*****11:30 A.M. UPDATE – DID YOU KNOW THAT j. Paul Reddam and Doug O’Neil have returned SQUARE EDDIE TO THE RACES AGAIN!! Retired twice, just bred 40 mares and is working at Del Mar – this is incredibly shocking…
TODAY IS MONDAY JULY 18 – PRINCE OF WALES was a great race, and a 93 BEYER FIGURE FOR PENDER HARBOUR (faster than Inglorious)..FORT ERIE WAS PACKED, it was flippin hot, tons of neat stories abound at Ontario’s beautiful little track
LUIS IS COUNTING THE MONEY
Contreras (the Count) has won first 2 legs of Triple Crown, 2 different horses, only done twice before
Only two times in the history of the combination of the QUEEN’S PLATE – PRINCE OF WALES AND BREEDERS’ STAKES (going by the first running of the Prince of Wales in 1929), has a jockey won the first two legs of the Crown on 2 different horses.
Robert Watson and Herb Lindberg accomplished the feat years ago.
No jockey has ever won all 3 legs in one year on 3 different horses.
So LUIS CONTRERAS, who is nicked The Count’ by many fans and scribes, is set for a unique accomplishment should he find a different horse to wield his magic on come Aug. 7 at Woodbine.
Yesterday at steamy FORT ERIE, and I mean STEAMY, Contreras dropped in for the day, won a turf race on Stage Trip for Roger Laurin, and then co-erced PENDER HARBOUR to win the 76th Wales by a half a head.
It was the biggest win for owners Denny Andrews, Sandra Lazaruk and Bob and Robert Giffin.
The gelding is aso the first major winner for his sire PHILANTHROPIST, who stands at Gardiner Farms, the breeder of Pender Harbour.
The Wales was a 7 horse field of 4 serious contenders and then 3 outsiders. Every colt/gelding looked smashing in the paddock but it was hard to image that CHECK YOUR SOUL, the beaten Plate favourite, was 4 to 5 early in the odds and 1 to 2 at post time. Not sure who all those people were who were plunging on Charles Fipke’s curious colt.
Once underway, Check Your Soul actually made a sharp right hand turn out of the gate under Patrick Husbands but then moved inwards and trailed the field over a strong, speed favouring track.
The 47 4/5 half mile mark was honest enough and OH CANADA, who was on the lead in the Plate much to trainer Robert Tiller’s chagrin, was loping on the lead once again. This time he looked a bit more relaxed under Krista Carignan, the darling of Fort Erie.
How exciting must it have been for Carignan to get to the eighth pole still holding off Pender Harbour and Bowman’s Causeway.
The latter was given a perfect trip by Eurico Rosa Da Silva as he kept the colt covered up until late on the turn and he charged hard with the eventual winner.
PENDER HARBOUR has been a cool story since he was playing catch up all season long. Heck, he was taken out of consideration for the Plate, the payments were not made, but then $25,000 was put up to make him eligible again to race in the Plate.
He finished 3rd and then, as predicted by many yesterday, he peaked in the Wales.
Trainer MIKE DEPAULO did a good job getting the gelding ready.
PENDER HARBOUR cost just $17,000 at auction and was bought for Andrews and co. by Gail Wood of Woodlands Farm in Hillsburgh.
TERENCE DULAY nailed the shot of the Prince of Wales finish…www.-horse-races.net
BUFFALO NEWS STORY:
Contreras rides to victory at Wales Stakes
Jockey has shot at unofficial Canadian Triple Crown after Pender Harbour’s photo-finish triumph
By Ryan Marfurt
FORT ERIE — There will not be a Canadian Triple Crown champion horse this year, but jockey Luis Contreras still has a chance at pulling off the feat on his own.
The Mexico City native won the Queen’s Plate last month and on Sunday rode Pender Harbour (1:55.74) to victory at Fort Erie Race Track in the 76th annual Prince of Wales Stakes, the middle jewel of the Triple Crown series.
“It’s amazing, I can’t believe that,” Contreras said. “When I won the first one it was big and I was excited for that. Then to come here and win this, it’s a dream come true.”
Entering the race, Pender Harbour was given 4-1 odds for the $500,000 race, second best in the seven-horse field. The chestnut gelding was purchased for $15,000 a year and a half ago and earned $300,000 with the victory.
The race started with Oh Canada taking the early lead and holding it for a majority of the race. But a late push by Bowman’s Causeway and Pender Harbour necessitated a photo finish. In the end it was Pender Harbour by a nose.
“I could feel him. He was coming hard,” Contreras said. “It was an exciting finish; I thought he got me on the last jump … I was a little bit worried, but I knew I got it at the end.”
The Giffin family, at far left, celebrate Wales win – except that they are not near the trophy! Presenters cozy up with the jock and son, who reportedly is in the winner’s circle for every one of the riders’ wins.
Cindy Pierson Dulay photo
FORT ERIE TRIP OBSERVATIONS
You won’t see many people walking around without a past performance program at Fort Erie, but what are they doing with it? The betting of $just over $1,000,000 was not too bad but and the product has been quite good and still is good through the rest of this week.
Lots of places to sit at the track, lots of happy people who love to look at the horses close up. Would like to see them educate themselves further on the game, the horses run to form and there are very few incidents during the races.
Saw some Woodbine folks from the CTHS, HBPA and ORC, not sure if any folks from Woodbine frontside were there, unless I didn’t see them. Hmmmmm.
The race did get on THE SCORE channel, only just, a soccer game (womens’ soccer!!) blew up much of the Woodbine card and only 4 minutes of the Wales feed was shown.
Nice.
While Woodbine reps were hard to find, so too was the TORONTO MEDIA….
MY NATALIE, by Running Stag, won the Fort Erie Slots Cup with Krista Carignan riding, Marty Drexler owns and trains the winner, who has won 4 consecutive races.
Terence Dulay photo
HASTINGS PARK STAKES RE-CAP
Vancouver Sun
VANCOUVER – Trainer Dino Condilenios breathed a long sigh of relief despite the fact he said he was confident that Crew Leader would win the $50,000 S.W. Randall Plate Sunday at Hastings Racecourse.
“I knew if we were on equal terms at the quarter pole we’d be okay,” Condilenios said. “Our plan was not to let St Liams Halo get away on us.” St Liams Halo was the odds-on favourite to win his fifth consecutive race but there was no holding off Crew Leader in the final jump.
Ridden by Chad Hoverson, the Swift Thoroughbreds-owned Crew Leader finished the 1 1/16 miles in a final time of 1:43.00 and paid $6.50, $2.70 and $2.20. That finishing time was just 4/5ths seconds off the long-standing Hastings record established by Coral Isle in 1973.
Condilenios said later that Crew Leader would be pointed to the $200,000 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs on August 21.
Super wiener dog Joey isn’t going anywhere. He will be spending the coming week basking in the spotlight after winning his third consecutive Schneiders Wiener Dog championship for owner Nancy Green.
DID YOU MISS THE STORY ON FOREVER GRAND, 2ND IN QUEEN’S PLATE?
http://opinion.financialpost.com/category/diane-francis/
