The track dried out for Sunday’s racing and we knew that all was well when the wiener dogs were able to return to the main track after Saturday’s stint on the asphalt. The two Wiener Dog Days drew huge crowds, with many of the attendees making inquiries as to how they could wager on the outcomes and were clearly disappointed to learn that they could not get down on their favorite runner. An English-style bookmaker could have made a killing. To the casual observer the contestants, most of them adorably named, appeared to have something less than a nose for the wire despite the fact that about a third of their wiener selves was nose. One of them won.
On the other hand, you could wager on the horses and bet they did, $766K from all sources. The last race handled $180K. The Sea-To-Sky Pick Six carried over again and now sits at $45,027. The eight race card provided three quality allowance races stocked with stakes and allowance types. The only multiple winner on the card was jockey Skyler White Shield who won two.
Shooting Jacket
The lead feature was the fourth, an Allowance Optional with a money won in 2016 clause that eliminated exactly two horses at Hastings, Modern and Don’t Hold Me Back. It was for all practical purposes an open Allowance race for upper echelon older horses and it went to Shooting Jacket ($5.20) who drew a length-and-three-quarters clear at the wire after trailing the field early. Slice of Red ran a good second and Twistgrips closed well to be third. The mile-and-sixteenth went in 1:45.16.
Slice of Red took the lead following three-quarters in 1:12.04 while Shooting Jacket was moving between horses and into second going into the last turn. It took him from there to late in the stretch to move past Slice of Red, but he was always going to do so. Rider Ruben Lara essentially just threw his lines and showed him the stick coming home and he galloped out like a horse that might like more ground.
Shooting Jacket was bred in Kentucky and is by Hard Spun out of the Mr. Prospector mare Nortena. Hard Spun is by Danzig, so Shooting Jacket is just your basic Northern Dancer—Mr. Prospector cross that set the industry standard for many years. Nancy Betts trains Shooting Jacket for the 200 member Hastings Racing Club II. It was the Club’s third win of the season.
Omi
The Swift Thoroughbred’s three-year-old filly Omi ($2.80) dropped from good efforts in stakes into the Allowance Optional that served as the third race and she was dominant from start to finish as Antonio Reyes essentially hand-rode her home to win by almost 5 lengths. Coco a Gogo wanted to compete and ran a hard-trying second and Cool Candy closed ground on everybody but the winner while running third.
Omi was instantly in front when the gates opened and she never looked like she was going to be anywhere other than in front. A half mile in 45.84 put more daylight between her and the field then she needed and none of the other three-year-old fillies were ever going to catch her, although it was not for lack of effort. Coco a Gogo ran hard to the end to be a well-removed runner-up and Cool Candy came running for third. Omi covered the 6 ½ furlongs in 1:17.92. It has to be a little disconcerting to the runners-up connections to realize that she can win this condition again.
The winner was bred in British Columbia by Tod Mtn. Thoroughbreds. She is by the lamented Rosberg out of the Deputy Minister mare Groovy Minister who has produced two pretty decent stakes-placed horses and a couple of 100K winners from eight to run, all of whom have won. She is owned by Swift and trained by Dino Condilenios.
Crushin Candy
The sixth was a companion piece to the three-year-old fillies race above, although this race for the boys went as a straight non-winners of three. It featured an intense stretch run that saw Crushin Candy ($3.60) find enough to hold Dashing Don at bay with both of them laying it on the line all the way to the wire. Rock Concert moved into third without posing a threat to the first two.
Crushin Candy set crushing fractions (21.78 and 45.04) but Dashing Don refused to be crushed. Every time Crushin Candy moved away from him, Dashing Don dug in and came back. He was still grinding away at the winner’s narrow margin when the wire arrived. Crushin Candy showed grit to spare and his final time of 1:16.90 was the fastest sprint of the day. Jockey Denis Araujo once again demonstrated his ability to finish as he refused to let Crushin Candy be beaten
The Kentucky bred son of the Argentinian Candy Ride is out of the Benchmark mare Silent Sighs who won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks in 2004. Crushin Candy is owned by Peter Redekop B. C., Ltd. and trained by Anita Bolton.
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