horse stable after his other winner this year, Sharp’s River, was retired with an injury.
“I love that horse to death,” Greer said. “He’s wonderful, but oh man, he’s had nothing but problems ever since we started. Just when we thought we had everything right, something else popped up, and that’s happened again. He’s got a big old ankle on him. It’s a shame, because the rest of him looks fantastic. I was looking forward to a fall campaign with him. With this ankle, I could run him on it, but I’m afraid if I did, I would end up hurting him. I want him walking off the track happy.”
In contrast to the old adage, Greer is proof that nice guys can finish first, and reap the rewards, too.
◗ Walton Street was another late bloomer who ran lights-out on Saturday’s Woodbine Mile card. Trained by Charlie Appleby, the 7-year-old Godolphin Racing runner from Europe was an embarrassingly easy winner of the Grade 1 Canadian International in his first race with Lasix. Walton Street earned a 110 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest turf Beyer in North America this year and the fifth-highest overall.