Among all the stakes races on a cold and windy Saturday, October 8 at Woodbine, Hall of Fame trainer MIKE KEOGH saddled his last horse for a race. Keogh sent out Wedgewood in the Grade 2 Nearctic Stakes for the estate of Gustav Schickedanz, the last horse to race for the famed stable.

Wedgewood finished sixth while American invader Cazadero and jockey Patrick Husbands roared past the field to win the $255,500 Nearctic at 6 furlongs on the turf. Trained by Brendan Walsh for Marc Detampel of Chicago, Cazadero was making just his second start on the grass and reeled in heavily-favoured Bound for Nowhere and Ontario-bred Grade 1 winner Silent Poet for a 2 1/2 length win in 1:09.11.

Friends and colleagues joined Keogh in the walking ring pre-race and in the Woodbine Club post-race to celebrate the trainer’s retirement. As the private trainer for Schickedanz since 1993, Keogh trained champion Langfuhr, a multiple Grade 1 winner in the U.S. and prepared Wando to win the 2003 Canadian Triple Crown. He trained the winners of 60 stakes races and 341 winners from 2,794 starters, and his horses collected more than $22 million in purses.

Advertisement