Lou & Carlo Tucci; Jim & Susan Hill; Forte dei Marmi

Lou Tucci and his uncle Carlo have mastered the art of the claiming game. Well, okay, the Ontario horse owners have had their share of unlucky purchases over the years but it was one of those so-called “bad claims” that lured them to their greatest buy of all, Midnight Aria, their 2013 Queen’s Plate winner.

On July 7 at Woodbine racetrack, their long striding Ontario-bred colt, picked up for $35,000 (U.S.) after a grass race at Gulfstream Park in Florida less than five months ago, tow-roped 11 other rivals from start to finish to collect the bulk of the $1,001,600 (Can.) Plate purse.

Midnight Aria, bred in Acton, ON by Yvonne Schwabe, was let go at 16 to 1 by a very large and raucous crowd that got soaked by monsoon-like rain just two hours before the race. Most of race prognosticators admitted that the son of two-time Breeders’ Cup Sprint (GI) champion Midnight Lute – Shebandowana, by Mt. Magazine would be the lone speed runner. Then, when the colt drew the rail post, had noted speed rider Jesse Campbell on board and got a Polytrack that was packed and speed favouring after the rain, the race was essentially over by the first turn. The result was only ever in question in the final yards when heavily favoured Up With the Birds, from the powerful Sam-Son Farms, came from miles behind with a late charge, only to come up short by half a length.

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“The race went just like we were hoping,” said Campbell, who left Chicago racing three years ago to take advantage of the Woodbine program.

“I thought we were going a touch slower than we were (:24.63, 48.58. 1:13.65) but the rain tightened it up. He’s a fighter and that’s why I wanted to push the button at the three-eighths pole, to get some separation from the field.”

While Midnight Aria galloped along on a three or four length lead, Up With the Birds was working his way from last place around the first turn, getting outside from his inside trip and then making a move inside the quarter-pole.

With each strong stride, Up With the Birds was gaining on Midnight Aria and the two colts drew away from the rest of the field by eight lengths. At the wire, Midnight Aria had lasted to win by half a length in 2:04.72., good for a 98 Beyer Speed Figure from Daily Racing Form.

Life Long Dream

The Tucci’s familiar black and red diamond silks have been seen around Woodbine for decades.

“My uncle and I have been chasing this dream for 40 years, since I was a little kid,” said Lou Tucci, president of Royal Envelope Ltd., Canada’s largest privately owned envelope and related products company. “It’s hard to express things when it comes true.”

Midnight Aria’s trainer Nick Gonzalez was winning his second Plate in three years, having conditioned 2010 victor Big Red Mike, who also led all the way, for Terra Farms.

It had been exactly 30 years since a Plate winner had won “off the claim”: Bompago did it in 1983 for John Cardella and partners.

Lou, who was born in Toronto and lives in Unionville, ON loves to seek out bargains and hidden gems through the claiming ranks. They have made many successful purchases such as One for Rose, a $40,000 claim who went on to become a millionaire, Just Rushing, a multiple stakes winner now retired and Artie Hot, another Florida claim who became a stakes winner and was recently re-claimed by the Tuccis to be retired.

“My uncle and I believe that it’s the claiming game that keeps racing alive,” said Lou. “We could never understand why anyone would frown upon it as it is the best way to get newcomers into the game and gives the ‘little guy’ a chance to experience the thrill that racing provides.”

The Claim Game

The story of the moment when the Tuccis decided to claim Midnight Aria will go down as one of the most intriguing Plate stories.

“We are always shopping for three-year-olds,” said Gonzalez, who had a few horses for the family at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla. during the winter.

Lou Tucci had pinpointed this Ontario bred colt, raised at Schwabe’s Persley Den Farms who was making his third career start in a maiden race at nine furlongs on the grass on Jan. 24.

The Tucci’s had owned the colt’s dam, Shebandowana, very briefly after they claimed her for $12,500 at Woodbine in May, 1997.

The mare never raced for the Tuccis who had sent her her to Fort Erie race before she was bought by Schwabe for $6,000 (read more about Shebandowana on pg. 32)

Midnight Aria was sold by Schwabe as a yearling for $80,000 at the 2011 Keeneland September yearling sale to Lobdell Family Stable based in Florida.

