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TALKIN’ HORSES  is back! SEASON 2 set for JUNE

https://www.youtube.com/user/TalkinHorsesTV/videos

September 2014 saw the HBPA of Ontario introduce the T.V. show Talkin’ Horses. Pleased with the success of last year’s show, the Board of the HBPA is excited to announce that Talkin’ Horses will be back for another season, expanding from 10 to 21 episodes.

Talkin’ Horses was created by executive producer Joe Tilley who shares hosting duties with Jason Portuondo. Viewers tuned in to watch the Talkin’ Horses team showcase the province’s Thoroughbred racing industry and its interesting personalities. A highlight of the series was Portuondo’s “Jockey Joust.” Viewers watched weekly to see which jockey had the knowledge to make it all the way to the finale in this competitive series.

“The Board of the Ontario HBPA is enthusiastic about expanding the season of Talkin’ Horses. Our Board believes that horseracing belongs on television if we are to remain relevant and encourage new owners and customers to our industry. We hope all our members will tune in and promote the show any way they can,” said HBPA president Sue Leslie.

The show will continue to base out of Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack, making reoccurring trips to Ontario’s other Thoroughbred venue, the picturesque oval at Fort Erie. They will be joined by returning reporters Jennifer Morrison, long time Thoroughbred writer and handicapper, and Maddie-Joe Tilley, a Humber College graduate with honours in journalism.

Talkin’ Horses will air every Saturday om CTV2 at 11:30 a.m., CVT at 1:00 p.m. and will be televised once a week on TSN, dates and times may vary. Season two will begin Saturday June 13th, Plate Trial weekend, and will conclude Saturday November 7th on Breeders Cup weekend.

Get the latest from Talkin’ Horses on Twitter (@TalkinHorsesTV), Instagram (@TalkinHorsesTV) and Facebook (Facebook.com/TalkinHorses).

 

 

 

 

 

 

SANTA ANITA SHOWDOWN on SATURDAY!

Do you have a favourite of these three older horses? CALIFORNIA CHROME, the Horse of the Year, SHARED BELIEF, the wonderful, once beaten guy and HOPPORTUNITY (middle)..who will it be in the San Antonio?

The San Antonio is one of a pile of awesome stakes races at tracks from coast to coast this weekend:

 

Santa Anita:

Three of the nation’s most highly regarded 4-year-olds, Horse of the Year California Chrome, 2013 Eclipse Champion 2-year-old Male Shared Belief and recent San Pasqual Stakes winner Hoppertunity head a dynamic field of nine older horses in Saturday’s Grade II, $500,000 San Antonio Invitational, to be run at 1 1/8 miles this Saturday at Santa Anita.

California Chrome, trained by Art Sherman, and Shared Belief, conditioned by Jerry Hollendorfer, will meet for the first time since Bob Baffert’s Bayern orchestrated a controversial gate to wire win in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1. Although Bayern has yet to make his 2015 debut, Baffert will be represented by Hoppertunity, and thus, all three trainers are again front and center in what no-doubt shapes up as the biggest race of the New Year.

A winner of last year’s Grade I Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, California-bred California Chrome was third, beaten a neck in the Classic and he followed that with a two length win in the Grade I Hollywood Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf Nov. 29–thus giving him four Grade I victories on the year.

Although he had no apparent excuses in the Classic, “Chrome” was voted Horse of the Year as well as Eclipse Champion 3-year-old Male, in what many observers viewed as a partial rebuke to Bayern’s Classic triumph, which was tainted by the fact he bore in sharply leaving the gate, fouling Shared Belief and others.

Owned by his breeders, Perry Martin and Steve Coburn, California Chrome is by Lucky Pulpit and is out of Love the Chase, a mare that won just once, an $8,000 maiden claimer at Golden Gate Fields. America’s most recognizable horse, chestnut hued California Chrome is blessed with outstanding tactical speed and the ability to carry it classic distances. In his quest to become racing’s first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, California Chrome came up 1 ¾ lengths short in the Belmont, as he ran fourth, which also snapped a six-race winning streak.

In addition to the Santa Anita Derby, California Chrome also won the California Cup Derby and the Grade II San Felipe at Santa Anita last year and is three for five lifetime in Arcadia. With nine wins, a second and a third from 16 overall starts, he has $4,222,650 in earnings. Based at Los Alamitos, he vanned to Santa Anita on Tuesday and will be ridden for the 11th consecutive time by Victor Espinoza.

Undefeated in seven starts going into the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Shared Belief was the 5-2 post time favorite but in the opinion of many, lost all chance at victory when he was knocked sideways leaving the gate, causing him to take up shortly thereafter and losing early position. Although the rancorous aftermath of the Classic still hangs in the air, the Candy Ride gelding gained a measure of redemption by taking the Grade I, seven furlong Malibu Stakes on Santa Anita’s opening day, Dec. 26.

Owned by Jim and Janet Rome’s Jungle Racing Stable, LLC, Hollendorfer, George Todaro, Jason Litt and Alex Solis II, Shared Belief twice defeated older horses last year, in the Grade I, 1 ¼ miles Pacific Classic on Aug. 24, and three starts back, in the Grade I, 1 1/8 miles Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita Sept. 27.

Like California Chrome, Shared Belief has plenty of natural speed and he’s a proven warrior when the real running commences. Favored in seven out of his nine career starts, Shared Belief is two for three at Santa Anita and has eight overall victories, resulting in earnings of $2,032,200. Headquartered at Golden Gate Fields, he’ll again be ridden by Mike Smith, who has guided him to four wins in his last five starts.

Hollendorfer will also saddle longshot Tonito M., who comes off a close fourth place finish to Hoppertunity in the Grade II, 1 1/16 miles San Pasqual Stakes on Jan. 10. A winner of six out of his first seven starts in Puerto Rico, the 4-year-old Kentucky-bred colt by Rock Hard Ten won the Grade III Oklahoma Derby three starts back, his lone win in eight stateside starts for Hollendorfer. He is 15-7-3-2 overall with earnings of $503,812.

A winner of last year’s Grade II, 1 1/16 miles Rebel Stakes, Hoppertunity was subsequently second to California Chrome in the Santa Anita Derby, after which he went to the sidelines. Following a close second in a seven furlong allowance at Santa Anita Oct. 29, the Kentucky-bred colt by Any Given Saturday then pressed the pace en route to a half length win in the Grade I, 1 1/8 miles Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 28.

In his 4-year-old debut Jan. 10, Hoppertunity was an impressive 1 ¾ length winner of the Grade II, 1 1/16 miles San Pasqual on Jan. 10. Owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, Hoppertunity has two wins and two seconds from five starts at Santa Anita and is 8-4-2-0 overall with earnings of $1,070,675.

GULFSTREAM:

Lea Entered for Stakes Defense in Saturday’s $500,000 Donn Handicap

Mott Trainee to Concede 2-7 Pounds to 9 Rivals in Grade 1 Handicap

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm’s Lea made a rapid ascension to the top of the handicap ranks last year at Gulfstream Park, where he captured the Hal’s Hope (G3) and the Donn Handicap (G1) back-to-back.

The 6-year-old son of First Samurai, who made his meteoric rise while shifting from turf to dirt, will have the opportunity to repeat his 2014 feat in Saturday’s $500,000 Donn Handicap, the first Grade 1 stakes for older horses in the country this year that will highlight a 13-race program that will also feature the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1) and four other stakes.

Should the Bill Mott trainee prevail over nine rivals in the 1 1/8-mile event Saturday, it would be all the more outstanding, considering that his Hal’s Hope-Donn doubles would be accomplished without a race in between. Lea, who was afflicted with a virus following his Donn victory last year, made a remarkable return from an 11-month layoff to capture the one-mile Hal’s Hope with a late rally by a half-length on Jan. 10.

Lea is scheduled to go to post as the starting highweight with an assignment of 121 pounds, between two and seven pounds more than his opponents.

“I’d say, he’s probably coming into the Donn the same as he was last year,” Mott said Wednesday morning.

Lea will attempt to become the first horse to win back-to-back runnings of the Donn Handicap since Mott-trained Cigar launched his back-to-back Horse of the Year campaigns with victories in the 1995 and 1996 editions.

“He’s coming off a good race and I’m happy with him,” Mott said. “He’s good enough to be in the race, but I can’t predict the outcome.”

After Lea earned Grade 1 credentials in last year’s Donn, his owners could have opted to retire him from racing and send him off to stud this year, especially considering all the time lost due to complications stemming from the virus.

“He had been sick. He had a virus and it was a case where he had done enough. He was a Grade 1 winner, and he could have gone to the breeding shed. They opted to give him this chance right here. I told them what the condition of the horse was and how he was doing,” Mott said. “They made the decision. I told them step by step on a daily and weekly basis the condition of the horse and where we were at with him. I guess I made it sound good enough to keep him in training.”

Joel Rosario, who rode Lea to victory in last year’s Donn and in his return in the Hal’s Hope, has the return mount Saturday.
CANADIAN STUFF

Owner/trainer ALEX PATYKEWICH, whose SKYLANDER GIRL competes in the Suwanee River Stakes at Gulfstream on Saturday, won the first race at Gulfstream on Wednesday with his recent claim, SAVEAPLACEFORME. The Purim filly was claimed for $12,500 from her last race, her second career start and she won yesterday for the same price at 4 to 1.

Four races later, Patykewich claimed Golden Emily from a troubled trip in a $16,000 claiming race.

In that 5th race, ALAN ALBER and trainer BILL THARRENOS won with SUMMLIKEALADY, who was claimed by the Canadian connections for $12,500 from her previous race. The team of Alber and Tharrenos made a quick profit with the win and the fact that she was claimed yesterday for $14,000.

