Thoroughbred Improvement Program News Today

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.

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.

Desruisseaux, who trains a moderate-sized stable based out of Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ont., didn’t consider breeding financially viable before Ontario Racing’s Mare Purchase Program (MPP) was developed.

A pair of stakes, the $100,000 Ashbridges Bay, and $100,000 Lake Ontario, co-headline Friday afternoon’s card at Woodbine.

Ontario Racing’s Thoroughbred Improvement Program’s (TIP) Mare Purchase Program (MPP) is back in time for the upcoming breeding stock sales, with a total budget of $800,000. 

Foals out of dams purchased through Ontario Racing’s Thoroughbred Improvement Program’s innovative Mare Purchase Program (MPP) were hot commodities at the 2022 Canadian Premier Yearling Sale on Aug. 31, including Hip 48, one of three yearlings to hammer for over $100,000.

Thoroughbred owners, if your Ontario-bred has been competing in the claiming ranks at Woodbine or Fort Erie, please check the Thoroughbred Improvement Program website for a list of sales credits eligible to be used on a yearling at the Canadian Premier Yearling Sale, on Wednesday, Aug. 31.  

The partnership that bred Queen's Plate contender Duke of Love was gathered through their mutual connections to top Canadian program Sam-Son Farms.

For Ontario breeder Susan Foreman, who purchased a half-sister to Rich Strike at the 2022 Keeneland January Sale through the Mare Purchase Program, a component of Ontario Racing’s Thoroughbred Improvement Program, the result was beyond her wildest dreams.

Despite the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 and other challenges, Ontario Racing Independent Chair John Hayes remains hopeful of a bright future for the horse racing industry in the province. In a year of unprecedented challenges for horse racing throughout the province, the resolve and resiliency of the estimated 30,000 Ontario residents the industry employs has remained strong in the face of many adversities. “The 2020 racing season was unlike any other ever seen before in the Ontario horse rac...