Tomorrow is the last day of 2010 – where did it all go so fast??
CANADIAN STUFF
RED STRIKE, the undefeated Smart Strike – Hummingbird Red fellow for Sam-Son Farms, is in the WOODCHOPPER STAKES tomorrow at Fair Grounds. The Ontario bred is 2 for 2 on the Woodbine turf with Beyer Figures of 87 and 88. The Woodchopper is one mile on the grass.
From www.drf.com:
Red Strike will be making his two-turn debut after winning a maiden special weight at seven furlongs and a first-level allowance at a mile, both on turf.
“He’s done everything right,” Frostad said. “He’s shown speed, but he’s also not speed-crazy. He’ll settle.
“Hopefully, he’ll develop into a good horse. He’s out of a half-sister to Soaring Free, who made $2 million, so we have some high hopes for him.”
Soaring Free was Canada’s Horse of the Year in 2004. He raced for Sam-Son Farms, as does Red Strike, and also was trained by Frostad. Soaring Free and Red Strike are both sons of Smart Strike.
James Graham has the mount from post 9.
also..
DEBRA ROMBIS sent out Ontario bred MANLIEST to win at Mountaineer Park yesterday for $5,000 claiming. The gelding is by Ascot Knight. Later in that card, TOM GOSTLIN sent out BLUE SOLDIER to win for $5,000 claiming for non-winners of 2.
DAVE COTEY’S filly WEEKEND PASSION (Petionville) won her maiden at Penn National for $7,500 yesterday, Sam Webb is the listed trainer.
WRAY LAWRENCE won with MS SARAVA BLUE won for $10,000 claiming for listed trainer Jose Martinez. The filly had won her maiden at Woodbine for Lawrence.
WINDWAYS FARM (Jeff Begg) won the finale at Penn National for $5,000 claiming wit the Touch Gold filly ALADRA. The daughter of the mare Casual Rendezvous was winning her maiden and Layne Giliforte trains the 3-year-old.
At Charles Town, Ascot Stud’s MIKE BLAKE sent out Bold Attempt, a British Columbia bred, to win the first race, a maiden $5,000 claiming race. The Vying Victor gelding won by more than 8 lengths.
Later ASHLEE BRNJAS won with TIN PAN ALLEY CAT in a $12,500 claiming event. Brnjas, who trains for her father John’s Colebrook Farms, sent the gelding out to win and then be claimed.
In the finale, Herbert Chambers’ EXECUTIVE ANNA (Union Place) won her maiden for $5,000 claiming despite a bad start. Richard Morden trains the Ontario-bred.
Three horses that EMMA-JAYNE WILSON was to ride earlier this week when racing at Parx was cancelled, are competing on New Year’s Day – Saturday. Qual Hollow, Phineas and the 8yo horse JACKNOWS are in action on the first day of the New Year.
EURICO ROSA DA SILVA rides three horses in the next two cards at Aqueduct. The top Woodbine jockey told Thoroughblog recently that he “loves it” at the New York track.
BILL FINLEY – DISASTER AT SANTA ANITA – IT’S THE TAKE OUT MAN!!
Special to ESPN.com
When Santa Anita opened Sunday, the numbers were not pretty. They bet $11,707,276 on the first day of the 2010-2011 meet, a 21.5 percent decline from the previous year and the lowest opening-day handle since 1992. Yet, there were some excuses — primarily a blizzard in the East Coast that shut down a lot of simulcasting outlets — enough excuses to conclude that the dismal handle figure was perhaps an aberattion. The following day, $5,529,285 was bet on the Santa Anita card, but there was nothing to compare it to. There was not a comparable Monday, second-day-of-the-meet card in 2009.
There can be only one reason why Santa Anita has gotten off to such a wretched start — the takeout increase.
But on the third day of the meet, there was a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, a Wednesday card in 2010 versus the same sort of Wednesday card a year earlier. The results were almost exactly the same as they were on opening day. Again, Santa Anita got slaughtered. They bet just $4,038,175, a $1,578,842 decline from 2009. That’s a 28.1 percent drop off from a year earlier and less than Tampa Bay Downs handled on the same day.
There can be only one reason why Santa Anita has gotten off to such a wretched start — the takeout increase. It looks like horseplayers actually can be pushed too far.
