Canadian-bred horses and Canadian horsepeople are in the racing news in the early days of 2025 with wins in the south and some big plans coming up in the near future.
WAR SIGNAL was an exciting winner for Gary Barber and trainer Mark Casse at Gulfstream on the weekend. This is an Ontario homebred for Barber; she was odds-on to win an allowance race on Tapeta and she made it look easy.
The three-year-old bay filly by hot young sire War of Will (who raced for Barber) led from start to finish through 1 mile and 70 yards for her second consecutive win in her fourth career race. Her time of 1:40.32, while not even being asked by jockey Irad Ortiz, was given a 74 Beyer Speed Figure by Daily Racing Form.
The filly won her maiden at Woodbine in her previous race and before that she was a troubled third in the $150,000 Shady Well Stakes.
War Signal was foaled at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm of Glenn Sikura and she is the third foal and third winner for her dam UCHENNA (Ire). Uchenna, by Fastnet Rock (Aus) came to North America to race a decade ago for Triton Farms and trainer Roger Attfield. She won the Grade 3 Ontario Matron in 2015 and then was purchased at the Keeneland November sale that year for $315,000 by Justin Casse, agent. Uchenna raced for Barber and won the Belle Mahone Stakes in 2016. Barber had the mare for sale a few times after that: in 2016 she was bought back for $290,000; 2017, bought back for $175,000; and in 2021, carrying War Signal, Barber bought her back for $70,000.
Uchenna has a two-year-old of 2025, Will Win, by War of Will, and is in foal to that sire again.
At Gulfstream on Friday, Ontario-breds TIDAL FORCES and CAUSIN MAYHEM won the late double. The former, a Sam-Son Farm-bred owned by Paterpop Racing and Fernando Abreu, won an optional claiming race at even-money with an 89 Beyer Figure. The son of Malibu Moon was claimed for $10,000 by these interests a year ago and he has won twice and was third in the Appleton Stakes.
Causin Mayhem, a six-year-old by Into Mischief, ended a long winless streak with a rallying score on the turf at 2-to-1. Owned by Randy Exelby and trained by Martin Drexler, Causin Mayhem was winning for $50,000 claiming. He was claimed for $40,000 at Woodbine in September.
Drexler came right back on Sunday to win with his own horse, TIZ ROMANTIC, in a $35,000 optional claiming race. Bred by Ivan and Colleen Dalos, the seven-year-old was making his fifth start for Drexler after a modest 2024 campaign which saw him winless. Tiz Romantic, who has raced for seven different barns, posted an 89 Beyer Figure in his win, his sixth of his career, on Sunday.
At Fair Grounds, another Woodbine Oaks and King’s Plate candidate, LOVE AND POETRY, won a maiden race at 1 1/16 miles on the turf for trainer Cherie DeVeaux. The Hard Spun filly was making her second career start and first since her debut at Keeneland in October and she rallied from far off the pace to win by a length in 1:49.40 for a 69 Beyer Figure. Bred by Anderson Farms Ont. Inc and All My Hart Racing in St. Thomas, ON, Love and Poetry is from the stakes-placed Animal Kingdom mare Grace and Destiny.
March 12, 2022 – War Signal arrives in the world at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Nobleton, ON. (courtesy Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm)
Hall of Fame trainer JOSIE CARROLL gets to try her student EARHART, unbeaten in two races at Woodbine, in a stakes race as she competes this Saturday in the one mile Likely Exchange Stakes at Turfway Park in Florence, KY. Her regular rider, however, Rafael Hernandez, has been replaced by Luis Contreras.
Paul Braverman and Timothy Pinch’s SCORCHING (Mo Town) could step onto the Road to the Kentucky Derby (G1) in the $300,000 Gotham (G3) on March 1 at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The one-turn mile for three-year-olds awards Kentucky Derby qualifying points on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale to the top five finishers.
Trained by Woodbine-based John Charalambous, the Ontario-bred won the restricted Cup and Saucer on October 6 over the Woodbine Racetrack turf. He scored the victory by disqualification after Ashley’s Archer got his nose down first on the wire, but was ruled to have interfered with a rival in the stretch of the 1 1/16-mile race.
The Cup and Saucer came on the heels of a stylish graduation with a pacesetting five-length score in the 6 1/2-furlong restricted Simcoe in August over the Tapeta at Woodbine, with both wins receiving a career-best 80 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I think he ran a winning race,” Charalambous said of the Cup and Saucer. “We just got beat the last jump and I’m still not sold that he’s any better on turf. I was really happy with that race and I was happy with the way he was coming into his next race, but he developed a virus and it took him longer to get through it, so we gave him the rest of the year off. The owners made the decision to try a different route, so here we are.”
Scorching arrived at Belmont Park in late December and has yet to breeze over the training track. Charalambous said he brought the colt to New York to give him plenty of time to prepare for his first start over dirt.
“Our plan is to race in the Gotham. We’re just starting him back up at Belmont, and he trains on dirt in Canada and has breezed on it a bunch of times, so hopefully he can make the transition in the afternoon,” Charalambous said. “We’re just trying to get him fit and ready, and hopefully everything goes well.”
Scorching debuted in July at Woodbine with a runner-up effort sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs over Tapeta ahead of his Simcoe score. Charalambous said he believes the dark bay can be effective at a one-turn mile.
“I didn’t really think he was a sprinter,” Charalambous said. “I didn’t know if he could go a classic distance, but he never really trained like he was a sprinter – he always worked well, but wasn’t excessively quick. The way the races came up, the timing was perfect on both his stakes wins.”
As for the nearly five-month layoff Scorching will enter from, Charalambous said the colt continues to trend in the right direction towards a successful return.
“The layoff certainly did him well mentally, and he put on some weight,” Charalambous said. “He’s just got to get used to the track – it’s deeper here than back home. It’s something we have to work through, but he’s in great shape and we’ll take it from there.”
Charalambous, who started his first runner in 1982, will look to win his first Kentucky Derby prep race and said he was pleasantly surprised when the colt’s owners approached him about trying the Derby trail.
“It’s exciting. I’ve been doing this a long time, and it caught me off guard what the plans were,” Charalambous said with a laugh. “These owners have been extremely generous with me and have rewarded me with good horses to train, so it would be nice if we had a bit of racing luck. I think this is a very good horse. He acts the part, too. If he stays healthy, I think he’s going to show us a little bit more.”
Bred in Ontario by Huntington Stud Farm Corp., Scorching was purchased for $88,551 at the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society’s 2023 Canadian-bred Yearling Sale. He is out of the stakes-placed Consolidator mare Samsal, who also produced Grade 3-placed Keep Grinding.
~ with files from NYRA media
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