2012 Champion Older Male - Hunters Bay

Owner: Stronach Stables, Trainer: Reade Baker. Breeder: Adena Springs (ON).

The gorgeous son of Ghostzapper, owned and bred by Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs won two graded stake races in 2012, but it was a loss that likely sealed the Sovereign Award for Champion Older Horse in Canada.

In his grass debut, which happened to come in the $1 million Woodbine Mile (GI), Hunters Bay rallied for second behind eventual American Horse of the Year Wise Dan, finishing second in one of the top races on the North American autumn calendar.

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Wise Dan went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile (GI) at Santa Anita in Arcadia, CA to cap his championship season.

Hunters Bay would not race again in 2012 following the Woodbine Mile but his exploits landed him the Sovereign Award for Canada’s Champion Older Male and a second place finish in the voting for Horse of the Year behind the two-year-old Uncaptured.

Hunters Bay was offered for sale at Stronach’s own Adena Springs Two-Year-Old in Training sale in 2009 but did not meet his reserve and was bought back for $110,000.

The sizable colt, whose dam Smok’n Frolic won over $1.5 million on the track, needed time to get to the races but when he was ready he went to the stable of top U.S. trainer Todd Pletcher.

Hunters Bay won two of three races in 2010 before he joined trainer Reade Baker for the 2011 season where he made just four starts. One of those included a lopsided win in his Woodbine debut in May before he was sidelined until March of 2012.

Hunters Bay’s five-year-old season saw the horse rise to the top of of the older horse ranks. He began the year in an allowance race at Gulfstream, finishing second to graded stakes winner Pants on Fire before setting out on a three race winning streak.

Under top Woodbine jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson, Hunters Bay won a seven furlong allowance race at Woodbine by four lengths in April and then parlayed that into a three-length score in the Grade III Eclipse Stakes in May. The win came in near track record time for 1 1/16 miles of 1:42.63.

Wilson, a regular rider for the Baker barn, knew she was partnered with a talented colt who had yet to show his best stuff.

“He’s definitely a big boy,” said Wilson. “He’s a colt and gets a little fired up. But when he’s got his game face on and you tell him to go, he’s there. Just like any athlete, they like to let you know they’re on the field and on the track, he definitely has some presence.”

On Canada Day, Hunters Bay defeated champion Pender Harbour by a length after 1 1/4 miles and solidified his position at Woodbine’s top older horse.

The Stronach Stable elected to try their horse against the best in the U.S. in the Grade I Whitney Handicap at Saratoga on August 4 but, in his first attempt on a traditional dirt track, Hunters Bay finished seventh behind eventual Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) winner Fort Larned.

Back at Woodbine, Hunters Bay ended his 2012 campaign with his strong Woodbine Mile outing, and the year with earnings of $472,954. Hunters Bay was sent to Adena Springs in Aurora, ON to prepare for the 2013 season.