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<\/a>Little Teddy and jockey Austin Adams winning Race 7 on May 29, 2025 at Woodbine (Michael Burns Photo)<\/p>\n\u201cI think both races were impressive, especially because of the competition,\u201d said Di Paola. \u201cI would say the most recent win was especially impressive because of how fast she ran and how she kept that speed going. The final time was what you would see in a graded stakes race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little Teddy breezed four furlongs over the Woodbine training track on Sunday, covering the distance in :49.20.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more you do with her, the better,\u201d said Di Paola. \u201cI took the six weeks in between races \u2013 that was always the plan \u2013 to freshen her up. Her first work back is always blazing quick. She just wants to get out and go. We were thrilled with the most recent work. She is just a very cool horse. She listens very, very well. She has grown leaps and bounds, mentally and physically, from last year to this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormally, I have my horses walk four to five turns, just to warm them up, make sure the tack isn\u2019t slipping \u2013 those types of things before they work. She takes one half-spin, and we go because she is kicking down the walls. She knows when it\u2019s breeze day. But it\u2019s funny because when Austin [jockey, Adams] gets on her, she goes totally calm. He knows her well and they get along.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a seventh to launch her career in 2023,\u00a0Little Teddy\u00a0won next time out, at 48-1, before concluding her 2-year-old campaign with a third in the Shady Well Stakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t know what we had heading into the first race,\u201d recalled Di Paola. \u201cWe were hoping she would be decent. After that first one, she really turned a corner. I remember the exact work where everything changed. She was working with another horse of ours, Lady in Red, on the dirt, and they went in :47 and change. The jock was just sitting on Teddy. That was the moment we knew we had a good one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little Teddy delivered her connections with a treasured victory in last year\u2019s Georgian Bay Stakes. In what was her first test on turf, she emerged a neck winner in the five-furlong sprint over the Woodbine inner turf.<\/p>\n
It was the first Woodbine stakes crown for owner York Tech Racing Stable, nom du course of Di Paola\u2019s parents, Carmen and Raffaela Di Paola.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has helped me as a trainer in so many ways,\u201d said Di Paola. \u201cEverything that we have asked of her, she has done it and done it willingly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conditioner, currently nursing a lower-body injury, has had a helping hand from his brother, groom Joey Di Paola.<\/p>\n