The son of one of Canada’s all-time leading stallions, Bold Executive, Sand Cove needs just over $36,000 in Canadian earnings to become our newest millionaire. Owned by Barbados resident Ralph Johnson, Sand Cove was one of three champions trained last year by Roger Attfield, who was also named the year’s outstanding conditioner.
Purchased by Johnson at the 2006 Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society yearling sale at Woodbine for $60,000 (U.S.) from breeders James and Janeane Everatt and their daughter Arika, Sand Cove won once as a juvenile but quickly became one of the stars in the Attfield barn. He was one of the country’s top three-year-olds in 2008, reeling off scores in the Vice Regent, Bunty Lawless Stakes and the Ontario Derby. Two of those scores came on the grass while the Derby was contested on Polytrack.
The horse saw limited action in 2009, but took the Elgin Stakes for yearling sales graduates in his six-race campaign. He began 2010 in April in the five-furlong Debut Stakes on the opening day of the season and finished fifth. Following another fifth-place finish in an allowance race on the turf, Sand Cove quickly got back on track with a win in the Steady Growth Stakes at 1 1/16 miles against Ontario sired rivals.