When the California Horse Racing Board decided to spike the takeout at the state’s tracks to obscenely high levels (the takeout on exactas was upped to 22.68 percent) it was betting that the nation’s horseplayers would lie down and take the latest abuse heaped upon them without a whimper. People who bet on horses are notorious for failing to react when those who control racetracks and racing commissions fleece them. The CHRB figured this would be no different and that it could funnel the millions sucked out of the customers’ pockets due to the takeout increase into purses. It was all about robbing the horseplayer to pay the horse owner.
read more – http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/columns/story?columnist=finley_bill&id=5968859
AND BY THE WAY ….ECLIPSE AWARD FOR NEWS WRITING – BILL FINLEY
http://pdfs.thoroughbreddailynews.com/generic_upload/pdf/SturdierRacehorse.pdf
ECLIIPSE FEATURE WINNER – ZENYATTA STORY
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/eticket/story?page=101104/Zenyatta
SWALE FEATURE WINS ECLIPSE FOR BROADCAST
no link available from HRTV at this time
CANADA’S LEADING STALLIONS BY PROGENY EARNINGS – ONE DAY LEFT IN 2010
five years in succession for the old man, BOLD EXECUTIVE (dave landry photo)
# Stallion ’11 Stud Fee/Farm Rnrs Wnrs Rpt. Wnrs SWrs SWns GSWrs G1SWrs Chief Earner/Earnings Earnings
1 Bold Executive
Bold Ruckus, 1984 $-
Gardiner Farms, Canada 121 67 22 2 6 1 – Sand Cove
($381,704) $3,766,493
2 Milwaukee Brew
Wild Again, 1997 $-
Adena Springs Canada, Canada 140 83 31 4 9 1 1 Dr. Zic
($238,879) $2,898,323
3 Where’s the Ring
Seeking the Gold, 1999 N/A
Gardiner Farms, Canada 83 39 20 1 1 – – Gypsy Ring
($191,695) $2,802,449
4 Gilded Time
Timeless Moment, 1990 $-
Bar None Ranches, Canada 121 67 31 6 6 1 – Gayego
($331,500) $2,133,902
5 Peaks and Valleys
Mt. Livermore, 1992 $-
Gardiner Farms, Canada 103 41 17 5 6 1 1 El Inspirado
($163,925) $2,008,888
6 Sligo Bay (IRE)
Sadler’s Wells, 1998 $-
Adena Springs Canada, Canada 95 51 23 2 4 1 – Bourbon Bay
($328,800) $1,786,254
7 Trajectory
Gone West, 1997 $-
Gardiner Farms, Canada 103 35 13 1 1 – – Daniel Be Good
($133,026) $1,658,894
8 Mobil
Langfuhr, 2000 N/A
Schonberg Farm, Canada 54 23 7 – – – – Mobil Unit
($182,156) $1,592,036
9 One Way Love
Regal Classic, 1995 $-
Norse Ridge Farms, Canada 89 37 12 1 1 – – From Gray to Gold
($121,430) $1,509,878
10 Whiskey Wisdom
Wild Again, 1993 $-
Thunderbird Horse Centre, Canada 50 22 10 1 1 – – Fifty Proof
($312,606) $1,369,507
11 Cape Canaveral
Mr. Prospector, 1996 $-
Highfield Stock Farm, Canada 98 49 20 1 1 1 – Made for Magic
($148,436) $1,262,097
12 North Light (IRE)
Danehill, 2001 $-
Adena Springs Canada, Canada 57 20 9 2 3 2 1 Arctic Cosmos
($509,560) $1,227,221
13 Skimming
Nureyev, 1996 $-
Pacific Stud, Canada 85 53 23 2 2 – – Otto Von Voom
($76,940) $1,200,649
14 Vying Victor
Flying Paster, 1989 Died 2008
Canada 98 45 28 2 2 – – Ganbei
($75,386) $1,122,771
15 Perigee Moon
Hennessy, 1998 N/A
Canada 41 25 14 1 1 – – Moonlit Beauty
($153,801) $1,051,522
Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/thoroughbred-breeding/sire-lists/general/canada#ixzz19bL7OLLp
LEADING OWNERS (from www.bloodhorse.com) 2010
Rank Owner Starts Wins Places Shows Earnings Win% WPS%
1 WinStar Farm LLC 246 46 37 34 $5,179,019 19% 48%
2 Midwest Thoroughbreds, Inc. 1,148 309 219 157 $4,184,702 27% 60%
3 Claiborne Farm and Dilschneider, Adele B. 63 14 11 6 $4,163,036 22% 49%
4 Zayat Stables, LLC 397 83 77 50 $4,076,241 21% 53%
5 Repole Stable 371 92 65 50 $3,719,244 25% 56%
6 Heiligbrodt Racing Stable 688 114 114 98 $3,654,952 17% 47%
7 Edward P. Evans 156 36 29 23 $3,617,508 23% 56%
8 Ramsey, Kenneth L. and Sarah K. 470 102 70 57 $3,329,731 22% 49%
9 Wertheimer and Frere 110 28 25 13 $3,300,911 25% 60%
10 Maggi Moss 613 171 117 86 $3,273,216 28% 61%
11 Darley Stable 266 50 40 40 $2,914,205 19% 49%
12 Augustin Stable 253 46 35 39 $2,788,104 18% 47%
13 Sam-Son Farms 138 33 20 24 $2,749,606 24% 56%
