SANS SOUSI BREAKS THROUGH Eaton Hall homebred wins stake – The liver chestnut filly SANS SOUSI (Bold Executive – Ada Dancer by Dance Brightly) won her first stakes of her career yesterday in the Ontario sired Lady Angela Stakes at 7 furlongs. The 3yo had been been 2nd or 3rd in 6 stakes races in […]

  Today’s post is dedicated to the memory of ANGEL, hope you had a good life our friend.   ZENYATTA, champion American mare, and her cool black spots. Sarah K. Andrew photo.               QUEEN’S PLATE NEWS Shut It Down tries for berth today – K.K. Sengara’s SHUT IT DOWN, […]

COSTALIVIN ENTERS PLATE PICTURE Woodbine Wednesday Night – Thanks to a workmanlike score in the first race on a lovely Wednesday evening at Woodbine, COSTALIVIN has entered the Queen’s Plate picture with just one month to the race. (!). The bay 3yo colt from the first crop of Tomahawk out of Wonder Where Stakes winner […]

  Thoroughblog, in its continuing effort to provide some news and views of local racing, is also undergoing transformation to this new site. Sometimes, the wrong key pressed results in disaster. For example.. the entire weekend wrap up erased and lost in one swoop. Brief notes:  The Polytrack was suddenly “cultivated” according to the TV […]

RACHEL IS TOO GREAT Gut wrenching win in Preakness, Bird a tough 2nd (Preakness photo by Terence Dulay) -To most onlookers yesterday, the battle down the Pimlico backstretch between BIG DRAMA and RACHEL ALEXANDRA seemed to be impossibly fast for the superstar filly who was coming back on 2 weeks rest from her 20 length […]

OH WHAT’S A GUY GOTTA DO? Mine That Bird is not picked by one of the DAILY RACING FORM’S 22 handicappers today for the Preakness. All he did was win the 135th Kentucky Derby – somehow, still trying to figure that one out.  Jockey Calvin Borel dumped the Bird for the brazen filly RACHEL ALEXANDRA […]

If you thought the Kentucky Derby was a well watched event (highest rating on TV in years – tomorrow’s Preakness will be huge it appears. Everyone wants to see if the Mine That Bird score in the Derby was a fluke. Or they want to see if the filly is as good and dominant as […]

LUCKY NUMBER 13? Rachel is widest! (Photo is MINE THAT BIRD and his flock heading out to the track at Pimlico. Cindy Pierson Dulay photo) POST POSITION DRAW QUOTES  – MINE THAT BIRD (PP #2; 6-1) – Chip Woolley, trainer: “We’ve got speed on both sides of us, speed on the inside and outside of […]

PAPA CLEM WORKS AS HE USUALLY DOES – LOUSY. COULD BODE WELL FOR PREAKNESS – from Baltimore Sun By Brent Jones It was a typical workout for Papa Clem on Pimlico Race Course’s main track Tuesday – underwhelming if not slightly disappointing. The Kentucky Derby’s fourth-place finisher ran a leisurely five furlongs in 1 minute, […]

  TORONTO STAR FEATURE TUESDAY THE WILD CHILD • Featured on the front of the paper today… Mine That Bird and his early days of breaking and training at PINE VALLEY TRAINING CENTRE,in Maple, north of Toronto, leased by Paul and Gemini Caine. http://www.thestar.com/sports/horseracing/article/632694%20 PHOTO ABOVE- COURTESY TORONTO STAR, STEVE RUSSELL… TO VIEW A PHOTO […]

        SHOWDOWN? RACHEL ALEXANDRA the super filly versus Kentucky Derby winner MINE THAT BIRD. It may happen if some bad sports don’t get their way (read more below). (Vanessa Ng and Cindy Pierson Dulay photos)             WOODBINE WRAP CLEAR SAILING FOR STUCK IN TRAFFIC – Rebounding nicely […]

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF CANADIAN TRIPLE CROWN: BOUGHT BACK FOR $10,000 – NEW PROVIDENCE Race named in his honour is tomorrow • The NEW PROVIDENCE STAKES is tomorrow’s Woodbine feature, it is an Ontario sired sprint for older guys. The race is named for the first winner of Canada’s Triple Crown and the Triple crown is […]

WOODBINE WEDNESDAY NIGHT Big Night for Ontario sires • BOLD ‘N FLASHY, BOLD EXECUTIVE, TRAJECTORY, VALID N BOLD, VALID TREFAIRE, all Ontario sires with winners last night at Woodbine, a cool, and later rainy evening with a Polytrack surface that seemed to favourite the outside once again. A chestnut 3yo, Paso Doble was making his […]

  Sports Illustrated horse racing covers from the past – KELSO, SEATTLE SLEW, STEVE CAUTHEN, SMARTY JONES…MINE THAT BIRD? If anyone thought this was conceivable after watching him race here last year, please stand up.               BIRD BRAINS • So much to write about after the shock of all […]

  On the day after the stunning result at wacky Churchill Downs, camera crews followed trainer DAVE COTEY around Woodbine. He was interviewed ad naseum and asked everything from why he picked MINE THAT BIRD out at auction to… did the new owners really try to give him back after the Breeders’ Cup? It’s a […]