CANADIAN DERBY DRAW!
Stylish Citizen 8 to 5 (!!)
WOODBINE SHIPPER STYLISH CITIZEN is 8 to 5 for the Canadian Derby at Northlands Park on Saturday.
The Proud Citizen fellow, winner of the Charlie Barley Stakes on the Polytrack, will be ridden by Jim McAleney for owners Max Berketa and Joe Boughton, trainer John Ross.
The draw was live on the NORTHLANDS PARK website today…
QUOTES FROM THE DRAW (as I heard them)
SCOREWITHCATER – 3rd Swaps Stakes in California:
“He trained very well this morning,” said Jim Maayard, trainer of Scorewithcater.
“Felipe the groom said he thought it was the best the horse has trained in a long time. Doug told me one thing, the horse is a warrior.
“He looks like he lays 4 or 5 off them so the post should be okay.”
1 Mr. Shadar
2 Theglow
3 It Happened Again
4 Tease The Tiger
5 Stylish Citizen
6 Tommy Danzigger
7 Scorewithcater
8 Quiet Approach
9 Cool Diablo
10 Almost Time
11 Bronze Barbarian
12 Crowned Royal
WOODBINE SCOREBOARD
TRAINERS
Sid C. Attard 142 33 21 18 $1,494,522
Mark E. Casse 199 31 34 25 $2,423,968
Steve Asmussen 133 29 21 17 $1,149,367
Malcolm Pierce 120 27 14 15 $2,048,938
Robert. Tiller 189 26 35 24 $1,230,313
Terry Jordan 59 26 7 10 $998,054
Nick Gonzalez 150 23 18 18 $1,202,721
Roger Attfield 93 23 16 10 $1,699,443
Josie Carroll 101 23 15 21 $1,482,351
Reade Baker 173 21 26 28 $1,293,563
Scott Fairlie 163 20 24 29 $1,500,766
JOCKEYS
Patrick Husbands 524 97 92 84 $5,976,542
Chantal Sutherland 496 73 78 77 $4,114,559
James McAleney 335 67 43 51 $3,378,273
Emile Ramsammy 430 65 51 53 $2,905,392
Eurico Rosa Da Silva 373 61 58 44 $4,156,546
Tyler Pizarro 397 57 61 51 $3,022,840
Emma-Jayne Wilson 479 53 71 61 $3,213,583
Luis Contreras 166 36 26 21 $1,521,916
Todd Kabel 195 34 20 13 $1,580,135
Justin Stein 354 32 40 34 $1,539,795
Jono C. Jones 268 22 26 32 $1,829,235
FORT ERIE TRAINERS
Trainer Nick Gonzalez won 6 races in the last 2 cards at Fort Erie.
Nick Gonzalez 110 32 21 20 $296,888
Michael Newell 175 23 22 28 $254,643
John Simms 90 23 18 17 $234,732
Lyle Morden 53 17 6 8 $156,866
Daryl G. Ezra 67 16 6 11 $158,723
W. V. Armata 99 14 12 10 $139,229
Robert J.W. Johnston 63 11 12 7 $113,407
Daniel Wills 52 11 5 12 $98,459
Howard Keen 87 9 10 13 $118,421
Winston Wilkinson 69 8 9 7 $90,975
FORT ERIE JOCKEYS
Rui M. Pimentel 304 78 51 43 $751,940
Melanie Pinto 214 34 38 36 $385,699
Anthony Stephen 181 31 31 25 $357,759
Christopher Griffith 166 26 24 14 $265,677
Sunny Singh 133 21 21 17 $235,159
David Garcia 130 21 17 16 $232,685
Edward Keith Robinson 193 21 16 14 $220,873
Kristopher Robinson 171 19 13 28 $212,535
Mike Mehak 216 17 21 31 $228,564
Kirk Johnson 162 15 19 17 $179,934
NORTHLANDS REPORT
CANADIAN DERBY brings them in from everywhere
GALLANT and COFFEE BAR, from the Mark Casse barn at Woodbine are out of the Canadian Derby leaving just STYLISH CITIZEN as the Woodbine hopeful.
Owned by Casanova Stable of Max Berketa and Joe Boughton. STYLISH CITIZEN has won two straight races and is trained by John Ross.
JIM MCALENEY is headed west to ride the colt.
Jonathon Huntington at Northlands Park has a Canadian Derby blog with news and photos – here is his projected field and some notes:
Almost Time
Cool Diablo: Worked five furlongs in 1:00.60 on Thursday morning, top clocking out of 18.
Crowned Royal: Stavropoulos finally found a Derby horse for this year after much searching.
It Happened Again: Scheduled to arrive on Thursday morning on a flight from Toronto. Trainer Terry Jordan will also arrive Thursday to prepare. “We’ve had him for a week. I don’t know much about him. But I’m sure he can go the distance (of one mile and three-eighths),” said Jordan tonight.
