It was a tough day at Historic Old Hastings for the speculators. No betting favorites won, despite the fact that 4 of the 8 races went to horses that had won their previous race. Five winners paid $10.00 or more, so the folks that got it right got paid. All sources, the handle was a little over 900K with five races each handling over $100,000. Skyler White Shield stayed hot with another riding double and trainer Mel Snow won two as well.
The first of the day’s co-features came in the third as an Allowance Optional for older horses that had never won 3 races, or a $25,000 claiming tag. It went to The Odds R Good ($9.00) who was winning his second straight Allowance race under jockey Amadeo Perez in 1:17.42, the fastest of the eight 6 ½ furlong sprints that made up the holiday Monday card. Torniador chased in second while getting 11 pounds from the winner and tested him more than once during the race, notably around the second term. But when they straightened for the drive, The Odds R Good moved away again and maintained a half-length margin over Torniador to the wire. Venetian Mask who was in for the 25K tag checked in third as the betting favorite. The winner was bred in British Columbia by Fran and Mel Snow. He is by Cause to Believe out of What R the Odds, she being a three-time stakes winner sprinting at Hastings and a definite source of speed. Mel Snow and Conrad Rozenek own and Mel Snow trains.
The fifth was an Allowance Optional Claimer for three-year-olds that had never won 2 races (3 for BC-breds) and it went to B C Charlie ($25.30) who stepped up from a maiden claiming win to defeat a field of Allowance types with a gritty wire-to-wire effort that required 1:18.21 to complete. Sunscape made a big move to take second and a similar move got Good as They Get to third. B C Charlie turned back the challenges of Rock Concert and Capital Expense as the three of them, with the winner down inside, staged a speed duel through the day’s fastest early fractions (a quarter in 22.25 and a 45.37 half-mile). Not long after those two fell away, the winner was joined by Sunscape who had launched a huge run going down the backstretch that got him to the lead at the head of the lane. That lead was short-lived as Skyler White Shield asked B C Charlie for more and the Rosberg colt dug down and found the will to move away again and get enough daylight to hold off Sunscape’s last surge. Good as They Get was along for the show. B C Charlie was bred in British Columbia by Mark and Sharon Johnson. By Rosberg, he is out of My Special Angel, a stakes-placed (second in the Sadie Diamond) mare who is herself out of Excited Angel and therefore a half-sister to four stakes winners. Don Danard owns and Craig MacPherson trains. B C Charlie sold for $32,000 in the 2014 CTHS Sale.
Rider Skyler White Shield kept rolling. He completed a riding double in the fifth on B C Charlie after having taken the fourth on Indy Black ($5.80) for owner North American Thoroughbred Horse Company and trainer Troy Taylor.
Trainer Mel Snow also doubled by sending over his own Baja Storm ($10.00) to win the seventh after taking the third with The Odds R Good. Silvino Morales rode.
The opener resulted in a father and son jockey exacta. Gabriel Asencio won with Triple 8 Racing’s Nana’s Buddy ($11.30) while his son Jose Asencio was running second with Bridge Baron. John Snow trained the winner. After a slow start to the season, Sahin Civaci won his second of the weekend in the second with Smoke N Sizzle ($9.10) for Grayross Stable and trainer Sylvea Gregory. It was the third win on the weekend for owner Grayross Stable. The two leading riders, Richard Hamel and Antonio Reyes maintained their positions atop the jockey table. Reyes took the sixth aboard Citron Kid ($24.10) for owner Praven Sorenson and trainer Philip Hall. Hamel closed out the card by getting Au Claire de Lune ($12.90) home for owners High Stakes Thoroughbreds, Donna Hesse and Charles Cowan. Charleen Miller does the training. Richard Hamel has 20 wins for the season, six more than Antonio Reyes and eight ahead of Skyler White Shield who has moved into third. Mike Anderson and John Snow lead the trainers with 8 wins apiece, followed by Craig MacPherson and Patti Leaney with 7. Mel Snow is next with 6, giving the Snows, father and son, a total of 13 wins. Swift Thoroughbreds and the team of Kay and Sue Ohashi continue to top the owner’s list with 5 wins each. Grayross Stable has moved into third with four wins.
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