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2026 Grey Stakes and Mazarine Stakes Results

Speaker's Speech and jockey Rafael Hernandez head to the winner's circle after the Grey Stakes.

The first Sunday in November Woodbine traditionally runs its two premier races for juveniles, which heavily influence voting for the Sovereign Awards. Unlike the Coronation Futurity and Princess Elizabeth Stakes, which determine next year's King's Plate and Woodbine Oaks early favorites, these races are graded and thus are not restricted to Canadian-breds. Conditions were excellent in Southern Ontario for the return to Eastern Standard Time, with partly cloudy skies and an afternoon high temperature of 18 C (64 F).

A field of seven 2-year-olds went to post in the $175,000 bet365 Grey Stakes (G3), carded at 1 1/16 miles on the Tapeta main track. Play It Again was

Speaker's Speech leads down the stretch.

sent off as the 3-2 favorite off his disappointing 6th place finish in the Summer Stakes (G1) on the turf after breaking his maiden at third asking at Ellis Park in August. In to challenge him included 5-2 second choice Speaker's Speech, off a close second in the Soaring Free Stakes before finishing third in the Algonquin (G3), and 9-2 third choice Freedom Hall, off a 2 race win streak by open lengths.

Jockey Rafael Hernandez sent Speaker's Speech to the lead first time by and he set fractions of 23.75, 49.08, and 1:13.49 while pressed by Freedom Hall and stalked by Play It Again. Turning for home Speaker's Speech continued to lead through 1 mile in 1:37.96, and easily held off Play It Again to win by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:44.55. It was a long 3 1/2 lengths back to 17-2 Okarito third.

Pgm Horse Jockey Win Place Show 2 Speaker's Speech Hernandez 7.20 3.80 3.10 1 Play It Again Aebly 2.90 2.50 6 Okarito Munger 3.50 Winning Time: 1:44.55 $1 Exacta 2-1 9.60 $2 Trifecta 2-1-6 83.10 $2 Superfecta 2-1-6-7 283.10 Results Chart

Left: Speaker's Speech in the winner's circle. Winning jockey Rafael Hernandez said, "First time he was just walking out of there. Second time he started to realize what it’s meant to be. And today he just broke right on the top and he impressed me."

Right: Speaker's Speech in the paddock. Hernandez added, "I don't expect to be in the lead. I thought the shipper (Freedom Hall) was going to get the lead. On paper it looked like he was the most, the best of speed. And my plan was going to be tracking him."

Left: Second place finisher and beaten favorite Play It Again in the post parade. The Mark Casse trainee improved his record to 1 win, 1 second, and 1 third in 5 starts, earning $100,289 for owner Gold Standard Racing Stable.

Right: Third place finisher Okarito in the paddock. The Eoin Harty trainee improved his record to 1 wins, 0 seconds, and 1 third in 3 starts, earning $83,610 for owner-breeder Godolphin.

The horses break from the gate for the Grey Stakes.

Sunday Finery wins the Mazarine Stakes.

Jockey Jose Campos sent Mrs D to the lead first time by through fractions of 23.66, 48.36, and 1:12.60 while pressed by 8-1 longest shot Mo Cookie and stalked by Epic Affair. Into the stretch Mrs D tired as 7-2 fourth choice Sunday Finery, last early, came through on the rail to gain the lead through 1 mile in 1:37.77. Kept to task by Sahin Civaci, Sunday Finery drew off to win by 6 3/4 lengths over Mrs D in 1:44.29. It was another 3 1/2 lengths back to Epic Affair third.

Results Chart

Left: Sunday Finery in the winner's circle. Winning trainer James Begg said, "We always kind of thought she was a two-turn horse. When she was showing up in her earlier races, we were happy because we always felt like there was, it was kind of the next level would be going further, with her breeding and everything and also just the way she looked and trained."

Right: Sunday Finery heads to the winner's circle. Asked if she would go next in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes on November 28 since she is Ontario-bred, Begg added, "As long as everything comes out right that's kind of how we had planned that initially because we were looking at that race and we kind of saw that timing on this race kind of set up okay for that race so that was kind of the that's always kind of been the goal for the end of the season with her.”

Left: Second place finisher and beaten favorite Mrs D heads returns after the race. The Steve Chircop trainee improved her record to 2 wins, 2 seconds, and 1 third in 5 starts, earning $191,088 for owner JDLP Holdings Inc.

Right: Third place finisher Epic Affair in the paddock. The Gail Cox trainee improved her record to 1 win, 1 seconds, and 2 thirds in 5 starts, earning $74,313 for owners John Menary and Gail Cox.

The fillies break from the gate for the Mazarine Stakes.

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