Mr. Shadar: Gets in the Derby field with the scratches of Gallant and Coffee Bar.
Scorewithcater: Arrived in Edmonton today. “He’s relaxed, happy and eating,” said trainer Jim Meyaard. California-based owner Robert Master will fly to Edmonton three hours in advance of post time for next Saturday’s Derby. And regular trainer Doug O’Neill – a multiple Breeders’ Cup winner – is also scheduled to fly to Edmonton, according to Master.
Stylish Citizen: Part of his caretaker crew will arrive in Edmonton tomorrow.
Theglow: Appears to get in the $300,000 race with the defections today – moving up from 15th on the preference list.
http://www.thehorses.com/index.php/stories/canadian-derby/61-news/1043-canadian-derby-blog-edition-4-field-shuffles-again
SCOREWITHCATER arrives
by Jonathan Huntington
Excerpt:
While imports are scheduled to arrive throughout this week for the 80th Canadian Derby on Saturday at Northlands Park, Scorewithcater has passed his first Edmonton test on the road to the $300,000 race.
The California import from trainer Doug O’Neill’s stable galloped on the Northlands surface this morning – handling it just fine. “I trained him two rounds and he felt good,” said Edmonton-based trainer Jim Meyaard, who is handling the colt at Northlands leading up to the marathon tilt. “He came here (to Northlands) like it was his old home.”
Scorewithcater is stabled in the front stall in Meyaard’s indoor stable – giving him fresh air. He also has new shoes after Meyaard and O’Neill consulted about changing from a synthetic surface shoe.
Scorewithcater will likely enter Saturday’s Canadian Derby as one of the key favourites after finishing third in the Grade II Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park last month.
DAILY RACING FORM REPORTS:
NOT BOURBON COULD BE RETIRED
Queen’s Plate winner NOT BOURBON will not race this year according to a story in Daily Racing Form, and perhaps the Not Impossible colt will be retired to stud.
Read more at www.drf.com
TORONTO STAR FEATURE ON CHAD BECKON
THE LONG, HARD ROAD BACK
His body and career shattered by a nasty race spill, jockey Chad Beckon is working to reclaim his life
Chad Beckon remembers little about that cool, rainy night.
It was June 17 and the evening started out no different than any other for Beckon, 28, who this spring moved his jockey tack from Fort Erie to the big leagues at Woodbine racetrack.
His first ride of the night was on Oliver’s Strike, a colt from the high-profile stable of Gustav Schickedanz and trainer Mike Keogh.
At 6-1 odds, the 3-year-old son of Smart Strike was a contender in the one-mile-and-70-yard maiden event and was in position to win around the last turn.
http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/682813
Chad Beckon, photo by Norm Files.
SOVEREIGN AWARDS
NEW AND IMPROVED!!
The Jockey Club of Canada announced today that the 35th Annual Sovereign Awards will take place at Roy Thomson Hall, in Toronto, Ontario on Friday, January 29th, 2010.
A champagne cocktail reception and hors d’oeuvres will be followed by the presentation of Sovereign Awards.
The Jockey Club of Canada Board of Stewards opted for less formal attire rather than the traditional black tie this year, and gentlemen need only wear a jacket and tie. The cost of a ticket is anticipated to be $125 per person.
Commencing with the 35th Annual Awards, one additional award will be handed out for the Champion Female Sprinter category.
Based on their age, horses must have made the required number of starts in Canada (two starts for 2-year-olds / three starts for all other equine candidates) by December 31st, 2009.
Eligible Sovereign Award voters will have access to the voting application on Thursday, January 7, 2010 and must cast their ballots online by Tuesday, January 12th, 2010. The three finalists in each category will be formally announced on Monday, January 18th, 2010.
The deadline for Media Awards – Newspaper, Feature, Photo and Film/Video Broadcast – will be October 31, 2009. Entries must be received in the offices of The Jockey Club of Canada no later than 5:00 pm, Tuesday, November 3, 2009 and will be distributed to the judging panel by Tuesday, November 10, 2009. Judges will be asked to complete their ballots by Tuesday, November 17, 2009 and the finalists in each category will be released on Tuesday, November 24, 2009.
YEARLING TIME IN ONTARIO!
Hill ‘n’ Dale (see ad this page) offers a smart group of youngsters for the upcoming Woodbine sale including this MEDAGLIA D’ORO – MY VINTAGE PORT COLT.
more photos and previews to come!
RAY KERRISON COLUMN
FACEBOOK, TRAINERS AND JOCKEYS
FACEBOOK is the fastest-growing social networking site in the world today with more than 250 million active members worldwide.
This week I discovered that trainers and jockeys are into the craze. A couple of them used Facebook to put “thumbs down” on my column three weeks ago, when I complained that American stewards refuse to monitor the way jockeys ride horses