Here is a newcomer for 2014 – a filly by CURLIN out of REGENT’N FLASHY, by Vice Regent, thus a 3/4 sister to Queen’s Plate winner BIG RED MIKE. Owned and bred by Terra Racing and thank you to Mike Romeo for the photo. Speaking of BIG RED MIKE….
Congratulations to Queen’s Plate winner BIG RED MIKE, who has a new home:
BIG RED MIKE gets a visit from Mike Romeo, his namesake. Big Red Mike has recently been adopted by his new friend Deb and he is as happy as ever!
Happy Friday – the snowbanks are super high again after another big snowfall in southern Ontario, here are some hot topics in racing to warm you up:
FULL SLATE OF STAKES FOR WOODBINE 2014
The release of the Woodbine stakes schedule for a new racing season can only mean that spring is, well, coming soon. At least that’s what it usually means.
As locals struggle through bitterly cold temperatures and piles of snow and ice during morning training at Woodbine, opening day at Woodbine is just 29 days away.
STAKES SCHEDULE FOR 2014 – QUEEN’S PLATE JULY 6
One hundred and two stakes races, worth nearly $20 million in purses, will highlight Woodbine’s 133-day Thoroughbred meet in 2014.
The Woodbine stakes schedule, unveiled today by the Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG), is highlighted by the 155th running of the Queen’s Plate. The 1 1/4-mile classic, which carries a $1 million purse, is set for Sunday, July 6.
The Plate, North America’s oldest continuously-run stakes event and first jewel in Canada’s Triple Crown of Racing, will be complemented by three turf stakes events, the Grade 2, $200,000 Highlander Stakes, Presented by Pizzaville, the Grade 2 $200,000 Dance Smartly Stakes and the Grade 3, $150,000 Singspiel Stakes.
The Ricoh Woodbine Mile, which will be televised across North America, as part of the ‘Jockey Club Tour on FOX’ series, is slated for Sunday, September 14.
The Jockey Club/Fox Tour series of races will feature several of North America’s most prestigious races for older horses.
The Ricoh Woodbine Mile, a $1 million event won in consecutive years by reigning U.S. Horse of the Year Wise Dan, caps a lucrative weekend on the world-renowned E.P. Taylor Turf Course, which kicks off on Saturday, September 13 with the Grade 2, $200,000 Natalma Stakes, for juvenile fillies and the Grade 2, $200,000 Summer Stakes, for two-year-olds.
In addition to the Woodbine Mile, Sunday’s card features the Grade 1, $300,000 Northern Dancer Stakes, for three-year-olds and upwards, and the Grade 2, $300,000 Canadian Stakes, for fillies and mares three-year-olds and upwards.
The iconic Grade 1, $1 million Pattison Canadian International, is set for Sunday, October 19. The 1 1/2-mile grass event headlines an outstanding card that includes the Grade 1, $500,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes, for fillies and mares, and the Grade 2, $300,000 Nearctic Stakes, a six-furlong turf sprint.
Woodbine will again be a part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series which features a lucrative “Win and You’re In” incentive. A score in the Natalma, Summer, Ricoh Woodbine Mile or Canadian guarantees the victor a berth in the corresponding championship event at the Breeders’ Cup (October 31 & November 1) at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.
Sunday, June 15 will be another big day at the Toronto oval. The $500,000 Woodbine Oaks, presented by Budweiser, the first leg in Canada’s Triple Tiara of Racing, is scheduled for that day. Also slated is the $150,000 Plate Trial, the country’s top prep race for the Queen’s Plate.
The victor, of the Plate Trial, and the Oaks, if an exceptional filly once again steps forward, will have three weeks to prepare for the Queen’s Plate.
The Breeders’ Stakes, third and turf gem of racing’s Triple Crown, is set for Sunday, August 17 at Woodbine. The 1 1/2-mile turf race carries a purse of $500,000.
The Woodbine meet launches Saturday, April 12, with a first-race post of 1:00 p.m. and concludes on Sunday, December 7.
CANADIAN BITS
STRONACH STABLES won a maiden allowance at Charles Town yesterday with GLENDOWER, by Ghostzapper. Later, the trainer for Straonch Stables at that track, Jose Corrales, won with former Stronach runner REAL AWESOME (Awesome Again) in an allowance race at Charles Town. Both winners are Ontario-breds.
ASSERTING BEAR, winner of the Coronation Futurity, is headed to the SPIRAL STAKES at Turfway Park next week.
TRAINERS FROM CANADA IN 2014 SO FAR – by purses
rank Name Starts Wins 2nds 3rds Purses Average per runner Win% Top3 placings %
31 Robertino Diodoro 188 54 33 29 $629,742 $3,350 29% 116 62%
25 Mark E. Casse 93 11 13 13 $697,487 $7,500 12% 37 40%
219 Josie Carroll 25 6 2 0 $153,538 $6,142 24% 8 32%
271 Nicholas Gonzalez 36 8 1 4 $125,662 $3,491 22% 13 36%
301 Ricky Griffith 33 7 4 3 $116,909 $3,543 21% 14 42%
379 Brian A. Lynch 23 3 2 5 $93,663 $4,072 13% 10 43%
417 Malcolm Pierce 10 3 0 2 $84,200 $8,420 30% 5 50%
449 Grant T. Forster 13 2 0 2 $77,610 $5,970 15% 4 31%
734 John Mattine 17 3 0 2 $44,737 $2,632 18% 5 29%
REBEL STAKES AT OAKLAWN TOMORROW
TAPITURE, he’s a Rebel – OAKLAWN PARK PHOTO
Tapiture, Strong Mandate Renew Rivalry in Rebel Stakes
Southwest Stakes (G3) winner Tapiture and runner-up Strong Mandate renew their rivalry Saturday in the $600,000 Rebel Stakes (G2) as each colt looks to solidify their position as a leading Kentucky Derby hopeful. The Rebel, which is slated as the 10th of 11 live races at 6:04 p.m., drew a field of eight for the 1 1/16-mile race, the last local prep before the $1 million Arkansas Derby April 12 and subsequent Triple Crown races.
