SMART STRIKE, at Lane’s End – PHOTO BY LANE’S END
SMART STRIKE
(1992 – 2015)
16 CROPS
1,431 FOALS OF RACING AGE
1,047 STARTERS
771 WINNERS
112 STAKES WINNERS
$118 MILLION PROGENY EARNINGS
Mr. Prospector – Classy’n Smart by Smarten
Owner/breeder: Sam-Son Farms
Grade 1 winner, 6 wins in 8 races, $337,376
March 25, 2015 (Versailles, KY): Two-time Champion sire in North America, Smart Strike was euthanized on Wednesday, succumbing to a case of laminitis. Smart Strike had a magnificent career at stud siring 112 stakes winners, 12 Champions, 4 Breeders’ Cup winners and 2 Classic winners. Smart Strike had been doing incredibly well for his age but recently took a turn for the worse.
“We are very saddened by the loss of Smart Strike.” said William S. Farish, owner of Lane’s End Farm. “He has been one of our flagship stallions for many years. He was an exceptional sire and his influence on the breed will be felt for a long time. I want to thank Sam Son Farm for entrusting us with his stallion career as well as the other shareholders and breeders that have supported him.”
Smart Strike was bred and raced by Sam-Son Farm and was a multiple graded stakes winner. The highlight of his racing career was at Monmouth Park when he won the Grade 1 Philip H. Iselin Handicap by 2 ¼ lengths.
The son of the Champion sire, Mr. Prospector, and out of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame mare Classy ‘n Smart, Smart Strike stud career ranks among the sports best on the track and in the sales ring. Retired to stud in 1997, he is credited with over $118 million in progeny earnings, including two-time Horse of the Year and leading sire Curlin. His offspring also include notable names such as English Channel, Lookin at Lucky, My Miss Aurelia, etc. Smart Strike was 23 and will be buried at Lane’s End Farm.
DEAR DOMUS – a Grade 1 winning 2-year-old last year, is in the UAE DERBY for Japan. He is by Jungle Pocket. Photo by MatheaKelly/Dubai racing club
DUBAI WORLD CUP ON SATURDAY MORNING
FORM GUIDE for Dubai races – http://www.dubairacingclub.com/race/racing-info/form-guide
Ontario’s own TERENCE DULAY is in Dubai shooting the World Cup card. The horse-races.net scribe shows the entrance to the draw yesterday with horses painted in the silks of World Cup winners.
Saturday, Meydan, Dubai, post time: 12:00 p.m. ET
DUBAI WORLD CUP SPONSORED BY EMIRATES AIRLINES-G1,
$10,000,000, 3yo/up, 2000m
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER
1 Prince Bishop (Ire) Dubawi (Ire) Buick bin Suroor
2 Hokko Tarumae (Jpn) King Kamehameha (Jpn) Miyuki Nishiura
3 African Story (GB) Pivotal (GB) Doyle bin Suroor
4 Side Glance (GB) Passing Glance (GB) Atzeni Balding
5 Lea First Samurai Rosario Mott
6 Candy Boy Candy Ride (Arg) Dobbs Watson
7 Long River A.P. Indy Barzalona bin Ghadayer
8 Epiphaneia (Jpn) Symboli Kris S Soumillon Sumii
9 California Chrome Lucky Pulpit Espinoza Sherman
All carry 125 pound
Turf champion MAIN SEQUENCE is in Dubai – photo by Mathea Kelly/Dubai Racing Club
AMI’S FLATTER – going in “right direction”
Canadian-bred runs in Grade 1 Florida Derby
Horse racing fans an industry members will be in for an incredible day of racing on Saturday from morning to night.
The DUBAI WORLD CUP CARD starts the day off at 8:40 a.m., highlighted by the Dubai World Cup and CALIFORNIA CHROME.
Then we move to big racing cards at GULFSTREAM and FAIR GROUNDS where Kentucky Derby contenders get in their final starts before the big race – AMI’S FLATTER, owned and bred by Ivan Dalos and trained by Josie Carroll, is in the Florida Derby field.
The son of Flatter is getting his first change in riders – JAVIER CASTELLANO takes over.
Ami’s Flatter, who scored at first asking for trainer Josie Carroll at Woodbine in November, is winless in three starts this winter but has been competitive in his three stakes appearances. The son of Flatter finished second around one turn in the mile Mucho Macho Man on Jan. 3 before venturing to Tampa Bay Downs for a fourth-place finish in the Sam Davis (G3) and a runner-up finish behind heavily favored Carpe Diem in the Tampa Bay Derby.
“He does seem to be going in the right direction. His first race at Tampa, he seemed to be a little knocked out after. His next race, he really bounced out of it well,” Carroll said.
Ami’s Flatter, who will be ridden for the first time by reigning two-time Eclipse Award winner Castellano, was equipped with blinkers for the first time in the Tampa Bay Derby.
“It focused him a bit. He’s a young colt tending to not being focused all the time,” Carroll said. “I think they helped him focus on business.”
$1 Million Besilu Stables Florida Derby
Post Position & Odds
1 – Ami’s Flatter 8-1
2 – Jack Tripp 20-1
3 – Indianaughty 20-1
4 – Itsaknockout 2-1
5 – Quimet 20-1 20-1
6 – My Point Exactly 30-1
7 – Materiality 7-2
8 – Dekabrist 30-1
9 – Upstart 8-5 8-5
QUEEN’S PLATE NEWS
While THOROUGHBLOG’S top Queen’s Plate contender AMI’S FLATTER scraps it out on the Kentucky Derby trail, other players are in steady training or racing and many are headed home to Woodbine.
BEAR AT LAST, a son of young sire Marchfield, posted a career best 73 Beyer Figure in his 5th place finish in a grass allowance race yesterday at Gulfstream. He was beaten just over 2 lengths in a race run in 1:39 3/5 for 1 1/16 miles. He is owned by Bear Stables and trained by Reade Baker.
The MARK CASSE stable, fresh of its first win in the Plate with LEXIE LOU (for an update on Lexie, see the post ‘WIDE’ on the blog..https://canadianthoroughbred.com/thoroughblog/, has a litany of contenders for this year’s race from colts to fillies.
CONQUEST BOOGALOO is working quickly, CONQUEST TYPHOON is running well, CONQUEST CURLINATE is learning and there are many others.
DANZIG MOON runs in the Blue Grass Stakes next month.
GEORGE STRAWBRIDGE’S colt SCORCH, by Candy Ride (Arg) out of the very fast sprinter Nashinda, makes his 2nd career start on Saturday at Gulfstream Park. He is trained by Mark Frostad and he was 2nd in a solid debut outing.
