Casse earns seventh straight Woodbine training title

There were familiar names on top of the leaderboard at the end of Sunday's

13-race season-ending card at Woodbine in Toronto, Canada.

Mark Casse recorded his seventh straight training title and eighth overall,

winning 85 races after notching 94 wins in 2012. Casse, who scored a record 119

wins in 2011, also led in the purse earnings category, with $5,447,130

compared to $6,864,988 in 2012.

Robert Tiller, third a year ago, was second with 62 wins improving on his 48

triumphs in 2012 to leapfrog last year's second-place trainer, Reade Baker, who

notched 54 wins, compared to 63 last season.

Luis Contreras collected his third consecutive Woodbine jockey title, recording

168 victories, just 27 shy of the 195 wins posted in 2012. Mickey Walls' classic

1991 record of 221 wins remains the most victories posted in a single meet.

Eurico Rosa da Silva finished with 143 victories to be second, improving on last

year's third-place effort of 160 wins. Jesse Campbell finished third in the

table with 91 wins. Patrick Husbands, who was second in the standings in 2012

with 167 wins, was injured on May 20 but came back strong at the end of the meet

to finish with 89 wins.

John Oxley led all owners at Woodbine once again with

$2,235,359 in purse earnings, compared to $2,534,602 in 2012. Sam-Son Farms

finished second with $2,173,383, while Bear Stables Ltd., who recorded the most

wins with 33, finished third in purse earnings with $1,844,560.

It was Wise Dan who wowed the crowd with a stunning

performance to defend his title in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on September 15. Morton

Fink's homebred made it look easy, zipping to victory in the turf race

in track record time of 1:31.75. He then went on to Breeders' Cup glory for

trainer Charles LoPresti, taking the Mile at Santa Anita for the second year in

a row and stamping himself a

major contender to defend his title as Horse of the Year.

Midnight Aria delivered jockey Campbell his first Queen's Plate,

taking Canada's most famous horse race in July. Nipissing took the Woodbine Oaks in June and finished eighth in the Plate

before suffering a fatal injury in the August 4 Wonder Where.

Joshua Tree notched his third triumph, and second consecutive, in the Grade 1 Canadian International, having

previously won the event in 2012 and 2010.

Phil's Dream had seven wins, three of them in stakes including a memorable

victory in the Grade 1 Nearctic, to lead all runners at the 132-day season.

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