Canadian content for the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby might be short this year, save for a filly that has a big shot to win one for the home side.
There, of course, have been many years when Canadians and Canadian horses are featured front and centre in the Kentucky Derby, the annual “Run for the Roses.”
Winners Northern Dancer, in 1964, and Sunny’s Halo, in 1983, no doubt come to mind. Most recently, Mine That Bird, based at Woodbine during his two-year-old year, won the 2009 edition.
The Kentucky Oaks, the Derby’s significant filly companion, has also seen its share of “Can-Con.” Gal In A Ruckus, bred in Ontario by Gus Schickedanz, won the 1995 edition.
This year, Canadiana will once again have a major place in the Oaks, as Caledon’s Bill Graham, a prominent local owner-breeder, raised the 5-2 morning-line favourite for the 1 1/8-mile race, Joyful Victory.
“She looks like she’s a machine to me,” Graham said, on Thursday afternoon, before heading to Churchill Downs in Louisville to watch the Tapit filly leave from post 1 for the historic Oaks, set for approximately 5:45 pm ET on Friday.
Graham still owns the mare, Wild Lucy Black, who produced Joyful Victory. She is currently in foal to Congrats, the continent’s leading first crop sire in 2010.
Joyful Victory goes into the $1 million race a legitimate favourite after two graded stakes wins this year at Oaklawn Park for trainer Larry Jones and owner Fox Hill Farms, Inc. She’ll be ridden by Mike Smith.
Graham liked Tapit’s pedigree in choosing the mating. “Tapit was a first-year sire, by Pulpit. We just thought we’d try him. He’s gotten even better after I sold the filly.”
Did he regret selling Joyful Victory, who attracted $60,000 at the All Ages Sale in January 2009 in Kentucky? His response was characteristic of a veteran owner-breeder. “Well, when you’re selling you’re never happy with what you get. When you’re buying, you’re spending too much.”
Graham remembered Joyful Victory, dropped in Ontario and raised at Graham’s Windhaven operation in Kentucky, as “a typical chestnut foal, a mousey colour that was about to turn grey. She had a good confirmation.”
Come Friday, he won’t be the only one cheering for a Joyful Victory. He’ll have the rest of Canada on his side as well.
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