HAVELOCK, the horse wins battle while town is battled
Some may still be saying, ‘who the hay is Havelock’ but the gritty fellow won a wild finish in the GRADE 2 Play the King Stakes yesterday, a race that proved that fresh and good form horses are best and hype doesn’t work.
The winner, a shipper for trainer Darrin Miller for Maryland Farm SILVERTON HILL (http://silvertonhill.com/) – is seemingly named for a town in North Carolina that was pummelled by Hurricane Irene on the weekend.
Havelock stormed up the inside to win the 7 furlong dash with a 93 BEYER SPEED FIGURE.
But there was not much separating him and and the overachieving RIDING THE RIVER (once in a $16K claiming race), FATAL BULLET, the Horse of the Year from 2 years ago who continues to slug it out), GYPSY RING, getting really good now and the very unlucky GRAND ADVENTURE, who had a horrible trip and could have been a lot closer.
Added Miller, “We’ve been targeting sprints and turf. Arlington’s close to home and this (race) looked like the next
logical place to try, to step up and try a graded race with him. It’s fallen in place for us. (After this race) We were just going to take a step back and go to the Maryland race. It was sort of next on his schedule. I’m sure we’ll toss it around (going onto the $1 million Ricoh Woodbine Mile on September 18). Before (this race) I would have said no, but considering the way he gutted it out today, we’ll think about it.
“A great effort on the horse. He’s a never-say-die kind of horse. That’s the beautiful thing about him. Jermaine, for whatever reason, gets along fantastic with this horse. He has not put a bad ride on him. Jermaine made the right call, putting him where he needed to be, called on him and the horse ran for him.”
COURT OF THE REALM has gone over the top of his form despite a lot of press from earlier wins. He was sawed off late from the inside but was not going to threaten anyway.
SILVERTON HILL – TOMMY AND BONNIE HAMILTON
Tommy founded Nally & Hamilton Enterprises, Inc., a coal surface mining company in Eastern Kentucky and Virginia … He has mined coal for 30 years and is the President of the company… Bonnie worked for 25 years as a surgical scrub nurse for a group of neurosurgeons in Owensboro, Ky. She now works on the farm full-time …Tommy splits his time between the coal company and the farm, and they are both hands-on farmers … Tommy served on the board of trustees at St. Catherine College in St. Catherine, Ky. from 2000-2003 … Has won many awards with his bird dogs in field trials … Won champion shooting dog awards in 1997 and 1998 with Ch. Hamilton’s Blue Diamond, named after the Blue Diamond Coal Company, a firm he purchased and turned around
Racing Background: The Hamiltons have raised Saddlebred show horses for many years and raised and showed CH Yes It’s True, who won the World Championship in the Three Gaited Division in 1998… They later sold CH Yes It’s True to help get them started in the Thoroughbred business …. Retained Darrin Miller as their private trainer in 2001 after he broke horses for them at Nick de Meric’s training center in Ocala, Fla. …. Previously used Carl Bowman and had a scattered operation, but Miller centralized their racing in Kentucky and they bought Silverton Hill Farm in Springfield, about an hour south of Louisville …
OH BOY – weird results continue at Woodbine
It’s that time of year when you need to have an open mind and be creative in your handicapping at Woodbine – the results this past week have been nothing short of wacky.
Yesterday, PICK 4’S paid $8,000 plus (first Pick 4) and $800.oo, not bad for a tough day of ‘capping.
DON’T SEND A BOY, a 2yo by Compadre – Oh My Surprise that cost about $4,000 at the local sale last year, kicked things off with a 19 to 1 win in a maiden allowance, race 4.
This guy was coming off 2 dull runs and then a bolting incident last time but the firsters in the race were not that great and, well, the winning Beyer of 64 was some 40 points better than this guy has ever run.
Mike Coll and Martha Gonzalez were the winning owners and Emma-Jayne Wilson rode.
Hey, hip no. 313 a week from this Saturday is a full brother to this one, bred by Danny Zita.
SHAKESPEARE’S BREW (76 Beyer) was one of the more impressive 2yo winners of the meeting when he took a maiden turf allowance yesterday for Meadow Oaks LLC (Jason Justice), Frank Justice and trainer KEVIN ATTARD.
The owners are part of DELL RIDGE, in Kentucky, which raced the sire, SHAKESPEARE.
The Ontario bred is out of the champion Canadian mare BRUSQUE, who has only had 4 minor winning foals to this point.
ONTARIO SIRE NORTH LIGHT (IRE) has big winner
CELTIC NEW YEAR won the DEL MAR HANDICAP -grade 2 yesterday for owner MIKE JAWL to become the latest big winner for Adena Springs stallion NORTH LIGHT (IRE).
Celtic New Year, a buy-back from Hidden Brook consignment for Adena Springs at $19,000, has raced for Mike Jawl throughout his career and he was only recently racing for a $50,000 claiming price.
The 4yo gelding is from the winning mare REGGAE QUEEN, a half sister to turf champion PERFECT STING (both out of the mare Valid Victress).
There is one NORTH LIGHT yearling in the select sale next Monday – hip. 52.