Owner Wayne Lobdell attempted to pinhook the colt the following spring at an Ocala Two-year-Old sale but bought him back when the bidding stalled at $20,000.

Named for Lobdell’s grandaughter, Midnight Aria “developed well” according to Lobdell. Trained by Steve Dwoskin, the colt was unplaced in his debut, third in his second race and then second beaten a neck the day he was claimed.

The colt won his maiden at the allowance level in his first race for the Tuccis and placed in the Wando and Plate Trial Stakes before his Plate score.

“I am sorry I lost him, but happy for his success,” said Lobdell.

The huge effort by Midnight Aria took a lot out of the colt and on July 17, Gonzalez announced that the colt would by-pass the Prince of Wales Stakes at his home track of Fort Erie on July 30.

Gonzalez said the colt was showing signs of wear and tear and needed some time to recover. It is the second consecutive year that the Plate winner has not gone to Fort Erie and the 10th year in succession that there will be no Canadian Triple Crown winner. Wando was the last to sweep the Crown in 2003.

Hills and Baker strike

Jim and Susan Hill of Calgary, Alberta won two of the four co-featured stakes races on the Plate card. The couple, who have immersed themselves into racing with full force in the last four years, watched their exciting sprinter Go Blue or Go Home win the $200,000 Highlander Stakes (GII) in the rain on the Polytrack and Solid Appeal win the Dance Smartly Stakes (GII) on the turf.

Both horses were weanling purchases at Keeneland November in 2009 and both are trained by Reade Baker.

Go Blue or Go Home was not hindered at all when the Highlander came off the grass less than 30 minutes before the running. The afternoon’s giant rainstorm made the turf course treacherous and Woodbine management elected to be safe rather than sorry.

Go Blue or Go Home (Bluegrass Cat – Go Baby Go (Ire), by Lion Cavern) was unbeaten in all of his previous sprint races including his 2013 opener, the Karl Boyes Memorial Stakes at Presque Ise Downs in Erie, Pa.

Ridden by Luis Contreras, the four-year-old bay gelding shot to the lead early over the very wet Polytrack and galloped home to win by 5 _ lengths in 1:10.46. It was the fifth win in six races for the bay gelding who is also three for four on the grass. He was a $90,000 weanling purchase.

Solid Appeal took seven races to win her maiden and was becoming a frustrating project for Baker. The four-year-old by Successful Appeal – Star of the Woods, by Woodbine, a $100,000 weanling purchase, then discovered grass and she has now won four of her last seven races.

Holding the Forte

Roger Attfield has had many accomplishments in his training career. The Hall of Famer has set many records too. One intriguing statistic is his flair with older horses in stakes races and on Plate day, he brought seven-year-old Forte dei Marmi out of a slump to win the $150,000 Singspiel Stakes (GIII-Can) in driving rain.

It was the fifth year in succession that Attfield had won the race and the second straight year his runners landed one-two in the event. Forte dei Marmi, owned by Stella Perdomo, followed the win last year by Perdomo’s remarkable 10-year-old Musketier.

Forte dei Marmi, winner of the Sky Classic Stakes (GII) last year, later went on to be a strong third in the Grade I Canadian International behind Joshua Tree.

But in three races in 2013, the son of Selkirk – Frangy (GB), by Sadler’s Wells had been seventh, ninth and vanned off at Keeneland.

The gelding relished the soft going and the return to Woodbine by winning by 6 1/2 lengths over Charles Fipke’s Perfect Timber, a recent maiden winner, in 2:41.85 for 1 1/2 miles on turf.

The day’s first stakes event, the Clarendon Stakes for Ontario-bred two-year-old colts went to Spin the King, owned by Joe Stritzl. Spin the King, making his second career start became the first winner/stakes winner for his freshman sire Giant Gizmo, who stands in Ontario at Adena Springs. Spin the King was bought by the late Greg de Gannes for Stritzl for $50,000 at the 2012 Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society yearling sale at Woodbine.