Woodbine Racetrack Picks: Best Bets for Turf Champions Day, 9/13/2025

Key takeaways:

• For Saturday’s Turf Champions Day, Literate (6-1) and Wild Pansy (4-1) stand out in the Ontario Matron, both well-suited to Tapeta and poised for good trips.
• Gas Me Up (5-1) is the value play in the Woodbine Mile, while Notable Speech (8-5) brings elite European class for Appleby.
• In the Vigil, Twin City (15-1) offers upset appeal on his preferred Tapeta trip, with Simcoe (2-1) the clear speed threat.

Saturday, September 13, is one of the flagship days of Canadian racing: Woodbine Turf Champions Day. The card features a trio of top-level races on the inner turf course at Woodbine, all of which offer automatic bids to the Breeders’ Cup. Those include the Woodbine Mile (G1), a Breeders’ Cup Mile prep; the Summer Stakes (G1), a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf qualifier; and the Natalma Stakes (G1), which offers a bid to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. The card also includes a pair of graded stakes races on the all-weather, the Vigil (G3) and the Ontario Matron (G3). And, on this deep and competitive day, successful Turf Champions Day betting can be as lucrative as the races!

Saturday’s Turf Champions Day card features 12 races, and the card gets underway at 1:05 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. You can watch all day long and get up-to-the-minute news and updates through FanDuel TV, and you can bet every race with FanDuel Racing!

Don’t forget to check the scratches before placing your bets. As of midweek, there is a possibility for rain late in the day on Saturday, but that could always shift earlier or later, and scratches can happen for other reasons as well. Scratches can affect both the pace and the class composition of the race, and horse racing is a game of information, so taking a moment to confirm before placing your bets is just smart practice.

These are three top picks for Saturday’s Turf Champions Day at Woodbine Racetrack:

Best Bets for Turf Champions Day at Woodbine Racetrack

Race 7 - Ontario Matron (G3), 1 1/16 miles on the Tapeta - Literate, Wild Pansy

FanDuel odds: 6-1 and 4-1

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The Ontario Matron drew a full field of 12: a mix of turf horses, all-weather horses who tried turf races like the E. P Taylor Stakes (G1), as well as a few bona fide all-weather mainstays. In terms of pace, Blitz has to go, For Flying will probably press the issue, and Caitlinhergrtness Hurricane Clair, and perhaps even Avenue Niel may press the issue. On the return to the all-weather, that could give Literate a great trip from midpack. Toss the last—she was trying turf against top-level company, and she isn’t that kind of a turf horse. However, she scored two back at the Grade 3 level over this course and distance, getting the best of the classy Caitlinhergrtness after that one moved a little too early. Literate is a consistent performer on the Tapeta at Woodbine, with four wins and a second in six starts, and trainer Martin Drexler is not only a frequent Woodbine winner but also a positive-ROI bet in both graded races and turf-to-synthetic moves in the last three years.

Wild Pansy started her career as an okay turf horse, but in her last three starts has emerged as a much better runner on all-weather surfaces. The questions here are the layoff—she hasn’t raced since November—and the distance—since she cuts back from 1 3/16 lengths in her last two outings. However, trainer Kevin Attard is not only one of the top trainers on the grounds, but is one of the best at having a horse ready off the bench. She has been working regularly since early July; she shouldn’t get tied up in the pace, but shouldn’t be too far away either, and she gets the riding services of Rafael Hernandez. All this bodes well for her North American debut.

Race 9 - Woodbine Mile (G1), one mile on the inner turf - Gas Me Up, Notable Speech

FanDuel odds: 5-1 and 8-5

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Lightly-raced five-year-old Gas Me Up has found a new gear this year. He needed his seasonal debut, a fifth-place finish in a second-level allowance, but it was his first race in a year and only his second in almost three years, and he finished only two lengths beaten by Hunt Master, another horse in the Woodbine Mile field. Gas Me Up has won his next two, a second-level allowance at six furlongs and then the King Edward (G2), the one-mile prep. The Woodbine Mile will be two turns on the inner turf this year as opposed to one turn on the outer as the King Edward was, but he broke his maiden at the two-turn mile, so there’s precedent to handle it. He probably won’t get the same torrid pace he got last out, but he doesn’t have to drop that far back, and has been able to muster plenty of late run in less favorable circumstances to suggest he can be a late threat at a good price for Kevin Attard and jockey Flavien Prat, who returns from the King Edward.

Notable Speech is Charlie Appleby’s most live shipper of the weekend. Of course, the concern is that he hasn’t won in over a year, since the Sussex (G1) at Goodwood last year. However, he has been keeping proper Group 1 company since then: he was third beaten less than a length in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, fourth in both the Lockinge (G1) and Queen Anne (G1) this year, and most recently second by a head in the Prix Jacques le Marois (G1) behind Diego Velazquez. In short, he fits the profile of a horse who always shows up but always finds someone too good among the best of the best European grass horses—a recipe for success in North American Grade 1 races, particularly for Appleby. He is versatile enough to run a good race from anywhere in the pack and has done so for William Buick, who makes the trip to ride.

Race 10 - Vigil Stakes (G3), seven furlongs on the Tapeta - Twin City, Simcoe

FanDuel odds: 15-1 and 2-1

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Sometimes, muddled form can be the key to finding a good horse at an overlaid price, and so it is with Twin City. It’s not even like he comes into the Vigil off a bad race—he was a competitive third in the King Edward, a one-turn mile on the grass and the local prep for the Woodbine Mile. But, his two starts before that were not as good. He is hit-or-miss on the turf—but much better over the all-weather. He finished his season last year with a close third in a third-level allowance at the same course and distance as the Vigil, and then opened his season in May with a win at that same condition, course, and distance. He is a seven-furlong Tapeta horse, he has the tactical speed to work out a nice trio a few lengths behind the likely contested pace, and Keveh Nicholls sticks with him after last out instead of going back to his previous regular mount, Wicked Django. At the likely price, that’s more than enough to like.

Even though there are a few in the field who can show speed, Simcoe has the potent combination of sharp early speed and the ability to fight when challenged. There is a good chance he proves faster than horses like Hunt Master or Victory Achieved on the day. If that’s the case, he could be extremely difficult to reel in down the lane. And, if not? Simcoe has repeatedly been able to battle on the front end and keep going. The biggest question for him is distance, as he has only gone seven furlongs on the all-weather track once. However, he finished a credible second that day, he is a better horse than he was a year ago, and his long record of good form at 6 ½ furlongs usually bodes well for being able to handle seven furlongs.

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