ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Excuses are a dime a dozen in racing, but Times a Breeze has had his share of them. The 5-year-old could graduate in Thursday’s seventh race at Woodbine if things go his way in the 1 1/16-mile maiden special, which carries a base purse of $71,800. Trained by Josie Carroll for Hopefield Farm, Times a Breeze began slowly before closing outside for fourth when moving out to a route in his improved second start off the bench June 23. Six weeks later, he ran against a speed bias on the Tapeta and made up some ground to finish fourth, 1 1/2 lengths back of victorious Wyoming Bill. Most recently, Times a Breeze was beaten a pole in a 1 1/4-mile maiden special on the main turf while seemingly not fond of the giving ground and distance. Times a Breeze goes back to the Tapeta on Thursday with the gifted Kazushi Kimura aboard. Woodbine’s former leading rider is 4 for 25 at the meet for Carroll, who sent the gelding out to breeze regularly leading up to this engagement, including a half-mile in a quick 47.80 seconds on Oct. 5. Leading trainer Mark Casse runs the underachiever Stoke the Fire, who has number of improvement angles going for him, including first-time blinkers, second-time gelding, and a surface change. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Casse has decent numbers when going turf to synthetic, and Stoke the Fire is by the good 15 percent synthetic sire Constitution, who sired the Casse-trained millionaire Webslinger. Rideau Hall brings improving turf form to this event and wouldn’t be much of a surprise. His best of two Tapeta races was a distant second to the upwardly mobile Playmea Tune in his six-furlong debut in May. The son of Palace Music rallied for a lapped-on second last out in a one-mile maiden special on the main turf. Eswan Flores will ride him again for trainer Stuart Simon. Trainer Layne Giliforte entered the Chiefswood Stables homebreds Raymore and English Actor. Raymore made both of his starts earlier in the summer in a pair of main-turf sprints, the best of which was a fifth-place finish. His sire, Outwork, has gotten 14 percent synthetic route winners and the average winning distance of his progeny is 6.6 furlongs. English Actor is by the 8 percent first-out sire English Channel, who is best known for producing late-developing grass runners such as Channel Maker and War Like Goddess. English Actor’s dam was a Grade 2-winning grass expert who dropped three winners from seven turf starters, including the stakes-places runners Ambitious Moon and Cool Faith. Tutti Confetti was a minor player in two of his three Tapeta races. Trainer Robert Tiller is taking the blinkers off the son of Catholic Boy for his first two-turn Tapeta start after working him a quick five-eighths in 1:00.20 on the main track last Thursday. Rounding out the field is Beyond Adversity, who only managed to hit the board once in 11 maiden special weight starts. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.