Down the Stretch for June 23, 2025

We’ve got Saturday’s Alywow Stakes from Woodbine which went to an invader; and from Friday’s card. Apprentice Xarel Forde became the first jockey in Canadian history with a name beginning with X to score a hat trick. Same day, veteran rider, Slade Callaghan won in his first race back. The great Emma-Jayne Wilson joins us to talk about what it feels like to win a race again and what her twin daughters, Grace and Avery think about what mommy does. Chelsea Hackbarth is the editor in chief for the Paulick Report and she informs us about ICE agents arresting 84 undocumented workers from the backstretch of Delta Downs in Louisiana. Brian Bell recorded his 800th win at Ajax Downs and explains why it’s much harder to put up big numbers in quarter horse racing. Also, why did we compare him to the Shawshank Redemption’s Andy Dufresne? Good on Woodbine to quadruple their contribution to OSAS, the Ontario Standardbred Adoption Agency. Joanne Colville of OSAS tells us how important this was. And what do you think happened to the 5-horse named Five in a race at the Meadows on the 5th day of the week?