Reminder – it’s ARC day at Longchamp, curl up and watch the French races before heading out to Woodbine for a huge day with the Grey and Mazarine Stakes. Come see the Conquest Stables runners and their challengers.
**The Talkin Horses team will be on site all day as we prepare for the next episode of Canada’s most exciting horse racing TV show – come say ‘Hi’!’
THERE ARE NO WORDS:
Okay, well there are a few. WISE DAN was meeting quite a tough field for the Shadwell Mile on Saturday at Keeneland. The track’s first 1 million race. And then he turned his head to the right before the gates opened.
More than a few of us gasped when this happened and suddenly the champ was last and pulling his rider John Velasquez hard as he tried to get close to the leaders. The front runner, Silver Max, who has beaten Dan when he was on the pace, was going 24.58 and :48.27, unopposed.
Wise Dan appeared beaten off the turn – even Grand Arch, the Woodbine based gelding, was well in front as he ran a huge race.
And then Dan turned it on. Just watch:
HO-LEIGH! MELNYK, JOSIE CARROLL AND GARY THE BAKER to Breeders’ Cup
Nothing like a couple of stakes wins, graded ones, to cure what ails you. Trainer Josie Carroll, only recently released from hospital with an illness, sent out last year’s champion 3yo filly in Canada, Leigh Court to win the Thoroughbred Club of American Stakes at Keeneland on Saturday, a Win and You’re In Race. The Kentucky bred 4yo was only making the 2nd start of the year, having won the Seaway at Woodbine in August. She is by Grand Slam out of the winning mare Padmore (French Deputy) and is a Kentucky bred half sister to Barracks Road.
Leigh Court was one of about 10 horses that owner Eugene Melynk kept after he sold all of his horses in the last year.
So it was amazing then that a little while later, Melnyk’s LUKES ALLEY, a Canadian-bred 4yo colt by Flower Alley, won the Grade 3 Durham Cup over His Race to Win and Alpha Bettor. This colt was making his 3rd start of the year and he had just won an allowance race. It was his 2nd stakes attempt (his previous one was on a boggy turf at Hawthorne when he was 6th).
The pace was slow in the Durham Cup but the winner and runner-up came from well off the pace and very wide to beat Are You Kidding Me, who was 3rd and set the pace.
More from the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes:
Quotes about LEIGH COURT – – “It’s the first time she’s ever been covered up on me. She’s always been kinda on the lead and doing it easy. Today the dirt broke a little bit away from her, in her face, but it didn’t bother her. She just cruised on up the inside, then I got outside the pocket. She had her ears half-cocked, and I said, ‘Well I have a ton here.’
“She’s just a super nice filly. It’s hard to get a line on her ‘cause I hadn’t ridden her on the dirt and didn’t know what to expect, but I’ve been telling Josie she’s as good as I’ve ever sat on and she showed it today. She’s just a tremendous filly.” – Gary Boulanger
“(Breeder and owner Eugene) Melnyk was hoping for a horse for the Breeders’ Cup. We sat down and talked about it, and we thought this was the best direction to take to get there. It worked out just fine.” – Josie Carroll
LEIGH COURT – Gary Boulanger, Josie Carroll and owner.breeder Eugene Melnyk on to the Breeders’ Cup with last year’s champion 3yo filly in Canada. – KEENELAND PHOTO
BEYER FIGURES FROM STAKES RACES YESTERDAY:
Wise Dan,, 103; Carpe Diem, 91; Dayatthespa, 102; Leigh Court, 99; Lukes Alley, 97; No Nay Never, 91.
Super Michael Burns image of LUKES ALLEY (right) winning the Durham Cup Grade 3 over His Race to Win. One of 2 graded SW’s for Eugene Melnyk and trainer Josie Carroll on Saturday. Luis Contreras won 4 races on the card after just missed on a Melnyk 2yo earlier in the day that had a world of trouble – could have been 5!
CONQUEST OUT TO CONQUER MORE AT WOODBINE TODAY
The duo of CONQUEST HARLANATE and CONQUEST TYPHOON will try and double up their graded stakes wins in 2yo races at Woodbine as they go in the Grade 3 Mazarine and Grade 3 Grey Stakes today at Woodbine.
It is another super card of racing at Woodbine with all kinds of champion implications on the lines once again.
This did not go well for the previously unbeaten Canadian-bred CONQUEST TSUNAMI in the Breeders’ Futurity on the dirt as he faded to 6th but his 2yos today are already in the Breeders’ Cup Turf races for juveniles.
And you have to read this in-depth story of Ernie Semersky and Dory Newell’s Conquest Stables from Daily Racing Form:
Trainer Mark Casse remembers exactly the day he met Ernie Semersky. It was July 8, 2012, and Casse was at Churchill Downs. Donnie Richardson, then a Churchill racing executive as well as Casse’s friend, paved the way for the introduction.
“Donnie told me he had a guy who was maybe interested in buying a horse,” Casse said.
Yes – Ernie Semersky was interested in buying a horse. In fact, he has been interested in buying lots of them.
http://www.drf.com/news/conquest-stables-out-conquer-racing-world
Ernie Semersky engages fans through Facebook and Twitter with fun illustrations and updates. These photos are Michael Burns images from Woodbine – Conquest Harlanate (bottom) and Conquest Typhoon