[Tapiture worked March 11 in preparation for the Rebel Stakes]
Tapiture worked March 11 in preparation for the Rebel Stakes
Winchell Thoroughbreds’ homebred Tapiture ended his juvenile campaign by breaking his maiden when winning the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) at Churchill by 4 ¼ lengths Nov. 30 and picked his winning ways right back up when he made his 3-year-old debut in the Southwest and won by the exact same margin. He tuned up for the Rebel with an easy half-mile workout in :50 1/5 Monday and will be reunited with regular rider Ricardo Santana Jr. With five more weeks remaining in the meet, Santana Jr. has already won six stakes, including four for Tapiture’s trainer Steve Asmussen.
“We’re excited about the horse he is and his chances,” Asmussen said Wednesday morning.
Robert Baker and William Mack’s Strong Mandate will be looking to turn the tables in the Rebel after having to fight traffic and a wide trip in the Southwest. He too was making his seasonal debut after closing out his 2-year-old season with a third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). Early in his career, he actually beat Tapiture when breaking his maiden at Saratoga last August and then returned one race later to win the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes. He races for the same connections as Dublin, third in both the 2010 Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby. Jockey Joel Rosario, winner of last year’s Derby aboard Orb, returns for the mount.
“This is round two and hopefully we’ll move forward,” Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “Hopefully he’ll have a better trip than he did in the Southwest when he was compromised. It should be a good prep.”
Hoping to knock off the top two, while also picking up the 50 Kentucky Derby points allotted to the winner, are two California shippers and Southwest Stakes third-place finisher Ride On Curlin. San Vincente Stakes (G2) winner Kobe’s Back from the barn of John Sadler and Risen Star Stakes (G2) fourth-place finisher Hoppertunity from the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert arrived from California Wednesday morning.
Ride On Curlin, who won his 3-year-old debut at Oaklawn July 12 against allowance company, picks up a new jockey in three-time Kentucky Derby winner Kent Desormeaux. Jockey Calvin Borel, aboard Ride On Curlin for his last two starts, has elected to ride impressive maiden winner Street Strategy, a son of his 2007 Kentucky Derby winning-mount Street Sense. Longshots Sheltowee’s Boy and Jet Cat round out the field.
Saturday, Oaklawn Park, post time: 7:04 p.m. EDT
REBEL S.-GII, $600,000, 3yo, 1 1/16m
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Jet Cat Tactical Cat McKee Frederick 115
2 Ride On Curlin K Curlin Dsrmeaux Gowan 115
3 Tapiture Tapit Santana Jr. Asmussen 122
4 Strong Mandate K Tiznow Rosario Lukas 117
5 Hoppertunity K Any Given Saturday Smith Baffert 115
6 Sheltowee’s Boy Nobiz Like Shobiz Navarro Cox 115
7 Street Strategy K Street Sense Borel Morse 115
8 Kobe’s Back Flatter Lezcano Sadler 117
DIXIE STRIKE, not going to breeding shed yet
SATURDAY at Oaklawn, Canadian star DIXIE STRIKE aims for Azeri
AZERI S.-GII, $200,000, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Close Hatches First Defence Rosario Mott 120
2 Magic Union K Dixie Union Lezcano Sadler 118
3 Dixie Strike Dixie Union Arroyo Jr. Casse 118
4 Don’t Tell Sophia K Congaree Hill Sims 123
5 Sister Ginger Student Council Santana Jr. Asmussen 118
6 Flashy American K Flashy Bull Thompson McPeek 118
7 On Fire Baby Smoke Glacken Johnson Hartlage 118
COMMENTS FROM JOCKEY LIGHT A FIRE
Jockey RUBY WALSH, during the recent Cheltenham meeting, had some comments after the death of the horse Our Conor that have sparked an outrage from horse racing fans everywhere:
MARCH OCALA 2YO SALE – BIG MONEY
Led by a pair of colts that sold for $1.6 million, the Ocala March 2yo sale broke records on Tuesday with an increase in average of over 22% (up to over $190,000) per horse.
An Ontario bred colt by DISTORTED HUMOR ENDLESS JOURNEY by Storm Cat topped the Canadian breds at $450,000. Bred by Christine Hayden of Lucan, Ontario, the colt was a $300,000 ‘short yearling’ purchase last January by Nat Rea’s REGIS RACING.
STANDARDBRED BREEDERS LAUNCH LAWSUIT AGAINST ONTARIO LOTTERY/GAMING
Standardbred breeders from across the province of Ontario issued a Notice of Action on Monday against the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation for damages arising out of the manner in which the Slots at Racetracks Program was cancelled.
In a notice issued by the Standardbred Breeders of Ontario Association, breeders “have tried for two years to get some form of fair compensation from the government of Ontario and OLG but both have refused to compensate standardbred breeders for any of their losses although they have paid over 80 million dollars in compensation to race track owners.”
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/3-11-14/ontario-breeders-sue-olg.html
