Royal North Stakes – GIII
$150.00 – For Fillies And Mares Four Years Old And Upward
7 1/2 Furlongs – Turf
Woodbine Racetrack – June 27, 2026

This weekend our eyes turn northward where Woodbine Racetrack is hosting a series of graded stakes races The Royal North Stakes is among the stakes kicking off the summer season at the Canadian track and it finds eight fillies and mares vying for the graded stakes win and some notoriety in the turf sprint category with the seven-and-a-half-furlong distance barely qualifying for that designation. This will be the twentieth running of the race and it featured Fun Dip on the rail who has proved to be victorious the last two years in this race and is seeking a rare threepeat. It is worth noting that Fun Dip has won the last two runnings at six and a half furlongs. This added furlong is the first time the Royal North will be run at this distance. 

1. Fun Dip (Jokerjoes/S. Chernetz) Multiple stakes winner has two graded stakes victories on her resume both of which were the Royal North in 2024 and 2025. She can carry her speed longer and she is coming into this race off of two straight allowance wins. The six-year-old steps back up into stakes company and seeks to earn three in a row at a place she obviously really loves. 

2. Code Red And Ready (Ajm Stables/K. Nicholls) Five-year-old mare is seeking her first stakes win but the connections have to be encouraged by her last two races where she put in two very good efforts and came close in both G2 turf sprints. Her last three races have also produced the top three SRF figures of her career, so she comes into the race in her best ever form. This will be her longest race since being acquired at auction last December, but she has won going longer for previous owners.

3. Grand Design (Bigchief Stables/W.T. Buick) She earned her fist stakes win in her last race routing on wet grass at Monmouth in her last race. She has been a model of consistency throughout her career. Most of her races have been against lower levels of competition but that last race and stakes win show she has some class and is able to step up. Can she step up again against graded foes?

4. Solliloquy Sunset (Nakamura Stables/D. Moran) Four-year-old Nakamura homebred filly has already banked over $3,000.00 in her career and boasts wins in four G1 races included a Breeders Cup win and last year’s G1 Alabama at Saratoga. The bad news for her connections and fans is that she has yet to hit the board in four starts in 2026. A cutback to an allowance sprint in her last races failed to wake her up and she now switches to grass hoping to find her old form. She won her only turf race when she won The Colleen Stakes at Monmouth as a two year old so this might be an effective move. 

5. Memphis Reins (Williams9/P. Moran) She followed up a WV bred stakes win with a G3 win in the Bessararabian Stakes but those wins were two years ago. She has been showing good form so far in 2026 finishing in the money in four of her five races mostly in allowance company. She did turn in a good third in The Roxelana at Churchill Downs in late April. She moved to the grass in her last race and ran a solid second but will meet tougher today and has to find maybe one more gear. 

6. Mo Ki Mo (John Henry/L. Salles) One of the more accomplished mares in the field she is a graded stakes winner and has amassed $1,340.49 in earnings. She has a turf sprint stake win to her credit this season but has not yet been asked to race more than five furlongs in 2026. Her off the pace style might find the added distance to her liking. She is seeking her first graded stakes win since 2024.

7. Legendary (Black N Gold Stable/D. Bynoe) She has been on the board in all three starts this year and has placed nine times in her eleven lifetime starts. She has shown great consistency and competitiveness against lesser competition but steps up today to make her stakes debut. She is working well and gets her class test today. 

8. Fairy Godmother (Greyhound/E.J. Wilson) She was purchased for $200.00 last September and won her first stakes race in her first start out for her new barn. She has not found the winner’s circle in four subsequent starts but those races have all been in graded stakes races where she has proven she can compete, finishing second in two of those. She cuts back slightly today but I don’t see that making much of a difference although her stakes win was at this very distance.

She draws the rail and is going for three in a row so the pick has to be Fun Dip. Code Red And Ready seems to be in top form right now so make her second pick followed by Memphis Reins and Grand Design.

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES