PAYDAY IS HERE FOR ONTARIO BREEDERS
The first one-year-old horse will be led into the sales pavilion today at about 11 a.m. at Woodbine as close to 300 yearlings will be up for sale. It is a one-day auction this year and the sale is coming off a solid recovery year in 2014 when the average went up a whopping 50% for 2 sessions. The selected average price was $33,081, median $25,000.
The open session average was $7,814, median $4,500.
So, with a one day sale, the only day of the year the Ontario breeders are going to get a payday, let’s hope the average can stay steady in the $26,000 range.
There was one big yearling last year – Mike, who sold for $325,000 – and the chances that there is a similar youngster in the range this year are slim. But this is the only place to get your pick of the locally bred horses and with purses, including bonuses for Ontario breds, being quite generous, it makes sense to get what you can.
Good luck to the breeders and buyers!
Thank you Wise Dan! Enjoy retirement!
Ricoh Woodbine Mile 2012 Wise Dan Jockey John Velazquez WEG/michael burns photo
SCRATCH/RETIREMENT OF WISE DAN OPENS DOOR FOR WOODBINE MILE
Field down to 11, but will others enter?
Wise Dan, who earned U.S. Horse of the Year honours in 2012 and 2013, has been retired from racing.
The Morton Fink homebred, trained by Charles LoPresti, had been slated to make his return from an ankle injury in the Grade 1 $1-million Ricoh Woodbine Mile set for Sunday, September 13, at Woodbine.
“He’d been training lights out. But, we noticed some filling in his tendon this morning when we were giving him a bath,” said LoPresti. “The vet suggested we scan it and it turns out he has a tear on the outside edge of his tendon.”
Both of Wise Dan’s Horse of the Year awards capped off seasons in which the champion chestnut captured the Ricoh Woodbine Mile en route to winning the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile.
“Mr. Fink and I talked about it and we’ve all decided he should be retired at this age. There’s no point trying to bring him back again,” said LoPresti. “I expect he’ll retire to our farm here in Kentucky. He’ll be turned out with his brother Successful Dan.”
The tendon tear was not related to the ankle injury discovered following his victory in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland last October.
“He has a perfect ankle now. We’ve radiographed it many times to be sure and there’s not even a hint of an issue with the ankle,” said LoPresti. “We’re not sure how it happened. We were four days away from shipping up to Woodbine and he had trained like a monster this morning. He never took a bad step, it was just something I noticed while giving him a bath.
“We were trying to get to the Breeders’ Cup and we thought Woodbine was the perfect place to get started. We were so excited about coming but it wasn’t meant to be.”
Wise Dan retires with a perfect record from two trips over Woodbine’s E.P. Taylor Turf Course and holds the course record of 1:31.75 for his scintillating performance in the 2013 Ricoh Woodbine Mile.
The eight-year-old Wiseman’s Ferry chestnut won 23 of 31 career starts, while banking in excess of $7.5-million in purse earnings.
The field of probables currently:
HORSE / OWNER / TRAINER / JOCKEY
Grand Arch / Jim and Susan Hill / Brian Lynch / Luis Saez
Kaigun / G. Barber, Quintessential, Horse’n Around / M. Casse / P. Husbands
Lea / Adele B. Dilschneider & Claiborne Farm / Bill Mott / Joel Rosario
Mondialiste (IRE) / Geoff and Sandra Turnbull / David O’Meara / TBA
Mr. Owen / Qatar Racing Limited / Francois Rohaut / TBA
Obviously / Anthony Fanticola & Joseph Scardino / Phil D’Amato / Joe Talamo
Platinum Glory / John Di Scola / Mike DePaulo / Jesse Campbell
Reporting Star / Copper Water Thoroughbred Comp./ Pat Parente / Luis Contreras
Tower of Texas / T. F. Van Meter II & S. Dilworth / Roger Attfield / E. da Silva
Turncoat / Irish Wisky Racing LLC / Laurie Silvera / Omar Moreno
Za Approval / Live Oak Plantation / Mark Casse / TBA
