EUREKA! GET READY FOR EURICO!!
from WOODBINE MEDIA – – Jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva, who sustained a slight fracture above his ankle after he was kicked by another horse during the running of the Cup and Saucer Stakes in October, has recovered from the injury and is working diligently towards his return to Woodbine in 2012.
“I’m in physiotherapy and my leg has responded very well,” said da Silva, who is still sporting a walking boot on his right ankle. “On January 10, I will be free from everything and I can start doing normal exercise.”
Da Silva suffered the injury in an unfortunate incident while aboard Aldous Snow in the Cup and Saucer. Moments after the gates opened in the mile and a sixteenth turf tilt, da Silva, who was racing at the rear of the pack, attempted to steer his horse around Secret Consultant who had broken down in the early going.
The rider was kicked by Secret Consultant and had to pull up his mount shortly afterward. Aldous Snow was not inured in the mishap, but Secret Consultant was humanely euthanized.
In the aftermath of the accident, da Silva steeled himself for the hard road ahead.
“At the hospital, I said to myself, ‘Don’t worry, it will make you stronger’,” he said.
Since leaving the racetrack, the 36-year-old da Silva has found that a chance to disconnect from the stress of a job, one he admittedly loves, has been good for his body and mind.
“I keep time for myself and enjoyed spending time with my wife and my dogs,” smiled da Silva. “Not one day was I upset. I could feel that my body needed this. It was the first time I disconnected from the races in years. Always when I wasn’t riding, I was watching races every day and following on the computer. Now, I’m living in the moment.”
Da Silva, who won the 2009 and 2010 Queen’s Plate with Eye of the Leopard and Big Red Mike, respectively, will return to Woodbine this Spring with a renewed vigor.
“The difference between Eurico before and Eurico in the future is I want to have fun,” he said. “I want to enjoy myself as much as I can. I think, before, I was too hard on myself to be good all the time. When I go back to Woodbine, I want to enjoy it as much as I can. If I don’t enjoy it, it will be my fault. I want to enjoy the horses.”
However, da Silva remains serious about winning, and nothing would make him happier than returning to the top of the Woodbine standings, a feat he achieved in 2010, en route to capturing his first Sovereign Award as Canada’s outstanding jockey.
Last year, da Silva won 125 races, including nine stakes, to rank fourth overall despite missing two months of the meet.
DIAMOND STRIPES – FROM GODOLPHIN MILE WIN to $5,000 claiming
Diamond Stripes – the 2008 Godolphin Mile winner, Pegasus Stakes winner, was claimed for $15,000 2 starts ago at Remington, ran back for $5,000 and lost by 28 lengths. He did not race for 2 years after his Godolphin Mile win. Vanessa Ng photo
http://www.dubairacenight.com/retire-diamond-stripes-please/
CASINO AND RACING – NEW YORK STYLE
By HUNTER ATKINS
The opening of Resorts World’s new neon-blazing casino at the graying 117-year-old Aqueduct Racetrack — the “racino” — is more of a culture clash than a gambling hybrid.
The horse-race handicappers, with their ancient rituals, still tend to crowd the track in Queens and its less-than-glamorous environs, enjoying the daylong ebb and flow of studying the daily racing form and waiting for bursts of thoroughbred action.
Then there are the newcomers: casino lovers flocking to an array of 2,500 glowing monitors and electronic table games, and feverishly depositing dollar after dollar in hopes of an instant jackpot.
And so while the racetrack clubhouse is physically connected to the new casino, there’s not a whole lot of cross-pollination among the clientele.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/sports/at-aqueduct-clubhouse-and-casino-are-different-turfs.html?_r=1
RACING POST – 4 JOCKEYS GUILTY
Four jockeys found guilty of corruption by BHA
By Bruce Jackson
JOCKEYS Paul Doe, Greg Fairley, Kirsty Milczarek and Jimmy Quinn have been banned for a combined total of over 26 years after being found in breach of the BHA’s corruption rules.
Doe and Fairley, who were found guilty of committing the most serious offence of not riding a horse to its merits along with breaching two other rules, were banned for 12 years each. Both quit the saddle earlier this year.
Milczarek has been hit with a two-year ban for passing on information for reward and committing fraudulent or corrupt practice, while Quinn received a six-month ban for his part in the conspiracy.
HERE AND THERE :
*PEACE AND JOY – a 12-year-old, is in action at Buelah tomorrow. The son of Hunting Hard has won 29 of 120 races and $337,355 and his best Beyer Figure was 103, earnings in 2003.
Peace and Joy began his career in 2002 and he was racing at Woodbine for trainers Mike Mattine and Scott Fairlie in 2004.
*SCOTT FAIRLIE won the 1st race at Parx yesterday with the Florida bred KALAMBAKA QUEEN. The 3yo filly won the $10,000 claiming race over 5 rivals and was not claimed (2 fillies in the race were claimed). She paid $4.20 to win.
*rom THOROUGHBRED DAILY NEWS: 8th-MNR, $20,200, 12-13, NW2L, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f,
1:08 3/5, ft. MISS SILVER BULETT (f, 2, Silver Train–Northernset, by Vice Regent) Lifetime Record: 8-2-1-1, $31,942. O-Steve Gilmour & Steve Johnson. B-Dr Paul O’Brien (ON). T-Paula Loescher. *C$7,000 yrl ’10 ONTSEP.
Sold by CARA BLOODSTOCK (Bernard McCormack)
