IN MEMORY OF JACK O’CONNOR
If you have been a part of the Woodbine backstretch family through the 1980s, 90s to the current year, then you know Jack.
Jack was one of the most recognizable faces not just at Woodbine, but at many racetracks around North America. The master of Sallee vans and a popular, approachable man, Jack left us recently and Thoroughblog wanted to honour him.
http://obituaries.basicfunerals.ca/component/obituary/detail/3170#tabs-1
GRADE 3 HUTCHESON – BANNER WIN, BEAR 2ND
88 Beyer Figure for winner
Six months after breaking a Gulfstream Park track record in his unveiling, Jacks or Better Farm homebred Awesome Banner returned with a command performance to capture his stakes debut in Saturday’s $150,000 Hutcheson (G3).
The 67th running of the six-furlong Hutcheson was the first of five stakes on Gulfstream’s 11-race program and kicked off the track’s Championship Meet series for sophomores leading up to the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) April 2.
Breaking alertly from post two in a field of seven, Awesome Banner assumed the lead and was strong through a sharp quarter-mile in 22.10 seconds and a half in 44.87, pressured by stakes-placed Noholdingback Bear and long shot While Ye May.
Juvenile Dirt Sprint winner Sheikh of Sheikhs ranged up four wide leaving the backstretch to launch a bid but failed to menace as Awesome Banner and jockey Jose Caraballo found another gear and pulled clear in the stretch to win by 4 ¾ lengths in 1:09.57 over a fast main track. Favored at 6-5, the bay son of Awesome of Course returned $4.60 to win.
“[At the quarter pole] I was thinking, ‘Oh, no.’ The one [Union Grace] was starting to get up in there and I saw we were holding him at bay. Then you’re trying to survey the field and you see horses on the outside starting to come up and you start to doubt yourself,” winning trainer Stanley Gold said. “Then as you’re moving down the lane the confidence is coming back and you see he’s finishing. You always have doubts first time out and this long off, and when they get pressured all the way you could find yourself coming up short despite whatever you do. There’s nothing like a race to get tight. When he started to draw off in the stretch, I was impressed.”
Awesome Banner rolled to a 9 ¾-length victory last June in a track-record 51.07 seconds for 4 ½ furlongs, but needed surgery to remove a knee chip discovered while training for his next start. Given plenty of time off and a steady string of works, Gold stepped him up to stakes company in just his second start.
“I think this was more impressive [than his debut] because 4 ½ furlongs, sometimes horses run great and they never run back to it. The track record that he broke was broken the year before, and it’s always at a time of year when the rain stopped, the track is dry, everything’s fast and everyone’s running,” Gold said. “It’s hard to gauge with a 2-year-old but the way they do it is more important than when you look up there at the clock. He did it so effortlessly and came back and trained the same way and ran back to it.”
Bear Stables’ Noholdingback Bear, trained by Mike DePaulo, stayed up for second and posted a 77 Beyer Speed Figure in his third career start.
Gold hinted he would keep an eye on Gulfstream’s 3-year-old dirt stakes, which include the $350,000 Holy Bull (G2) Jan. 30 and $400,000 Fountain of Youth (G2) Feb. 27. Both races are run at 1 1/16 miles.
FLEXING HIS MUSCLES
10 points on Ky Derby trail for son of Bluegrass Cat
A two-time graded stakes runner-up last year to the talented Mohaymen, Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence’s Flexibility proved to be an easy victor in his rival’s absence, picking up his first graded stakes win in the Grade 3, $200,000 Jerome on Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Ridden by NYRA leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr., Flexibility settled comfortably in fourth position behind a three-way battle between Vorticity, Bird of Trey and Condo King. While the pacesetters cleared the opening quarter-mile in 23.48 seconds and the half in 47.31, the New York-bred son of Bluegrass Cat steadily closed the gap on the leaders.
Flexibility, favored at 3-2, caught Vorticity in the far turn as Bird of Trey and Condo King dropped out of contention after covering three-quarters in 1:12.97. Sweeping past the leader, Flexibility took control at the top of the lane and never looked back, romping to a 4 ¼-length victory.
Canadian Bob Costigan bred the 3rd place finisher, In Equality, a son of Canadian champion mare Inish Glora.
FLEXABILITY charges to victory in $200,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct – VANESSA NG PHOTO, courtesy horse-races.net
DONEGAL MOON plunges into the dirt at the start of the Jerome – Vanessa Ng photo
CANADIAN BRED 3YO’S – GETTING GEARED UP FOR JULY!
Do you have your favourite Canadian-bred 3-year-old of 2016 yet?
Is it a filly or a colt?
There were some very exciting winners last year and some are already getting geared up for some winter action.
On the worktab on Saturday (Jan 2) were the following colts:
BATTERY, Jan 2 49.59 Palm Beach Downs, Todd Pletcher
– posted a 73 Beyer Figure when he won his maiden at GulfstreamWest in November, son of Bernardini
SCHOLAR ATHLETE 49 75 Palm Meadows, Graham Motion – 3rd Coronation Futurity to Shakhimat, son of Einstein
NEW RIDER TO WOODBINE 2016 – DANE NELSON
Nelson stars with a bang
Orville Clarke
Three-time champion jockey Dane Nelson started the new season with a bang at Caymanas Park yesterday, thanks to three winners on the CTL Fan Appreciation Day programme, including TARANIS, (7-2) in the opening race over 1300 metres for the New Year’s Day Trophy.
Nelson also won the fourth race with 4-1 chance PRINCESS SHEMIKA for trainer Steven Todd, and came back in the closing race to win aboard the lightly raced 5-1 shot RAS EMANUEL for trainer Peter McMaster over 1200 metres.
http://jamaica-star.com/article/sports/20160102/nelson-stars-bang
BETTING ON WINNERS
Here’s a refreshing change, the bettor is recognized in horse racing media – story on local Tommy Massis
http://www.torontosun.com/2016/01/02/hammer-time-in-vegas
