A dozen days into the season it begins to dawn on folks that some other folks are having really good years thus far at Historic Old Hastings Racecourse. There are 5 locally based riders who are winning at 20% or better, topped by Richard Hamel at 31%. Four jockeys (Hamel, Antonio Reyes, Silvino Morales, Denis Araujo) are currently at 60% or better in 1-2-3 finishes.
There are 23 trainers winning over 20% of their outings. The top 8 have strike rates ranging between 22 and 40%. The top 3 (John Snow, Craig MacPherson, Mike Anderson) have collectively won 29% of their starts. A couple of smaller barns, Jodie Rawson and Rod Therres, have each won half of the 14 starts they have between them.
As for owners, there are 13 undefeated owning entities and the top 3 (Swift Thoroughbreds, Kay and Sue Ohashi, Grayross Stable) are scoring with 36% of their horses.
Some handicappers (Richard Yates) are not doing as well.
Twistgrips Clamps Down On The Wire
The sixth race was an Allowance Optional Claimer for non-winners of 2 races (3 for BC-breds), with the option being a $25,000 claiming price. It went to the seven-year-old gelding Twistgrips ($5.70) who was a neck better than the pace setting Burrard Breeze after stopping the clock in a best of the day 1:17.32 for the 6 ½ furlongs. Mighty Fraser saved ground all the way while running evenly to finish third.
Burrard Breeze turned back challenges from Off the Top and Aditya before succumbing very late in the proceedings to Twistgrips who was in for the $25,000, having stepped up from his season opening win for 16K. It was not all that long ago (August 2014) that Twistgrips was running third in the Longacres Mile, beaten a length by two-time Mile winner Stryker Phd and that back class and current good form were enough to get him past a dead-game Burrard Breeze. It was the second win for jockey Silvino Morales and Twistgrips in two starts this year.
Twistgrips broke his maiden at first asking in 2012, but after winning a couple in 2013 he was winless in 2104-15 despite some bang-up efforts against very tough company. Trainer John Snow has him very good again at seven and he will be a horse to deal with in mid-range claiming events.
Twistgrips, by Benchmark, was bred in BC by his owner Gordon Christoff who also raced his dam, Victor’s Secret, the winner of the 2004 edition of the Brighouse Belles.
Chianti Uncorks A Good One
Chianti ($7.70) showed a field of three-year-old fillies the way in Sunday’s co-feature, an Allowance Optional Claimer for non-winners of three races. The winner did not outbreak her field but she quickly found her way to the lead and required little encouragement from rider Richard Hamel to maintain it en route to a victory that was more definitive than the length-and-a-half margin at the wire would appear to indicate. Chianti covered the 6 ½ furlong sprint distance in 1:17.38, that being just a touch slower than the veteran older horse Twistgrips ran a couple of races later. McDove hung around for second after tracking the winner for a half mile prior to issuing a challenge that Chianti turned back with some ease. Estalado closed from last to be third without ever posing a problem for the first two.
Chianti was the only horse in the race that needed the non-winner of three condition, she being the only horse in the field to have beaten winners, even though it was for a $16,000 tag. She broke her maiden late last season at two for $12,500 on the Nursery Course and would appear to have done some growing up over the winter.
The winner is a total Swift Thoroughbreds homebred. She is by their stallion, the late Rosberg, and is out of the stakes-winning mare Napa who they also raced. Dino Condilenios trains.
Our Triple Charm Does Not Need A Third Time
The three-year-old filly Our Triple Charm ($38.40) made her second lifetime start in a Maiden Special Weight against the boys and she graduated at their expense with a gate-to-wire jaunt that got her home in 1:18.54, a length clear of the favored Admiral Jaxon. Timber King closed well but late in the 6 ½ furlong sprint to take third while just missing second.
Our Triple Charm missed by a neck in her debut earlier this month against a field of three-year-old fillies while going off at almost 24-1. Despite that outstanding effort, gender politics sent her off at 18-1 against males (and one other filly who ran fifth), notably the only four-year-old in the race, Admiral Jaxon who was favored at close to even money. Admiral Jaxon tried her from along the rail going down the backstretch, but she turned him back. She drifted coming out of the second turn, giving Admiral Jaxon another shot from inside. He moved alongside in mid-stretch and, once again, his advances were rebuffed as the filly pulled clear coming to the wire.
Our Triple Charm was bred in British Columbia by Prescott Farms. She is by Finality and her dam is Wednesday’s Out. That makes her a full sister to Finality’s Charmer who won the Sadie Diamond Futurity and the CTHS Sales Stake at two. Our Triple Charm sold in the 2014 CTHS Sale for 17K, but not to Randy Hudson who owns her now and trains her as well. In recent times Hudson has made a habit of sending out horses that consistently outrun their odds. This filly could have a future.
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