 

THROWBACK THURSDAY from THOROUGHBLOG

Went to Aqueduct to watch TRIPLE WOW in the Next Move Handicap on Feb 20 1988. Kinghaven Farms, assistant trainer Mike Keogh, jockey Richard Migliore. (She won)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HERE ARE SOME OF THE FIELDS and Post times for

Saturday:

DONN H.-GI, $500,000, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT

1 Constitution Tapit Castellano Pletcher 119
2 Commissioner A.P. Indy Velazquez Pletcher 118
3 East Hall Graeme Hall Saez Kaplan 117
4 Lea First Samurai Rosario Mott 121
5 Elnaawi K Street Sense Leparoux McLghlin 115
6 Catholic Cowboy K Heatseeker (Ire) Lopez Zito 115
7 Sloane Avenue K Candy Ride (Arg) Lezcano Noseda 114
8 Protonico Giant’s Causeway Bravo Pletcher 118
9 Blue Tone K Birdstone Lanerie Hess Jr 116
10 Prayer for Relief K Jump Start Zayas Romans 116

Saturday, Santa Anita Park, post time: 7:00 p.m. EST
SAN ANTONIO INVITATIONAL S.-GII, $500,000, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT

1 Hoppertunity K Any Given Saturday Garcia Baffert 123
2 Tonito M. K Rock Hard Ten Bejarano Hllndrfer 120
3 You Know I Know Simon Pure Van Dyke Sadler 118
4 Imperative K Bernardini Prat Ppaprdrmu 120
5 Shared Belief Candy Ride (Arg) Smith Hllendrfer 123
6 Clubhouse Ride Candy Ride (Arg) Gryder Lewis 120
7 Bronzo (Chi) Fusaichi Pegasus Stevens Drysdale 120
8 California Chrome Lucky Pulpit Espinoza Sherman 123
9 Alfa Bird K Birdstone Baze Garcia 118

Saturday, Santa Anita Park, post time: 6:30 p.m. EST
SAN MARCOS S.-GII, $200,000, 4yo/up, 1 1/4mT

PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Finnegans Wake Powerscourt (GB) Espinoza Miller 123
2 Patrioticandproud K Proud Citizen Van Dyke Casse 118
3 Majestic Harbor K Rockport Harbor Smith McCarthy 120
4 Power Ped Powerscourt (GB) Prat Drysdale 118
5 Little Jerry K Candy Ride (Arg) Maldonado Baltas 118
6 Diamond Bachelor K War Front Pedroza Biancone 118
7 Quadrivium K Henrythenavigator Boyce Motion 118
8 Dynamic Sky Sky Mesa Nakatani Casse 118
9 Power Foot Powerscourt (GB) Fallon Drysdale 118

Saturday, Gulfstream Park, post time: 4:28 p.m. EST
SUWANNEE RIVER S.-GIII, $150,000, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8mT
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT

1 Skylander Girl Stroll Contreras Patykewich 117
2 Bitty Kitty K Kitten’s Joy Lanerie Walsh 119
3 Scampering K Afleet Alex Saez McGghy 117
4 Starstruck (Ire) Galileo (Ire) Lezcano Zito 121
5 E B Ryder Bluegrass Cat Prado Wolfson 121
6 Nellie Cashman K Mineshaft Maragh Abbott III 121
7 Rock On Baby Rock Hard Ten Lopez Wolfson 117
8 Sandiva (Ire) Ftstpsinthesnd (GB) Castellano Pletcher 121
9 Pink Poppy Tiznow Leparoux Wolfson 121
10 Rosalind Broken Vow Rosario Brown 123
11 Bohemian Dance (Ire) Dansili (GB) Cruz Dilger 117
12 Cay Dancer (GB) Danehill Dncer (Ire) Zayas Brown 121
13 White Rose K Tapit Velazquez Mott 121

Main Track Only
14 Sheer Drama Burning Roma Bravo Fawkes 117

Saturday, Gulfstream Park, post time: 4:58 p.m. EST
FRED W. HOOPER S.-GIII, $100,000, 4yo/up, 1m

PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Grande Shores Black Mambo Zayas Gold 121
2 Adirondack King K Lawyer Ron Lezcano Servis 121
3 Confrontation K War Pass Maragh Tagg 119
4 Brothersofthetime Bob and John Saez Sano 119
5 Mosler K War Front Rosario Mott 119
6 Midnight Cello Midnight Lute Rios Tomlinson 119
7 Race Day K Tapit Velazquez Pletcher 119
8 Purple Egg K Lion Heart Castellano Cibelli 119
9 Alpha Bettor Alphabet Soup Contreras Vella 119
10 Valid K Medaglia d’Oro Lopez Vitali 121
11 Looking Cool Candy Ride (Arg) Lanerie Sancal 119
12 Ulanbator Offlee Wild Leparoux Wilkes 119