Ray and Debbie Burke have had a pretty good start to this racehorse ownership thing.
The couple from Buffalo, New York who are also essentially Canadian since they have friends and family in Ontario, had one starter in 2018 and one winner through the next two years.
In 2021, their CTHS yearling purchase from 2020, the colt The Minkster, gave the couple their biggest victory when he won the Coronation Futurity, the top race for 2-year-olds foaled in Canada. Trained by Dan Vella, The Minkster came out and won the Queenston Stakes this year before fading to ninth in the Queen’s Plate.
On Sunday, October 16 at Woodbine, Vella perfectly prepared the latest Burke-purchase, the 2-year-old filly JUMPIN JUNIE (Midnight Lute – Another Flashback by Curlin) who went out and won the 77th Princess Elizabeth Stakes, worth $250,000, for fillies. It was the first-ever win for Jumpin Junie, who was making her third career start and first under jockey Kazushi Kimura.
Coming off a front-running effort in a maiden race at 1 mile and 70 yards on Sept. 17 in which she was just caught late, Jumpin Junie was meeting nine other fillies in the richest race for juvenile gals foaled in Canada. Kimura used the filly’s speed to his advantage from post nine, getting a perfect rail-chasing trip into the first turn of the 1 1/16 mile Princess Elizabeth. Kimura, perhaps with the knowledge that the rail path was playing very favourably all day, kept his filly in that lane the rest of the way.
Jumpin Junie tracked front-running Friends for Life, who was recently third in the Victorian Queen Stakes on turf, through an opening two furlongs in 24.7 and half a mile in 48.59. Favoured Me and My Shadow, trained by Mark Casse, raced in fifth early while second choice Wickenheiser was wide and further back.
Friends for Life began to drift out under jockey Gary Boulanger nearing the quarter pole, eventually going so wide she was pulled out of the race. That left Jumpin Junie and Kimura with a head in front of Souper Sinclair and Keveh Nicholls.
At least four fillies angled out to take aim on Jumpin Junie turning for home: Fortyfiveseventy and Patrick Husbands split fillies in the two path, Souper Sinclair. Me and My Shadow and Wickenheiser. The latter got the worst of some jostling between the pursuers while Jumpin Junie dug in and held off Me and My Shadow to win by 1 1/4 lengths. Fortyfiveseventy, a daughter of Perfect Timber owned by Barbara Minshall, was a nose back in third with Wickenheiser fourth.
Jumpin Junie, a 13-to-1 longshot, ran the distance in 1:43.61. Bred by Karen Carroll of Talbot Creek Farm in Shedden, ON, Jumpin Junie was a $30,000 yearling purchase at the 2021 Keeneland September Sale.
“A good friend of ours, Mike Cooke, bought this filly for us and he told us right from the start that he thought she was a pretty talented filly,” said Vella about the Florida horseman who trains many young horses for Canadian clients. “In her first race (she was fifth in a maiden sprint) she got a lot of experience because everything went wrong.”
Ray Burke, who carries a piece of sea glass with him each time he attends the races, said the couple is loving racehorse ownership.
“It’s so much fun,” said Burke. “There are highs and lows. We were here in the spring with The Minkster but a couple of things went wrong but hopefully he will be back next week for the Ontario Derby. We are really excited about Junie and are very proud of the work Mike and Dan have done with this filly.”
Jumpin Junie is named for Ray’s late cousin, Junie, who was “a real pistol. Junie was just like Jumpin Junie. She was very close to us,” said Debbie Burke.
Breeder Karen Carroll was also celebrating her biggest win as a Thoroughbred breeder, having only entered Thoroughbred racing in the last six years. Carroll is an accomplished Standardbred driver and trainer and breeds horses on Talbot Creek Farm with husband Wayne and their four children. Jumpin Junie is the fourth foal from Carroll’s mare Another Flashback, a two-time winner. The mare also produced winners Oh Danny Bear and Wicked Flashback. Carroll’s website shows Arabica (Medaglia D’oro) as her other Thoroughbred mare.
More from Canadian Thoroughbred:
