Juddmonte Farms’ Redwood, winner of last month’s Northern Dancer at Woodbine, head a highly-competitive field of nine for the $2 million, Grade 1 Pattison Canadian International, Saturday at Woodbine, the richest day of the horse racing season in Canada.
In addition to the mile and one-half Pattison, Canada’s richest horse race, two other turf stakes will highlight the undercard – the $1 million, Grade 1 E.P. Taylor, at one mile and one-quarter for fillies and mares, and the six furlong, $500,000 Grade 1 Nearctic, for three-year-olds and upward.
All three stakes are also Breeders’ Cup ‘Win and You’re In’ races, meaning the winners earn berths into their respective Breeders’ Cup contests, November 5 and 6 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.
The 73rd edition of the International is slated to go postward at 5:40 pm ET. ESPN HD will provide special two-hour live coverage of the racing extravaganza from Woodbine, with TSN HD carrying the presentation
across Canada from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm ET. This marks the eighth year that Pattison Outdoor, Canada’s largest outdoor advertising company, has sponsored Woodbine’s turf classic, which rewards the winner with $1.2 million.
Former NHL star Jeremy Roenick was the guest drawmaster on Wednesday when the post positions were determined.
The field includes one previous winner of the Pattison – Marsh Side (2008) – but the morning line favourite, at 2-1, is Redwood (PP8), trained by Barry Hills, who returns to Canada from England looking to duplicate his Grade 1 success in last month’s Northern Dancer, at the same mile and one-half distance as the Pattison, when he decisioned locally-based Fifty Proof, as the favourite.
The four-year-old British-bred son of two-time Breeders’ Cup Turf winner High Chaparral will be ridden once again by Michael Hills, as he tries to give Juddmonte back-to-back wins in the Pattison, following a popular score by favoured Champs Elysees last year. A victory would also give Juddmonte a record fourth win since the International became a turf event in 1958. Other winners were French Glory in 1990 and stakes record- holder Raintrap in 1994.
“He seemed to have come out of the Northern Dancer really well,” said assistant trainer Charlie Hills, son of Barry. “He lost very little weight when he arrived back in England. He’s in good form. He had a dream run round last time. He took to the course (Woodbine) well. He’s got plenty of talent and a good turn of foot. When he got to the front, he wasn’t being asked a lot.”
Chinchon (PP2, 7-2), owned by Darpat France and trained by Carlos Laffon-Parias, took down the Grade 1 United Nations at Monmouth Park July 3, easily decisioning Take the Points and Winchester with an impressive stretch kick, in his only visit to the United States this year, from his home base in France.
The five-year-old Irish-bred son of Marju has won five of 20 lifetime starts, just over $1 million in earnings and will be ridden for the second time by Garrett Gomez, who was aboard for the Monmouth score.
Gomez seeks to become the only jockey to win consecutive Internationals since 1958, after piloting last year’s victor, Champs Elysees.
“Just after we turned for home, I took him to the outside and he really exploded. He flew home,” Gomez said, after the United Nations.
“The horse is much better (running) left-handed (around the turns) rather than right-handed,” explained Laffon-Parias, on his reason for returning to North America. “I wasn’t surprised how well he ran.”
Chinchon recently finished sixth to Duncan in the Group 2 Prix Foy at Longchamp, but the runner-up, Nakayama Festa, came back to finish second again, this time to Workforce, in the prestigious Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
The Bill Mott-trained Al Khali (PP5, 6-1), owned by Brous Stable and Wachtel Stable, arrives fresh from an explosive win in the Grade 2 Bowling Green, September 11 at Belmont Park in New York. After encountering traffic in early stretch, he rallied in the final eighth of a mile to score a neck decision over Winchester, with Pattison rival Simmard only a head further back in third in the mile and three-eighths contest.
*He has a free running style, so we’ve put him in the race and he’s kind of rolled on,” explained Leana Willaford, Mott’s assistant. “After the Sword Dancer (when he gave up the lead and finished third in the mile and one-half stake), we thought maybe it’s a bit too far for him. But I think Woodbine, with the long stretch, would be to his advantage, if he runs like he did (in the Bowling Green).”
Since being purchased privately last summer, Al Khali has won three of nine outings for his new connections, including the Grade 3 Saranac last year. Mott, who won the 1995 International with Lassigny, has named Alan Garcia to again ride the four-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Medaglia d’Oro, who began his career in Peru in 2008.
Robert Evans’ homebred Marsh Side (PP6, 4-1), who lit up the toteboard with a record $61.20 mutuel when winning the 2008 Pattison Canadian International for trainer Neil Drysdale by one and three-quarter
lengths, will be ridden by Edgar Prado.
