There is nothing like a big stakes victory to pick things up in the horse business.
MUSKOKA GOLD held off favoured Pleasecallmeback to win the 83rd Cup & Saucer Stakes for 2-year-olds on the turf at Woodbine Oct. 6 and the exciting colt’s win allowed his owners, Conrad Farms and jockey Jerome Lermyte to breath a sigh of relief.
Manfred and Penny Conrad, whose stable of homebreds and auction purchases cut a swath through racing for their first couple of years in the business, had just three claiming wins from 29 starters this year for purses of $35,000. That was a far cry from the $1.1 million their horses earned in 2018 and $942,000 in 2017.
But the couple’s star filly Shamrock Rose, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner from a year ago got injured and is headed to auction and the stable was light on horsepower.
But their 2-year-old crop had been showing signs of talent and of the two maidens they started in the Cup & Saucer, Muskoka Gold set the pace and stayed on to win the $225,000 race for Canadian-breds at 18 to 1. The colt has been in training with Mark Casse’s team at Woodbine and was second on the Tapeta in his debut Sept. 15.
Ridden by jockey Jerome Lermyte, who, a day earlier had ridden the Mark Casse-trained Skygaze to victory in the Grade 3 Mazarine Stakes only to be disqualified as his filly veered in early in the race and out in the stretch run.
“It’s a sensitive subject still,” said Lermyte, who had 18 wins coming into this week. “It’s racing and obviously you make some mistakes and it’s painful, but we learn from it and try to come back stronger and don’t make the same mistake. Today’s win makes it up a little bit, but it’s still painful.”
In the Cup & Saucer, his colt, a member of the first crop of the US stallion Lea (First Samurai), who stands at Claiborne Farm, was eager to get going.
“Honestly, we played by the break,” said Lermyte. “I didn’t know what I was going to do. It was going to depend on how he broke and how the race would unfold.
“He broke really good, nobody was really going — I had one horse on the outside — and I took the opportunity to go there comfortable. I didn’t want to do too much. I was very happy to see that he just kept going all the way.”
Pleasecallmeback, by Hard Spun, had launched his move heading into the final turn, had his head in front briefly between calls but Muskoka Gold refused to yield and had reclaimed the advantage by a head with the three-quarters in 1:11.88.
Muskoka Gold extended his lead through the stretch run, despite the best efforts of Pleasecallmeback’s rider Patrick Husbands, holding a length advantage with a furlong to run and ending 1 ¾ lengths in front.
Kunal, last at the stretch call, finished strongly for third money, 2 ¾ lengths behind the runner-up. More Chances, who had raced within striking distance throughout, was another 1 ¾ lengths adrift in fourth.
The final time was 1:42.07 on a course rated “good.”
Bred by the late Bill Graham, Muskoka Gold is from the Medaglia D’Oro mare Lunch Hour, purchased by Graham for $65,000 as a broodmare prospect. Muskoka Gold sold for $185,000 at Keeenland last fall to Justin Casse as agent for the Conrads. Her yearling this year, also by Lea, sold for $13,000.
Muskoka Gold returned $38.60, $12.50 and $8.20 with the 8-5 favourite Pleasecallmeback ($3.60, $2.60) completing a 5-6 exacta worth $144.30. The 5-6-8 trifecta, with 64-1 shot Kunal ($13.10) ending third, returned $1,361.65 and the 5-6-8-1 superfecta, completed by 5-1 third choice More Chances, paid $12,865.45 for a buck.
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