KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS COREY NAKATANI PICKS UP EDDIE • Corey Nakatani, who won 13 races from 174 mounts at the recently completed Santa Anita meeting (Dec. – April) will ride Canadian-bred SQUARE EDDIE in the Kentucky Derby a week from this coming Saturday. SQUARE EDDIE jogged around the Churchill Downs strip yesterday. SMOOTHER ROAD • […]

      KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS Still no rider for Eddie with files from Kentuckyderby.com J. Paul Reddam’s SQUARE EDDIE (Smart Strike) arrived at Churchill Downs around mid-afternoon on Tuesday following a van ride from Lexington’s Keeneland, where he had been stabled since running third in last Saturday’s Lexington S. (G2). The colt appears headed […]

   Today’s post dedicated to the memory of Royce Gracey.   APPEALING RETURN – Eugene George’s MILWAUKEE APPEAL strolled to a 1 ¾ length in the Star Shoot Stakes and then galloped out seemingly a mile in front of her rivals as Na Somsanith tried to pull her up. The 3yo Milwaukee Brew filly, a […]

  SQUARE EDDIE – 3RD IN MESSY LEXINGTON STAKES COMEBACK Canadian-bred likely continues on to Derby – In a second, it appeared as if SQUARE EDDIE was going to runaway with yesterday’s LEXINGTON STAKES at Keeneland and go the Kentucky Derby as one of the favourites. Instead, the Canadian-bred got a bit weary after a […]

  EDDIE GOES FOR HOME Blog says Masala the colt to beat – Woodbine fans and officials will be glued to the television for the feature race at Keeneland today when Kinghaven Farms-bred SQUARE EDDIE competes in the Lexington Stakes Race 9 goes off at 5:40. The 1 1/16 mile race is an event to […]

READE BAKER NEWEST TRAINER FOR STRONACH STABLES – Sovereign Award winning trainer READE BAKER has 10 horses to train for Frank Stronach’s Stronach Stables at Woodbine in 2009. Baker joins Brian Lynch and Roger Attfield as the 3 conditioners for the stable for Woodbine meeting. Baker, already with a record of 2-2-2 in 9 outings […]

  SO FAR SO GOOD • Entries will be drawn today for Woodbine’s Friday card and after 5 racing cards to begin the 2009 season the horses who stayed in Ontario to train have been doing a bit better than the winter raced ones. Certainly the distances of 5 and 5 ½ furlongs play more […]

                  WOODBINE SUNDAY Niagara Thunder rolls • There was a healthy $2.5 million bet on Easter Sunday (only 9 races) and the track played fair on a sunny but cold and windy day.  The first three races went to big speed horses which led some to think […]

          EL BRUJO stamped himself the home-based favourite for the Queen’s Plate and the Kentucky gained a couple of interesting guys but lost one…   HE’S THE WHIZ • EL BRUJO (The Wizard) ran away from his rivals in the 57th ACHIEVEMENT STAKES yesterday at Woodbine and secured himself the early […]

      If you are interested in the Kentucky Derby trail, don’t miss any action today. How about the Queen’s Plate? The first stepping stone to that June 21 race, the 150th edition of the classic, is today’s ACHIEVEMENT STAKES at Woodbine. Read on! GOOD! FRIDAY AT WOODBINE • There was quite a good crowd […]

  • Certainly the biggest story of the day (and this week) has been the discovery of almost 200 neglected thoroughbreds at the farm of Ernie Paragallo in New York, found yesterday in a raid. More further down in today’s post and check out previous posts for how the story developed.       GRADE […]

  COMING UP THIS WEEK • As posted yesterday, Canadian champion BEAR NOW and Ontario bred AUTHENICAT are taking on champion VENTURA tomorrow in the Grade 1 Madison Stakes. On Friday, more Candian-breds are in action in Kentucky including one of the top Canadian-breds in training right now…TWILIGHT METEOR (Smart Strike): Friday, Keeneland MAKER=S MARK […]

While other racehorses are working hard, this little guy enjoys a rest on momma’s back. This is a Tethra colt out of Canadian Charm owned by Eaton Hall Farms and foaled at Woodlands Farm. Dave Landry photo. CANADIAN OWNED PATENA WORKS FOR BLUE GRASS from Keeneland Barn Notes • With a light, cold drizzle falling, […]

                  DISFUNCTION is working well, thank you and Woodbine’s Polytrack speeds up. • It is snowing heavily in the suburbs of Toronto today with sub-zero temperatures in store for a few days – welcome to a Canadian spring. But British Columbia-bred DISFUNCTION (Vying Victor) came back to […]

                  MELNYK’S MULLINS BEACH MARCHES $2.3 wagered on opening day • Almost the exact same amount of money was bet on the opening day card of racing at Woodbine this year as was bet in 2008, $2.3 million – not bad considering the recession. The Woodbine building […]