Now seven, the strapping Kentucky-bred son of Gone West, who will be competing in a record fourth consecutive Pattison, comes in off a disappointing eighth-place finish to Redwood in the Northern Dancer, after easily winning the Sky Classic here on August 22 over soft ground. He’s the field’s leading money winner with over $2.5 million and will attempt to join Majesty’s Prince (1982, 1984) and George Royal (1965,
1966) as the only two-time winners of the turf classic since 1958.
Renowned Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien, who won the International with Ballingarry in 2002, is sending lightly-raced Joshua Tree (PP7, 8-1), a three-year-old son of champion Montjeu. Winner of the Group 2 Royal
Lodge Stakes as a two-year-old, Irish-bred Joshua Tree, the sole three-year-old in the Pattison, has raced only twice this year, finishing third to Rewilding in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur at York on August 17, then fifth to Arctic Cosmos in the English St. Leger at Doncaster on September 11.
Jockey Colm O’Donoghue, who was aboard Joshua Tree for the Royal Lodge win, will ride the Derrick Smith, Mrs. John Magnier and Michael Tabor-owned hopeful. The last three-year-old to win was Phoenix Reach in 2003. Magnier owned 2002 International winner Ballingarry.
Denis O’Flynn’s Mores Wells (PP3, 12-1), a British-bred six-year-old son of the legendary Sadler’s Wells, arrives from France via Sweden, after winning the Group 3 Stockholm Cup International on September 12, the same race won by Collier Hill before he came to Woodbine to capture the 2006 International.
Trained by Richard Gibson, who previously saddled favoured Doctor Dino to a disappointing fifth-place finish in the 2008 International, Mores Wells sports a record of three wins in seven starts this year, with seven victories overall in 32 lifetime starts. Sebastien Maillot rides.
Fifty Proof (PP9, 10-1), trained by Ian Black for owners Kinghaven Farms, John Fielding and Ben Hutzel, shocked many at 29-1 with his gutsy runner-up placing to Redwood in the Northern Dancer, after setting all of the pace. The four-year-old Ontario-bred son of Whiskey Wisdom will try to become the first Canadian-bred since Thornfield in 1999 to win the International. Justin Stein retains the mount on Fifty Proof, who has won four of only eight lifetime starts, with three second-place finishes as well.
Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield will send out Simmard (PP4, 15-1) for this year’s renewal, as he tries for his first International win in a decorated career. He’s been second on three occasions – with Spice
Route in 2008, with Kinghaven Farms’ Alywow in 1994 and Steady Power in 1989.
Simmard, a Kentucky homebred for Haras Santa Maria de Araras, finished just a neck behind Al Khali in the Bowling Green, September 11 at Belmont Park, off an eight-month layoff. The five-year-old son of Dixieland Band has won four of 15 career starts, including the Chief Bearhart Stakes at Woodbine last fall. He’ll be ridden for the first time by Javier Castellano, who was aboard Marsh Side for his 2008 Pattison win.
Butterfly Stable’s Memorial Maniac (PP1, 20-1), trained by Larry Demeritte, finished fifth to Redwood in the Northern Dancer, but prior to that had won the Grade 3 Stars and Stripes at Arlington Park, his
first stakes win. The five-year-old gelded son of Lear Fan will be ridden by John Graham.
Since 1958, U.S.-breds have captured 27 editions, followed by Irish-breds (nine) and British-breds (seven).
The stakes record for the mile and one-half over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course is 2:25 3/5 seconds, set by Juddmonte Farms’ Raintrap in 1994. The largest winning margin still belongs to the incomparable Secretariat, when ‘Big Red’ coasted home by six and one-half lengths in his farewell appearance in 1973. He is also the shortest-priced winner in history, paying $2.40.
Favourites have won the International 21 of 52 times (40.4%) since 1958, the last to do so being Champs Elysees, at 5-2 in 2009, and before him, Sulamani, the 4-5 choice in 2004.
The Grade 1, $1 million E.P. Taylor Stakes, presented by Fly Emirates, will go postward at 5:03 pm and has drawn a field of 10, headed by Europeans Shalanaya, Contredanse and defending champion Lahaleeb, who shocked at 44-1 last year, along with locally-based Miss Keller.
The Grade 2, $500,000 Nearctic Stakes, at 4:23 pm ET pm, attracted 12 hopefuls, including 2008 Canadian Horse of the Year Fatal Bullet, defending Nearctic champion Field Commission and multiple stakes winner Grand Adventure.
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