In rattling off three dirt wins in his first five starts as a 4-year-old in 2025, Jokestar looked like a horse who was superior on dirt compared to synthetic, the surface on which he largely competed as a 3-year-old.
But maybe with age, he's just gotten better altogether.
Shifted back to synthetic to compete in the Nov. 8 Autumn Stakes (G3) at Woodbine, he ran a career-best 107 Equibase Speed Figure in rallying to finish second in the 1 1/8-mile race on Tapeta to multiple graded stakes winner Dresden Row.
Jokestar will look to finish one spot better Dec. 6, this time when he battles Tosen Wish and seven others in the CA$150,000 Valedictory Stakes (G3). Dresden Row will not contest this lengthy 1 1/2-mile race on Woodbine's synthetic main track.
Jokestar, a 4-year-old gelded son of Practical Joke , has scored all his victories in shorter routes. In his two longest races of his 17-race career, he ran fifth in the 2024 King's Plate Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on Tapeta and sixth in the 2024 Breeders' Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf.
Reflecting on Jokestar's Autumn Stakes second-place finish, trainer Kevin Attard said, "Very, very impressed with the way he closed. He was well out of it at one point, but he just kept on coming."
Video: HPIbet Autumn S. (G3)
Rafael Hernandez rides the late runner for Attard and Minnesota owners Al and Bill Ulwelling. Attard also runs a pair of 3-year-olds, Zabo and Hammerhead, for other connections.
Lanni Bloodstock and Lou Donato's Zabo has a pair of wins and a third in his last three outings, including a three-quarter-length score at 1 3/8 miles on the inner turf Oct. 25 at Woodbine. The rail-drawn Justify gelding steps up in class from the first-level allowance optional claiming ranks.
"He has really turned things around," Attard said. "He bobbled at the start last time, which he also did when he was third the race before, but he recovered quickly and settled into a nice stride. He went to the front and looked very comfortable throughout. He still had plenty in the tank down the lane and kept on running."
Gold Square's Hammerhead, a War Front colt taking on older rivals, finished second to his stablemate in that 1 3/8-mile inner turf contest Oct. 25. He is 1-4-2 in 12 races.
"The half-empty view would be that he has one win, but the half-full view would say he's finished in the top three in seven of his 12 races," Attard said.
The opposition is headed by Team Valor International's Tosen Wish, a last-out third-level allowance optional claiming winner and grade-3 placed on turf for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse.
Casse has won the past four editions of the Valedictory, one of which was a dead-heat victory in the 2022 running.
Woodbine, Saturday, December 6, 2025, Race 10Entries: bet 365 Valedictory S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Zabo (NY) Ryan Munger 119 Kevin Attard - 2 Passing Game (KY) Austin Adams 120 Richard J. Hendriks - 3 Hammerhead (KY) Daisuke Fukumoto 118 Kevin Attard - 4 Lost Ark (KY) Emma-Jayne Wilson 120 Krista Cole - 5 Tosen Wish (IRE) Fraser Aebly 121 Mark E. Casse - 6 Cool Kiss (ON) Eswan Flores 122 Martin Drexler - 7 Eff Thirty Five (PA) Keveh Nicholls 120 Brittany T. Russell - 8 Junipero Serra (KY) Leo Salles 120 Martin Drexler - 9 Jokestar (ON) Rafael Manuel Hernandez 120 Kevin Attard -
