BUMBLIN AND A STUMBLIN’
Woodbine Thursday
Favourites bombed badly, the weird streak of horses losing their riders at the start and running loose continued and, well, it was just an odd Thursday at Woodbine.
ERUPTION OF THE TOTE BOARD
The flop of BEARURSA as the heavy, heavy favourite in race 2 led to big show payoffs when that dark bay gal did not hit the top three.
(To her credit, the pace was very slow and she was simply too far off the pace to close the small gap needed, she was not beaten far).
When VOLCANO ALLEY led all the way, fended off challenges and won the photo, the 25 to 1 shot spurred a bunch of big payoffs.
HILTON TERRACE stumbled and lost Krista Carignan which left just 4 rivals for Bearursa to beat but the pace was just too slow to overcome.
LUNAR LINDA finally won – race 3, an allowance event for Ontario sired gals. The 3yo by Perigee Moon out of Pyrite Seelct won by more than 4 lengths for the Hat Trick and Double Eagle group and trainer Ian Black. Corey Fraser is her regular rider.
The 4th race was perplexing – SUFFONCIFIED won by almost 10 lengthsin his 3rd career stat and the 2yo was 6th beaten 9 and 4th beaten 5 in 2 previous races – fading – and was 2nd time Lasix. It was hard to make a case for this Florida bred 2yo to suddenly turn his form around like that.
In race 5on the grass, HERE COMES CHRISSY reared up at the start and caused jockey Chantal Sutherland to hit her head and fall off. That claiming event resulted in a close finish between the ultra consistant COME ON LOVE (Wild Wonder) who won by inches for owner/trainer Satrohan singh.
Just missing was SOUTHERN ARCH for the Robert Tiller,
The track started to get much faster as the day went on and in the 7th race, first time strater REEL TIPSY, with lots of fast workout times for Colleen Beaumier and trainer Bobby Pion, rallied wide to win at 11 to 1. The Whiskey Wisdom gal is out of the Alydeed mare Mrs. Fisher.
TOUR OF THE CAT
CLAIMED FOR $5,000 LAST NIGHT BY RESCUE GROUP!
The MIDATLANTIC HORSE RESCUE, with the help of Fans of Barbaro, a large inernet group started by Alex Brown several years ago, got together and raised money to claim 11-year-old TOUR OF THE CAT, millionaire and stakes winner, who had been racing for 5,000 claiming last night at Presque Isle. The listed claimees were JaggerInc. and trainer JAMIE NESS.
TOUR OF THE CAT is headed to OLD FRIENDS RETIREMENT GROUP.
It was yet another example of a horse rescue/retirement group having to raise money to retire a horse – LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation did it recently with champion RARE FRIENDS.
To assist in the retirement of Tour of the Cat you can donate to:
MidAtlantic Horse Rescue
284 Great House Farm Lane
Chesapeake City MD 21915
Here is the paypal link
bev@midatlantichorserescue.org
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU SPECIFY ITS FOR TOUR OF THE CAT!!
Here is link for Mid Atlantic Horse Rescue in case you want to check them out.
http://www.midatlantichorserescue.org/
TOMORROW AT WOODBINE – GRITTANI just missed the track record in his 2yo maiden win and is a contender in the COLIN STAKES. Norm Files photo.
ALSO TOMORROW AT WOODBINE – JUST RUSHING is in the ONTARIO JOCKEY CLUB Stakes. The old timer was 3rdin last year’s WOODBINE MILE. www.horse-races.net photo.
BLOOD-HORSE REPORT
Asmussen to Fight Six-Month Texas Suspension
By Karen Johnson
Steve Asmussen, currently the country’s leading trainer in money and races won, was slapped with a six-month suspension and a $1,500 fine by the Lone Star Park stewards on July 16 for a positive urine test that contained a lidocaine metabolite in a horse he trained in 2008.
Asmussen’s attorneys immediately filed an appeal with the Texas Racing Commission, and a stay was granted late in the afternoon of July 16.
The suspension, which was scheduled to begin July 20, was meted out by the stewards after they conducted a one-day hearing on July 7.
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/51710/asmussen-to-fight-six-month-texas-suspension
ALBERTA REPORT
CALGARY HERALD
Delays at Calgary-area track frustrate horse racers
By Jason Markusoff
CALGARY – The group behind a horse racing track north of Calgary said Wednesday it’s in “serious final discussions” to cover a $70-million shortfall, but all thoroughbred owners saw in the announcement was another missed deadline for a project that was supposed to open in 2007.
Max Gibb of United Horsemen of Alberta had said he needed to secure those millions by July 15 to build the track next year near Balzac.
A land sale at the Balzac site has slightly reduced what was then an $80-million funding gap, and Gibb urged patience Wednesday from frustrated horse owners and trainers. “Our talks with two very serious (financial) groups will be positive–or not–by the end of the month.”
TODOS STATS
Computed and formed by some local horsemen, the TODOS not only give you a simply layout of a horses progression from recent races with its intricate numbers (the higher the better) but the accompanying graph is invaluable to denote horses going on or off form.
THOROUGHBLOG had quick success using and interpreting the numbers in early studies.
Almost as important is the fact that TODOS is superior in its numbers for Europeans and, with big racing days coming up at Arlington and elsewhere as the fall season approaches, these numbers will be golden.
FROM THE TODOS WEBSITE: “Todos”(pronounced Toe-doughs) is Spanish for “ALL” the name reflects our philosophy, that we are taking what we consider to be the most important variables to evaluate horses and putting them ALL into a single number.
Here’s what it has:
1. Different speed components including acceleration and speed over distance, determine athleticism
2. Class
3. Trip adjustments
4. Track adjustments (distance, surface, actual different racetracks)
Read more, learn more and join the TODOS team today: http://ca.geocities.com/kertjk@rogers.com/
