Pink Lloyd Back in the Circle
Eurico said it was his fault. Trainer Robert Tiller explained the horse came out of the race with a temperature.nNeither mattered on Sunday as 2017 Horse of the Year Pink Lloyd rallied to win the Grade 3 Vigil Stakes in a more Lloyd-like 101 Beyer Speed Figure.
“Last time, I take the blame. I made a bad decision,” noted da Silva. “He broke so sharp and I was very confused if he broke through the door or not. In that split second, I lost my focus. I told Bob (Tiller) I take full responsibility. I went to the lead with a horse that was a speed ball.”
On Sunday, a professional Pink Lloyd relaxed behind rivals as the multiple stakes winner and graded stakes placed Yorkton set a strong pace of :22.11 and :44.93 with Jacks Escarpment stalking from second position.
Pink Lloyd, travelling well from the outside post in a field of six, was urged into contention late in the turn and swept by the field for a two-length win. Yorkton held second by 2 1/4-lengths over Jacks Escarpment. Pink Lloyd covered six furlongs in 1:09.26.
“This horse, he’s a super horse. He was running relaxed. In the turn, it was over. When you need him, he’s there for you,” said da Silva, who took the G2 Royal North Stakes earlier on the card with Way to Versailles. “The post position really helped. But, he was very quiet inside the gate today. He was very relaxed. I want to thank the gate crew, they are wonderful people and always do their best for us.”
Tiller considered skipping the Vigil Stakes following Pink Lloyd’s post-Shepperton illness.
“Two days after the race he hit 102.1 and a normal temperature for a horse is 99.9,” noted Tiller. “We weren’t really going to run him in this race, but he was so good this week that we had to run him.
Pink Lloyd, bred in Ontario by John Carey, banked $90,000 in victory while improving his record to 15-1-1 from 18 career starts. He has earnings of about $900,000 and was a $30,000 CTHS Ontario yearling purchase.
STOLEN IDENTITY on his way to a huge debut win at Woodbine – Ademar Santos in the saddle – thank you Mr Will Wong for the photo
More from Woodbine
For the second time in just over a week, Bill Tharrenos sent out a first time start to win big. Following the win by Not So Quiet, a 3yo, recently, Stolen Identity won on Sunday as most predicted. (Read more below in Yearling Sale Note)
Eurico Da Silve is closing the gap leading jockey gap. There are just five wins separating Rafael Hernandez and Eurico da Silva heading towards Aug. 1, the 50th day of racing. Da Silva won 3 of the 4 stakes races on the weekend including the Grade 3 Royal North in an upset on Way to Versailles, trained by Kevin Attard for Moody Pootalal.
After the top 2 jocks, there are 3 others very close together in wins and then a big gap to the rest of the field.
Rafael Manuel Hernandez 377 86 63 47 $2,760,128
Eurico Rosa Da Silva 317 81 66 40 $3,148,251
Patrick Husbands 247 50 43 43 $2,164,202
Luis Contreras 333 48 57 55 $2,138,423
Gary Boulanger 285 45 35 38 $1,943,446
David Moran 247 16 22 33 $805,161
Alan Garcia 137 16 17 14 $675,856
Much like the jockey race, the trainer’s race shows that a few win most of the races:
Mark E. Casse 245 — 55 37 37 $3,039,667
Norman McKnight 145 — 50 28 20 $1,409,334
Robert P. Tiller 108 — 25 11 16 $855,227
Kevin Attard 100 — 17 17 9 $593,358
Nicholas Gonzalez 82 — 15 13 9 $351,672
Jim Ensom 67 — 15 11 9 $339,382
Taking Care of the Turf – With so many races being carded on the Woodbine grass, it is not surprising that the course is getting a little used. A note on the Sunday Senior’s Race Report from AGCO noted that the Track surfaces division at Woodbine has requested the racing department not schedule more than three grass races a day:
Followed up with a complaint regarding entries for Wednesday August 1/18. Spoke with Race
Secretary Stuart Slagel regarding the issue. He informed us that racing surfaces did inform the
race office around 12:00 pm that they were not able to properly attend to the Turf surface if there
was not a break in between races and ask that only 3 turf races be carded for the day. The turf
course needs to be stomped and divots filled after each race to ensure the safety of the horses
and riders. There were five races listed for turf in the condition book and a decision was made to
call two of them off and a carry-over was used that had filled. This is not a common practice but
there were extenuating circumstances in this instance and it was realized that communication
between racing surfaces (Maintenance) and the race office need to be upgraded
BEAR’SWAY back to breeder – Graded stakes placed BEAR’SWAY, a 5yo by Tizway, was vanned off recently at Woodbine and he is now living with his breeder, Tapestry Stud LLC.
TOP WINNING BEYER FIGURES IN CANADA LAST WEEK
101 – PINK LLOYD
95 – EMINENT FORCE (turf)
94 – WAY TO VERSAILLES (turf)
91 – WYATT’S TOWN
91 – GLACIER
90 – STORMY RUSH
96 – MARCH TO THE ARCH (turf)
83 – VANISH (turf)
BIG WEEKEND FOR CANADIAN-BREDS
(Photo) RANSOM THE MOON won the GRADE 1 BING CROSBY Stakes at Del Mar for the 2nd year in a row.
