Hall of Fame trainer Attfield chases 10th career Breeders’ Stakes win with Ciunas

TORONTO — It might not be as prestigious as the Triple Crown but trainer Roger Attfield will look to achieve yet another career milestone Sunday in the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes.

Attfield, a Hall of Fame conditioner in Canada and the U.S., will chase a 10th Breeders Stakes crown at Woodbine Racetrack. Attfield has already won this event more than any other trainer but will look to reach double digits with Ciunas, who’ll be ridden by Sahin Civaci and break from the No. 4 post in the nine-horse race.

Ciunas heads into his first stakes race off two solid wins — one on Woodbine’s main track, the other on its inner turf circuit. Ciunas, sent off as the 5-2 choice in a 6 1/2-furlong event July 6, rallied from last to top the 11-horse field by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:17.65.

“He has a powerful late kick,” said Attfield. “That’s the way we kind of want him to run.”

The 1 1/2-mile Breeders’ Stakes turf race will provide Ciunas and the other horses in the field with a very solid test. But in his most recent effort, over 1 1/16 miles on grass, Ciunas once again came on strong to earn a one-length win in 1:44.44 over firm ground.

“He relaxed early in the race, and he came with his run very effectively,” said Attfield. “That’s what we have been looking for from him and that is what he has shown in both races.

“He can settle well at the start and then put in that nice run at the end.”

The race field with post, horse and jockey, includes: 1) Scat Girl, Daisuke Fukumoto; 2) D’aurum, Pietro Moran; 3) Borealis Trail, Jose Campos; 4) Ciunas, Civaci; 5) Aristella, Patrick Husbands; 6) Watsonville Red, Leo Salles; 7) Faber, Moran; 8) Sedburys Ghost, Ryan Munger; and 9) Tom’s Magic, Rafael Hernandez.

Neither Mansetti (King’s Plate winner) nor Runaway Again (Prince of Wales champion) will run Sunday.

But Kevin Attard — Mansetti’s trainer — will have two horse in the Breeders’ Stakes, Faber and D’aurum. Moran, who rode Mansetti in the Plate, will be aboard either Faber or D’aurum on Sunday.

The affable Attfield, 85, gained induction into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1999 before going into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 2012. Attfield recollects how Ciunas first caught the celebrated trainer’s attention.

“He caught my eye right from when we started breezing him, actually,” said Attfield. “He always looked like a nice horse, and he’s done everything right so far.

“He’s coming along very nicely. This is a big step up, but from everything I have seen of him, he should enjoy the mile and a half. That’s why we nominated him for this race.”

Attfield has been named Canada’s top trainer eight times and his stellar resume includes a record-tying eight King’s Plate wins and three OLG Canadian Triple Crown titles, With Approval in 1989, Izvestia in 1990 and Peteski in 1993.

He earned his first Breeders’ Stakes victory in 1986 with Carotene, with the last coming in 2015 with Danish Dynaformer. Attfield is expecting another strong effort from Ciunas on Sunday.

“He has worked extremely well,” Attfield said. “He worked faster than I wanted him to go this past weekend, but he did it within himself.

“I had to be pleased with that, and his gallop out was very good. It put the green light on as far as the decision for the weekend.”

Trainer Rachel Halden will send two horses postward Sunday with Borealis Trail and filly Aristella. The latter will be ridden by veteran jockey Husbands, who in 2003 rode Wando, the last horse to win Canada’s Triple Crown.

Last year, Halden conditioned the first- and second-place horses in the Breeders’ Stakes with Roscar and Saccharine, respectively. Aristella won the $250,000 Wonder Where Stakes, third leg of the Canadian Triple Tiara, on Sept. 6.

“We knew it was going to be a tough race, but she was doing so well coming into the race and we felt she deserved to be there,” said Halden. “It was a great effort and she has come out of it very well.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2025.