Woodbine moves up first post Saturday

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine will move Saturday’s first post time to 12:20 p.m. Eastern to better align post times with that day’s Breeders’ Cup card at Keeneland.

Woodbine Entertainment Group applied for the post-time change with the Ontario Racing Commission on Oct. 20, and although it hadn’t been approved as of Sunday, Jamie Martin, executive vice president of racing for WEG, said he didn’t anticipate any issues with the request.

The first Breeders’ Cup race on Saturday is scheduled for 12:05 p.m., and Woodbine will run its races in between the Breeders’ Cup races throughout the day. While Woodbine has run extended cards on Breeders’ Cup Saturday in the past, Martin said Saturday’s card will feature 10 races.

“The races are going to be a little bit spaced because of the Breeders’ Cup, but our 10th race will go off around 6 p.m.,” he said.

Saturday also will be entry day for the first Thursday card of the season on Nov. 5, with first post at 1 p.m. Woodbine will run four Thursday cards in November to allow the new Tapeta main track to be installed beginning in early December after the Thoroughbred meet concludes Nov. 29.

Martin said the Thursday cards will feature eight races but could be expanded if entries are strong.

“If we’re filling bigger, we can change that, but to start with, we’ll treat it like a Wednesday card,” he said.