As the 3-year-old filly SILENT CAUSEWAY flew through the stretch, widening on her rivals in the last race at Woodbine on June 14, owner and trainer Laura Krasauskaite did her best not to scream, at least out loud. Her prized filly crossed the finish line eight lengths in front of her next rival to win the $66,162 maiden race in her first race of the season, stopping the teletimer in 1:10.26 for an impressive 80 Beyer Speed Figure from Daily Racing Form.
“I tried to stay professional, but inside I just wanted to scream,” said the 36-year-old mother of two. “It was a nice feeling. I knew down the stretch she would switch leads and put it in another gear and that would be it. And she did it.”
And her ear-to-ear grin in the winner’s circle, posing with Silent Causeway, her boyfriend Marco Raymon and jockey Patrick Husbands , almost burst through her safety mask that all horsepeople must wear at the track.
Almost immediately, Krasauskaite had offers coming over the phone from various trainers, but as of yet, the price has not been right.
This was the first win for Krasauskaite (pronounced Kris-oss-kite) as a trainer and second win ever following a maiden allowance victory by a horse she owned, Vision of Future at Fort Erie in 2017.
Laura Krasauskaite and Silent Causeway – excitement for young owner and trainer – Photo courtesy of LK
Silent Causeway, also known as Yakuza around the barn (yes, the Japanese mafia), was purchased by Krasauskaite for just $4,000 at the 2018 Canadian Premier Yearling Sale at Woodbine. Bred by Michael Deegan in Ontario and consigned by Bernard McCormack, the filly was the sixth foal from her unraced dam Good Religion, a daughter of the great Giant’s Causeway.
“Actually, I bought her blind,” said Krasauskaite. “I saw the bloodline (in the catalogue); I said ‘well, that is nice bloodlines.’ The mare never ran and her children had not shown a lot, but I decided to gamble because it was Silent Name (Jpn).
“I just liked the way she looked, her attitude and how proud she was [in the ring].. The price was affordable so I closed my eyes and bought her.”
The tall and leggy filly joined Krasauskaite at the farm she leases in Nobleton where she has lived for about six years. Silent Causeway proved to be a gal with a mind of her own early, avoiding being caught in a paddock for several days despite Krasauskaite’s best efforts.
The filly made her career debut as a juvenile last November and finished a good fourth with Patrick Husbands riding. “I knew she was talented, she showed it to me in a breeze. But she was also going through growth. It was a battle; a big girl with long legs.”
Husbands was back to ride in the June 14 opener and the pair simply led from start to finish.
“You know, she ate about half a bag of candies before she went over for the race,” laughed Krasauskaite. “She’s very bossy and she will not run well if you don’t give her 30 to 40 mints.”
Next up for the filly, she hopes, is an allowance race and hopefully a start in the prestigious Woodbine Oaks on August 15.
Krasauskaite has been preparing for her training career since she was 10 years old growing up in Vilnius, the capitol of Lithuania. She rode horses, studied about horses and did some jumping, but found that horse sport a bit “boring.”
When her family moved to Canada and bought a house in Etobicoke in 1998, the first horses she saw that year were at Woodbine racetrack. She worked as an exercise rider for 20 years for trainers such as John McKenzie and bought her first horse for $500. Sweet Shobiz was a difficult filly who would not train or go to the gate for her owners and Krasauskaite bought her as a project. The filly finished second for her and that lead to the purchase of a yearling in 2016, Vision of Future, her first winner as owner.
That is when she decided to study for her trainer’s test. “It was not easy being a single mother of two,” said Krasauskaite, whose children are now six and nine. “But I had a lot of support from my mother. I studied everything I could about horses, inside and outside, their mentality, what they like, who they are, everything.”
She passed with flying colours and sent out her first horse as trainer, Big Exhibitionist, to a third-place finish at almost 60-to-1 in a maiden allowance race behind horses trained by Hall of Famers Roger Attfield and Mark Casse.
Silent Causeway is one of six horses in her stable at Woodbine including two for a client. Krasauskaite gets on her own horses in the morning but has help at the barn from Raymon and one employee. From there it is back to her farm to work, corral her kids and then do it all again the next day.
And you can tell from talking to her, there is nothing more she loves to do.
Win photo from Michael Burns – courtesy LK
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