Klawervlei Stud’s four time G1 winning sire Twice Over gained yet another boost to his remarkable pedigree when his relative, Yoshida, won the G1 Woodward Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets at Saratoga on Saturday.
Trying the dirt for a first time, the Bill Mott trained Yoshida saved ground most of the way from post 1, moved off the rail around the far turn and made a nine-wide rally entering the stretch. Full of run through the lane, Yoshida inhaled the leaders late and won by two lengths in a time of 1:48.94 for nine furlongs on a fast track.
Winning rider Joel Rosario said: “I was just a passenger. He was taking very nice to the dirt, and he liked it early on. Turning for home, he was there for me, and he kept going
It was a second career G1 victory for the Japanese bred Yoshida (by Heart’s Cry), who had previously captured May’s G1 Old Forester Turf Classic Stakes (on turf) at Churchill Downs.
Saturday’s win pushed the four-year-old’s earnings to $1 269 700.
He has now won five of 11 outings, with Yoshida’s previous wins including the 2017 G3 Hill Prince Stakes.
Yoshida, who is out of G1 Ballerina Stakes winner Hilda’s Passion, is directly descended from the mare Lost Virtue –who is third dam of Twice Over!
Remarkably, the Woodward’s fifth place finisher Patch is another from this family, with Patch’s fifth dam being Lost Virtue.
One of North America’s truly great races, the Woodward had previously been won by the likes of Gun Runner, Curlin, Rachel Alexandra, Mineshaft, Cigar (twice), Skip Away, Kelso (3 times), Forego (4 times), Holy Bull, Seattle Slew and Affirmed.
Twice Over has been in the news of late thanks to his first crop G1 Vodacom Durban July winning son Do It Again, who claimed Cape award glory (he was Cape Racing’s 3YO Male of the Year and Cape Breeders’ Middle Distance Horse Of The Year), the Equus Award for Champion 3YO Colt/Gelding, and was recently crowned KZN Racing’s Horse Of The Year for the 2017-2018 season.
A European champion who earned more than £2 million in stakes, Twice Over won or placed in all of the G1 Champion Stakes, G1 Coral-Eclipse, G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic, G1 Juddmonte International, G1 Lockinge Stakes, G1 St James’s Palace Stakes, G1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and G1 Irish Champion Stakes.