Thoroughblog will update later on the fields, odds and posts for the big races on the weekend…the ‘Blog apologizes for light coverage this week due to personal circumstances…
SMILE FOR A MILE
WOODBINE MILE DRAW TODAY!
Watch on the Woodbine Website starting at Noon
Artic Fern/Gustav Schickedanz/Mike Keogh/Justin Stein
Big Band Sound/Kendel Standlee/Dan Vella/Tyler Pizarro
Cityscape/Juddmonte Farms/Roger Charlton/James Doyle
Dance And Dance/Mohammed Rashid/Ed Vaughan/Garrett Gomez
Hollinger/Robert Harvey & Al Wortzman/Roger Attfield/Alex Solis
Hunters Bay/Stronach Stables/Reade Baker/Emma-Jayne Wilson
Riding the River/Dominion Bloodstock, HGHR & Linmac Farms/Dave Cotey/Todd Kabel
Wise Dan/Morton Fink/Charles Lopresti/John Velazquez
Worthadd/Diego Romeo/Sir Mark Prescott/Luis Contreras
Will it be one more Mile for trainer Charles Lopresti?
The personable American trainer cam einto town with a won of a Canadian star last year, TURALLURE, and won the Woodbine Mile. The grey colt was a popular winner.
With that guy on the shelf, Lopresti has another guy for the big race, and this one is even better.
WISE DAN, with an obscure pedigree, races for his breeder Morton Fink and he has posted some of the highest Beyer Figures of any horse in recent years.
ALL SURFACES, TOP BEYERS OVER 1 MILE
(A – all weather)
Wise Dan (A) KEE 22 Apr 1 1/8M 117
Game On Dude (A) BHP 02 Jun 1 1/8M 116
Nates Mineshaft FG 01 Apr 1 1/8M 113
Dullahan (A) DMR 26 Aug 1 1/4M 111
Fort Larned SAR 04 Aug 1 1/8M 110
Game On Dude (A) DMR 26 Aug 1 1/4M 110
Royal Delta (f) CD 16 Jun 1 1/8M 110
Successful Dan CD 04 May 1 1/16M 110
Bodemeister PIM 19 May 1 3/16M 109
TOP TURF BEYERS 2012
Wise Dan SAR 11 Aug 1M 109
Mr. Commons DMR 26 Aug 1M 105
Obviously (IRE) DMR 26 Aug 1M 105
Turbo Compressor GP 18 Mar 1 1/16M 105
Point of Entry SAR 18 Aug 1 1/2M 104
Winter Memories (f) SAR 28 Jul 1 1/8M 104
Fiddlers Patriot SAR 21 Jul 5 1/2F 103
Zagora (FR) (f) SAR 25 Aug 1 1/16M 103
Little Mike AP 18 Aug 1 1/4M 102
Little Mike CD 05 May 1 1/8M 102
Obviously (IRE) DMR 02 Aug 1M 102
Woodbine Notes:
‘WISE’ GUY HORSE IS READY FOR THE MILE
The well-regarded Wise Dan is expected to go to post as the favourite in Sunday’s Grade 1, $1-million Ricoh Woodbine Mile.
The Charles Lopresti trainee arrives at the Mile off a spectacular five-length score, engineered by John Velazquez, in the one-mile Grade 2 Fourstardave at Saratoga, over a yielding turf course, a race Lopresti wasn’t sure he had won at the top of the lane.
With Get Stormy leading the field into the stretch and Corporate Jungle looming large with a three-wide rally, a patient Velazquez, riding the rail behind the leader, waited till the last possible moment for the rail to open up and surged home a resounding winner.
“Around the turn, I thought maybe he was backing off of it a little bit and those other horses were going to kick on and he wasn’t going to kick on,” said Lopresti. “But, when he came back, Johnny (Velazquez) said, ‘I bet you were about to kill me around the turn down the backside’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I didn’t know what was going on.’ He said, ‘That was just me taking him back, I wanted him to make one run.’”
The five-year-old gelding has come a long way since his February 26, 2010 debut when fifth in an $18,000 maiden special weight at Turfway Park. The poor result surprised Lopresti.
“I liked him from way before the first time we ran him,” admitted Lopresti. “He’d been showing brilliance in the morning. I really thought he would win first time out and I was a little disappointed that he didn’t, but then we brought him back and he broke his maiden by 15 lengths and the rest was history.”
Although a graded winner on multiple surfaces, Lopresti might still be a bit undecided which ground suits his star pupil best.
“I do think he is better on synthetic and grass but he’s pretty good on the dirt as well…and an off track,” said Lopresti, of the talented gelding.
Lopresti, who won the Mile last year with Turallure, hopes that Velazquez, recently inducted into the U.S. Horse Racing Hall of Fame, can continue his recent good form at Woodbine, which includes a memorable win in the E.P. Taylor, last year, with Miss Keller.
LEADING CANADIAN 2YO SIRES
By Progeny earnings
Sire Starters Wnrs Earnings
Storm Victory 11 4 $216,929
Old Forester 8 1 $155,855
Milwaukee Brew 16 7 127,398
Tomahawk 11 3 $117,191
Quest 5 3 4 $114,382
Finality 6 4 5 $103,165
Bold Executive 10 2 $93,249
Trajectory 9 3 $91,490
Cape Canaveral 12 5 $91,096
Marcavelly 14 1 $86,484
