Little Teddy seeks fourth straight win in Woodbine's Ballade Stakes

Little Teddy carried a three-race stakes streak into the $100,000 Ballade at Woodbine, and the sharpest question around the six-furlong test was whether anyone could force her into a pace fight before the stretch. The Santino Di Paola trainee was trying to add a fourth straight stakes victory against nine Ontario-sired fillies and mares 4 and older.

She did not arrive as a one-run wonder. Little Teddy was last year’s Sovereign Award winner as Canada’s Champion Female Sprinter, and her 4-2-0 record from six starts in 2025 showed a mare who had already done more than just flash current form. Her wins in the Zadracarta Stakes and Eternal Search Stakes mattered because they proved she could carry that speed against stakes company, not just in softer spots.

The mare’s pedigree only sharpened the case. The 5-year-old daughter of Frac Daddy out of the Silent Name mare Explosive Leah had the sort of speed that plays in Woodbine sprints, but the Ballade’s full field made the trip less forgiving than a quick glance at the past performances might suggest. A clean lead, or a stalk just off a measured pace, would put her in the best position. A messy opening quarter would make the race far more dangerous.

That pace scenario was the main path to an upset. If one or two rivals committed early and turned the Ballade into a drag race, Little Teddy would have been asked to do her best work while still defending position through the final furlong. In a field of nine, the difference between control and congestion can be the whole story, especially in a six-furlong stakes where every length disappears fast.

The Ontario-sired condition gave the race added weight for the local program, and Little Teddy stood at the center of it as both the benchmark and the horse to beat. She came in as the division’s standard-bearer, with championship credentials already in hand and enough current form to make another stakes line look like the logical next step.