![\"Watsonville](\"https:\/\/woodbine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC_3056.jpg\")
<\/a>Watsonville Red and jockey Leo Salles winning Race 6 on May 16, 2025 at Woodbine (Michael Burns Photo)<\/p>\nIn rein to Leo Salles, the son of Hard Spun out of the Awesome Again mare Ice Festival surged by late to notch a half-length score at 28-1 in the 1 1\/16-mile main track maiden special weight race.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery happy with the effort,\u201d said De Paulo. \u201cHe just kept coming and coming. He finished strong and galloped out well. Leo was thrilled with how he ran. He thinks he\u2019s progressing nicely. He has had plenty of time between races and he\u2019s coming into the Marine in great shape.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watsonville Red debuted last August in a one-mile race on the Woodbine inner turf and crossed the wire fifth, 5 \u00be lengths behind the winner.<\/p>\n
The bay gelding, bred in Ontario by Adena Springs, then finished eighth, fifth, and sixth \u2013 all on the Toronto oval main track \u2013 in his other three 2-year-old starts, before heading to Gulfstream for the winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe gelded him over the winter because he just didn\u2019t seem to have that focus you need,\u201d said De Paulo. \u201cThere is always that old clich\u00e9 of horses putting on weight and growing mentally, from year to year, which he has.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his first start of 2025, a one-mile affair on the Gulfstream turf, Watsonville Red finished seventh at 55-1.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were trying to race him on the Polytrack in Florida, but the race didn\u2019t go, so we went on the grass instead. But I don\u2019t think the inner turf is what brings out the best in him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watsonville Red posted a series of works ahead of the Marine, including five furlongs in :59.40 on the main track on June 14 and a four-furlong breeze in :50.0 over the same ground on June 21.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s generally not a big work horse,\u201d noted De Paulo. \u201cA couple of works ago (June 14), he worked in company, and he worked fast. The most recent breeze, he was working by himself, and we didn\u2019t want him to go as fast. He\u2019s a laid-back dude.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal is for Watsonville Red to contest The King\u2019s Plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the objective, to get there. I think he is one of those horses that keeps coming. With Stanley House (third in the 2023 Plate), we were hoping to win. With this horse, we are just looking to have a chance. We\u2019re excited. I think his strength is that he\u2019s a stayer. If you have a Canadian-bred, who is fit, happy and can run long, you\u2019ve got a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watsonville Red was purchased for $65,000 at the 2023 Keeneland Association September Yearling Sale.<\/p>\n
Joseph De Paulo is the groom.<\/p>\n
Other starters include multiple stakes winner Scorching, who will make his 3-year-old debut, multiple stakes winner Mansetti, and Church and State, winner of this year\u2019s King Corrie Stakes.<\/p>\n
First post is 1:05 p.m. The wagering menu for the Marine includes Rolling Double, Exacta, 0.20 Trifecta, 0.20 Superfecta, 0.20 Pick 3 (Races 5-6-7), 0.20 Jackpot Power PK6 (Race 5-6-7-8-9-10) and $1 Swinger.<\/p>\n
Field for the $150,000 Marine Stakes (G3) \u2013 Race 5<\/strong><\/p>\n Post \u2013 Horse \u2013 Jockey \u2013 Trainer<\/p>\n 1 \u2013 War Signal (S) \u2013 Sofia Vives \u2013 Mark Casse<\/p>\n 2 \u2013 Church and State \u2013 Emma-Jayne Wilson \u2013 Dale Desruisseaux<\/p>\n 3 \u2013 Scorching \u2013 Dylan Davis \u2013 John Charalambous<\/p>\n 4 \u2013 Sedburys Ghost (S) \u2013 Ryan Munger \u2013 Barb Minshall<\/p>\n 5 \u2013 Mansetti \u2013 Pietro Moran \u2013 Kevin Attard<\/p>\n 6 \u2013 Megalodon \u2013 Rafael Hernandez \u2013 Josie Carroll<\/p>\n 7 \u2013 Watsonville Red \u2013 Leo Salles \u2013 Mike De Paulo<\/p>\n Chris Lomon, Woodbine<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO, June 25, 2025 \u2013 King\u2019s Plate hopeful Watsonville Red steps into the stakes arena in Saturday\u2019s $150,000…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-214318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114746457108129769","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}