Bred by Sam-Son Farms, the Malibu Moon – Count to Three, Red Ransom 6-year-old has won $848,000 and is an early favourite for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
CHANNEL MAKER, last year’s Champion Three-Year-Old in Canada, had to share a win but no doubt Gary Barber and Wachtel Stable will take it. On Saturday, the son of English Channel, bred by Ivan Dalos, dead-heated for the win in the Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes with 22 to 1 shot Glorious Empire. Channel Maker, who had not won a race since the Breeders’ Stakes last season, has also not raced at Woodbine since then.
I LIKE MIKE!!
Photo by Balilni – Courtesy Jim Phillips – Will ‘O Wind HT 2018
Support LongRun with a little donation in the name of Mike
Mike is a grand looking 5 year old Thoroughbred gelding, full brother to Champion Pender Harbour, who will be competing in the 2018 Thoroughbred Makeover this October and, like his brother, Mike is looking forward to helping his fellow retired racehorses through LongRun’s “I Like Mike” campaign. Mike’s owner, Jim Phillips, would like you to donate to LongRun in Mike’s name – 100% of all donations will go directly to LongRun to help support our fifty plus retirees and JIM WILL GENEROUSLY MATCH ALL DONATIONS UP TO $15,000!
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for LongRun so please help by donating! For more details, visit Mike’s website, which will track his journey.
START SHOPPING!
CTHS Ontario Yearling Sale Catalogues out
STOLEN IDENTITY was one of the most impressive 2yo debut winners at Woodbine in the early months of summer, taking a maiden allowance on Sunday with a 66 Beyer Speed Figure. As a $19,000 sales purchase last year by Barbara and Jim Wright and Alan Alber, this Old Forester fellow looks like a bargain.
Now also owned by Hugh Galbraith and Natural Eight Stable, Stolen Identity is from the mare Harbour Vixen, by Rockport Harbor. The mare was unraced and this is her 2nd foal. Minshall Farm bred the gelding and you can by the yearling half sister fro this year’s sale. Hip 122 is a filly by Souper Speedy offered by Woodlands Farm for Minshall Farm.
There is a litany of nice pedigrees in the book of 275 Canadian bred yearlings. Just a few include a half brother to Cooler Mike, 3rd in this year’s Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales, by Big Screen and siblings to Bison City Stakes winer SAFE TO SAY, 2017 Prince of Wales winner COOL CATOMINE and previous Woodbine Oaks winner ACADEMIC.
JOHN GUNTHER’S UNBEATEN WITHOUT PAROLE
Gropu 1 Sussex on Wednesday/Goodwood
Vancouver’s John Gunther, breeder of Triple Crown winner Justify (now retired), owns unbeaten WITHOUT PAROLE, by Frankel. The colt goes for a big one on Wednesday at Goodwood in the Sussex Stakes against Expert Eye.
Frankie Dettori is suspended so Andrea Atzeni is the colt’s new rider. Read more here.
WONDER GADOT’S UNPRECEDENTED JOURNEY TO THE TRAVERS
GOOD MAGIC, unraced since he was 4th in the Preakness, is the boss now that Justify has been retired. He smoked ’em in the Haskell at Monmouth on Sunday – VANESSA NG PHOTO – HORSE-RACES.NET
I wonder, where does Gadot fit with some of the other 3-year-olds in the US?
Well her 92, 95, 98, last 3Beyer Figures compare favorably to TENFOLD‘s Jim Dandy Stakes win over Canadian bred Flameaway on Saturday.
Tenfold, by Curlin, posted a 93 Beyer Figure according to Daily Racing Form. the same number earned by Flameaway who was just 3/4 of a length behind.
VINO ROSSO, flying past both runners but just a couple of strides late, also earned a 93.
The Haskell was run on Sunday and GOOD MAGIC, the champion 2-year-old of last year who chased Justify this spring, romped to victory by 3 lengths in 1:50 for 1 1/8 miles. His Beyer was 98 and previous races were a 95 and 99. He had been 2nd in the Kentucky Derby and 4th in the Preakness and was coming off a short layoff for the Haskell for trainer Chad Brown. He is also a son of Curlin.
HOFBURG, another top 3yo colt, posted a 100 beyer Figure when winning the Curlin Stakes for trainer Bill Mott last week.
Now, as far as other 3yo fillies are concerned, MONOMOY GIRL rules that roost with Beyers of 98 98 97 in her last 3 races and 5 wins in 5 starts in 2018, 4 Grade 1’s.
She has beaten Wonder Gadot twice.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — It’s easy to see why having the filly Wonder Gadot run against males in the Travers Stakes on Aug. 25 would be a boon to Saratoga Race Course.
On Sunday morning, trainer Mark Casse made the case for why it would be in his filly’s best interests, too.
No female horse has run in the Travers, the biggest race of the Saratoga meet, since 1979. No filly has won it since 1915.
After capturing the first two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown at Woodbine in Toronto, Wonder Gadot was supposed to run in the Alabama on Aug. 18, but after the Tenfold won the Jim Dandy on Saturday, Casse, who saddled runner-up Flameaway, introduced his star filly as a Travers serious candidate.
