MR WILL WONG (www.mrwillwong.com) took this lovely image of horses heading into the paddock on a Wednesday night of racing at Woodbine. Thank you, Will!
CHASING 221 – Following Eurico’s Pursuit of a Record
Just keep doing what you have been doing.
That’s the mantra of jockey Eurico Rosa Da Silva who now has a career best total of wins for a season at Woodbine with 207 coming into today’s 118th race card.
Winning at a remarkable 28%, one of the highest marks of any jockey in North America, Eurico has 23 mounts from today through Sunday as Woodbine has carded plenty of races with lots of horses. He rides six today for six different trainers.
Mickey Walls set the record of 221 wins in one Woodbine meeting (136 days in 1991).
FRIDAY
Woodbine – 11/23/2018
1 Maiden Special Weight TB Awesome Wok N Roll Mark Casse
2 Claiming TB Burbank Road Michael Wright
3 Maiden Claiming TB Kucherov John Charalambous
6 Claiming TB Tishina W. Gracey
8 Claiming TB Achainoflove Lisa Burry
9 Claiming TB Sadie Irene Ronald Sadler
SATURDAY
Woodbine – 11/24/2018
1 Allowance Optional Claiming TB Souper Hot Michael Mattine
2 Maiden Special Weight TB Trump’s Kitten Michael Maker
4 Maiden Claiming TB Calais Cove John Mattine
6 Maiden Special Weight TB Never Sober Norman McKnight
7 Claiming TB Night Watchman Anthony Pottinger
8 Kennedy Road Stakes (Gr. 2) TB Hemp Hemp Hurray Michael Maker
9 Starter Optional Claiming TB Forest Brother Norman McKnight
10 Allowance TB Killag Katie Catherine Day Phillips
11 Optional Claiming TB Fast Negotiations Robert Tiller
SUNDAY
Woodbine – 11/25/2018
1 Maiden Special Weight TB Kid Forester Michael De Paulo
3 Allowance Optional Claiming TB Kadley Michael Maker
5 Maiden Special Weight TB Dramatic Kitten Michael Maker
7 Optional Claiming TB Dirty Girl Robert Tiller
8 Bessarabian Stakes (Gr. 2) TB Moonlit Promise Josie Carroll
9 Maiden Claiming TB Sunset Cruise Malcolm Pierce
10 Allowance TB Conqueror Galactus (IRE) Jim Ensom
11 Maiden Claiming TB Real Dude Sid Attard
CANADIAN-BREDS IN ACTION ON BLACK FRIDAY
There are a bunch of stakes races in the U.S. today and tomorrow as they celebrate Thanksgiving. Today at Churchill Downs is the famous CLARK HANDICAP, featuring Charles Fipke’s Seeking the Soul. In New York, Chiefswood Stables’ Rose’s Vision has gone hunting for turf in the Gio Ponti Stakes and Josie Carroll will also start Mr. Ritz.
Friday, Aqueduct, post time: 2:50 p.m. EDT
GIO PONTI S., $150,000, 3yo, 1 1/16mT
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER ML
1 Prioritize Tizway Saez Bond 9-2
2 Zap Daddy Scat Daddy Castellano Reynolds 20-1
3 Medal of Honour (GB) Lope de Vega (Ire) Franco Brown 8-1
4 Roaming Union* Union Rags TBA Breen 4-1
5 Bal Harbour* First Samurai TBA Pletcher 5-1
6 Breaking the Rules War Front I Ortiz Jr. McGaughey 8-5
7 Therapist Freud Cohen Clement 3-1
8 Rose’s Vision Artie Schiller Lezcano Simon 5-1
9 Mr Ritz (GB) Oasis Dream (GB) J Ortiz Carroll 6-1
10 Life’s a Parlay* Uncle Mo Saez Pletcher 7-5
*Main Track Only
JAPAN CUP PREVIEW – Everyone’s nuts over Almond Eye
Wager and watch the Japan Cup card on HPIBet.com. My math suggests the card begins at 8 p.m. on SATURDAY NIGHT…
Sunday, Tokyo, Japan, post time: 3.40 p.m.
THE JAPAN CUP-G1, ¥570,000,000, 3yo/up, 2400mT
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Almond Eye (Jpn) Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) Lemaire Kunieda 117
2 Happy Grin (Jpn) Lohengrin (Jpn) Hattori Tanaka 121
3 Satono Diamond (Jpn) Deep Impact (Jpn) Moreira Ikee 125
4 Satono Crown (Jpn) Marju (Ire) Buick Hori 125
5 Mikki Swallow (Jpn) Jungle Pocket (Jpn) Yokoyama Kikuzawa 125
6 Thundering Blue K Exchange Rate Berry Menuisier 125
7 Sounds Of Earth (Jpn) Neo Universe (Jpn) Tanabe Fujioka 125
8 Kiseki (Jpn) Rulership (Jpn) Kawada Nakatake 125
9 Cheval Grand (Jpn) Heart’s Cry (Jpn) Demuro Tomomichi 125
10 Ganko (Jpn) Nakayama Festa (Jpn) Ebina Matsumoto 125
11 Suave Richard (Jpn) Heart’s Cry (Jpn) Demuro Shono 125
12 Capri (Ire) Galileo (Ire) Moore O’Brien 125
13 Noble Mars (Jpn) Jungle Pocket (Jpn) Kakakura Miyamoto 125
14 Win Tenderness (Jpn) Magic Miles (Jpn) Uchida Sugiyama 125
*All post times are local time
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Amanda Duckworth
Nov. 22, 2018
Almond Eye has already made a name for herself in Japan this year by becoming just the fifth horse to win its Triple Crown for fillies, but when she lines up in the Japan Cup on Sunday she will be going against history again.
Only six 3-year-olds have won the Japan Cup, which was first held in 1981 and is one of the most revered races in the country. While some racing jurisdictions struggle to keep their superstar horses in training, Japan is not one of them.
SPEAKING OF JAPAN…HERE’S A LEXIE LOU UPDATE!
LEXIE LOU – Queen’s Plate winner. Horse of the Year – Woodbine photo/Michael Burns
Has a filly by Frankel
Boy, it is tough when a horse you want to follow ends up on the other side of the world. Finding out what happens to them is very difficult (remember Midnight Aria? He went to South Africa where he raced a few more times, was far beaten, and has since fallen off the radar).
LEXIE LOU, sold to KI FARM by Gary Barber at auction a few years ago was the subject of my search this week thanks to her original owners seeking help.
Tom Hashimoto at the Japan Racing Association came to the rescue:
Today I talked with the owner of KI Farm and she said that the filly of Frankel was foaled last season and now keeps good condition.
In this season she was covered by Lord Kanaloa (one of the champion sires in Japan) and Lexie Lou is also still good.
I hope these information would be helpful for you.
The owner told me it will be hard to contact directly with you because of the language matters.
Sincerely yours,
Tom Hashimoto
JRA International Dept.
WESTERN CANADIAN STARS HAVE TOUGH LUCK THIS WEEK
SKY PROMISE won the last Canadian derby at Northlands Park – RYAN HAYNES PHOTO – NORTHLANDS
ESCAPE CLAUSE, the magnificent Manitoba bred filly who had 9 straight victories including a stakes win at Del Mar, could not keep the streak going on Thursday in the Grade 3 Red Carpet Stakes. Coming back in 13 days after being placed first in the Kathryn Crosby Stakes, the tough 4yo was 3rd in a dead heat in the 1 3/8 mile turf event in a super effort.
Escape Clause is the favourite to be named Canada’s Champion Older Mare.
Meanwhile, at Zia Park on Wednesday afternoon, western Triple Crown winner SKY PROMISE, the favourite to be named Canada’s Champion 3-Year-Old, got going too late and went wildly wide in the $250,000 Zia Park Derby and finished 5th for trainer Robertino Diodoro. Alberta based owners of the gelding claimed him for $40,000 and watched him take all three western derbies. Rico Walcott rides.
