CHILL

TRAINER GAIL COX captured this image of training at Woodbine during some snow flurries Tuesday morning – thank you Gail!

CHASING 221 – PART 5

Thoroughblog follows Eurico Rosa da Silva on his quest to challenge Mickey Walls’ record of 221 wins in one Woodbine meeting

A bitter chill sets on southern Ontario for a couple of days this week. Racing at Woodbine tonight will take place in arctic cold temperatures close to -20 with the wind chill.

The tale of the tape for Eurico heading into Day 117 of the Woodbine season is:

204 wins – 17 to tie – 17 cards of racing remain

Tonight his mounts are:
2 Claiming Groundhog Day Lorne Richards
4 Claiming Love That Lute Norman McKnight
6 Allowance  Real Coal Michael Mattine
7 Claiming  Classic Cotton Norman McKnight
8 Claiming  Cool Catomine Norman McKnight

TOP 3-YEAR-OLD SKY PROMISE IN ZIA DERBY TODAY

Canada’s top 3-year-old male, SKY PROMISE, steps into deeper waters this afternoon when he competes in the ZIA PARK DERBY, worth $250,000 (US).

The Kentucky-bred, claimed by Canadian trainer Robertino Diodoro for Rick and Clayton Wiest, Norman Tremblay and R6 Stable for $40,000, won the unofficial Western Triple Crown. Alberta rider Rico Walcott will ride the colt by Sky Mesa.

10th Race – Zia Park – Wednesday, November 21st, 2018
STAKES. 1 1/16 Miles Dirt. Purse $250,000. Zia Park Derby. FOR THREE YEAR OLDS. . (04:03PM – 7:03 EST)
Wager Types: $1 Exacta / .50 Trifecta / .50 Super Hi- 5 Jackpot/ 2nd Half Late Daily Double 3rd Leg Pick 3/ 4th Leg Pick 4

1 Limation (KY) 6/1 Ricardo Santana, Jr. 122 3 C L Steven M. Asmussen
2 Air Strike (KY) 7/2 Florent Geroux 120 3 C L Philip D’Amato
3 Nanoosh (KY) 20/1 Orlando Mojica 120 3 C L Robertino Diodoro
4 Analyze This Jet (KY) 12/1 Sasha Risenhoover 122 3 G L Terry Eoff
5 Restrainedvengence (KY) 10/1 Alonso Quinonez 122 3 G L Val Brinkerhoff
6 Yulong Warrior (FL) 6/1 Evin A. Roman 122 3 C L Doug F. O’Neill
7 Sky Promise (KY) 4/1 Rico W. Walcott 122 3 C L Robertino Diodoro
8 Combatant (KY) 5/2 Alfredo J. Juarez, Jr. 120 3 C L Steven M. Asmussen
9 All Out Blitz (KY) 15/1 Martin Garcia 118 3 C L Simon Callaghan

Owners: 1 – Michael Langford; 2 – Madaket Stables LLC, Slam Dunk Racing and Michael Nentwig; 3 – Zayat Stables, LLC; 4 – Johnny B. Evans and Terry Eoff; 5 – Kelly Brinkerhoff and Bob Grayson, Jr.; 6 – Yuesheng Zhang; 7 – Rick Wiest, Clayton Wiest, R6 Stable and Norman Tremblay; 8 – Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Willis Horton Racing LLC; 9 – Kaleem Shah, Inc.

JAPAN CUP SUNDAY – Watch and wager HPIBet.com, beginning 8 p.m. Sat. night

THUNDERING BLUE, 2nd in the Canadian International to Desert Encounter, takes part in the Japan Cup – TERENCE DULAY – HORSE-RACES.NET PHOTO

The top action returns to Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday, Nov. 25, with the 38th running of the Japan Cup, the last Japan Cup of the Heisei Era. The international icon was begun nearly four decades ago to help raise the level of Japan’s horsemen and horses and it has helped accomplish that for the home team, which has fielded the winner for this race the last 12 straight years.

Fifteen horses, including only two raiders from abroad and one from local-government-sponsored NAR racing, will take on the 2,400-meter turf event at Tokyo Racecourse. The foreign hopefuls are both grays, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Irish-bred Capri, a 4-year-old Galileo colt who captured the Irish Derby and the St. Leger last year and ran fifth in the Prix de l’Arc Triomphe this year, and the American-bred Thundering Blue, a 5-year-old gelding by Exchange Rate trained by the England-based David Menuisier and coming off a second in the Oct. 13 Grade 1 Canadian International Stakes at Woodbine.

The 2018 home team, as usual, boasts many of Japan’s best equine athletes, including this year’s filly triple crown champion and expected race favorite Almond Eye. Seven other Grade 1 winners have been nominated – among them, last year’s Japan Cup winner Cheval Grand, Osaka Hai champ Suave Richard, Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) victor Kiseki, Kikuka Sho and Arima Kinen (Grand Prix) winner Satono Diamond and Hong Kong Vase and Takarazuka Kinen winner Satono Crown.

The 2,400-meter turf course at Tokyo is one of Japan’s toughest and winning the Japan Cup is a formidable achievement, both on the turf and at the betting windows. In the past 20 runnings, the favorite has only won six times, but figured out of the top three only three times. Double-digit longshots have only made the top three spots four times over the same period.

The Japan Cup is Race 11 and the final race on the Sunday card at Tokyo Racecourse. Post time is 15:40 local time.

Here are the expected popular picks:

Almond Eye: Sprint champion Lord Kanaloa has been missed, but his daughter Almond Eye has made her own name and extended her winning streak to five with victory in the Shuka Sho on Oct. 14. Her conquest of this year’s filly triple crown – the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas), Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), and Shuka Sho – and over ¥490 million earned in 2018 alone, have put her name at the top already. If she wins on Sunday, she’ll rewrite Gentildonna’s record from 2012 and become the top-earning 3-year-old filly of all time and only the second 3-year-old filly to win the Japan Cup. As Gentildonna did, Almond Eye goes into the Japan Cup having never competed against older male horses. From the accolades jockey Christophe Lemaire has bestowed on Almond Eye, who only has missed the winner’s circle once in her six career starts, chances are good the older boys will be facing a tough challenge. Almond Eye took on the Shuka Sho after five months off, with her weight up 14kg from the Japanese Oaks and at her highest yet, but she delivered the goods from the rear of the pack with a burst of speed up the outside to win by a length and a half. And, although the filly triple crown races had her racing under 55kg, this time out she will enjoy the lightest assigned weight of the field – 53kg. Lemaire, who has been partnered with Almond Eye for all but one of her outings, and who leads the other jockeys by a mile and then some for wins this year, is slated to be in the saddle Sunday.

Read more – http://japanracing.jp/_news2018/181120.html