14 Melnyk Racing Stables, Inc. 374 76 48 46 $2,716,550 20% 45%
15 Moss, Mr. and Mrs. Jerome S. 111 25 16 19 $2,697,333 23% 54%
16 Juddmonte Farms, Inc. 88 15 8 8 $2,670,101 17% 35%
17 Watson, Karl, Pegram, Michael E. and Weitman, Paul 30 10 8 3 $2,461,423 33% 70%
18 Jay Em Ess Stable 261 39 48 36 $2,401,289 15% 47%
19 West Point Thoroughbreds 242 48 35 36 $2,304,788 20% 49%
20 Charles E. Fipke 217 29 28 28 $2,112,763 13% 39%
Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/thoroughbred-racing/leaders/leading-owners/2010#ixzz19bLukkPE
MIAMI HERALD FEATURE – NO HAPPY NEW YEAR HERE..
A VANISHING SPORT | RACETRACKS
Horse racing losing patrons to casinos
Horse-racing tracks nationwide draw dwindling crowds, endangering the continued existence of the sport of kings.
BY LINDA ROBERTSON
lrobertson@MiamiHerald.com
The horses prick up their ears as a flamingo hue bleeds into the dawn sky. They chortle through their velvet nostrils. They nod their silky heads. The sun is rising at Calder racetrack and the horses are ready to run.
Eddie Plesa, trainer of thoroughbreds, moves around the barn with a brisk gait, from tack room, to office, to stalls. He talks to riders, grooms, jockey agents, a veterinarian and a blacksmith while overseeing a routine that never changes. There are poultices to be applied, flanks to be rubbed and a hopeless case named Malini, who runs like he’s in quicksand, to be shipped to a farm.
In Calder’s backside village, Barn 74 is the home of Edward Plesa Stables, symbolized by the black diamond P. Every day for 40 years his horses have run around the track and walked around the shedrow, generation after generation of winners and losers, round and round.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/26/v-fullstory/1989538/horses-losing-to-slots.html#ixzz19bOGccsV
WHOSE 50TH ANNIVERSARY IS IN 2011?
Canadian Thoroughbred magazine and the birth of the Dancer
from Can. Horse racing hall of fame
Northern Dancer was born 50 years ago this upcoming May 27, at Windfields Farm, Oshawa, ON
The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the year of birth of Canada’s most famous racehorse: Northern Dancer.
No other racehorse in Canada’s illustrious history captured the imagination of a country like the son of the Canadian-owned bay colt by Nearctic and Natalma.
A small muscular, chunky horse, and a late foal in the spring of 1961, the Dancer did not attract a buyer willing to invest $25,000, his reserve bid, at the annual pre-priced sale of yearlings at Windfields’ Willowdale site on Bayview Avenue. He was the smallest horse in the 1962 sales, which was the main reason why his owner and breeder, E.P. Taylor, was able to retain the world’s ultimate racing bargain, a horse that established himself as the most influential sire of the 20th century.
At age two in 1963, Northern Dancer won seven of nine starts in Canada and the United States. In his debut in the United States, he beat his nearest foe by eight lengths, then captured the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct and was named Canada’s champion two-year-old. The following year he exhibited his greatness against the leading three-year-olds in North America, winning the Kentucky Derby record time, two minutes flat, and later the Preakness Stakes. Earlier he had won the Florida Derby, Flamingo and Blue Grass Stakes. Northern Dancer triumphantly returned to Canada to win the Queen’s Plate – the only horse to win the Derby and the Plate – before retiring to stud. He won 14 of his 18 starts and was never worse than third.
In the breeding shed, Northern Dancer became the most successful thoroughbred sire of the 20th century, and one of the most influential sires of all time. His 1980’s era breeding fee of $1 million dollar has never been equalled. He sired a yearling that sold for a record $10.2 million and another that was syndicated for $40 million. A check of the pedigrees one year of the 17 starters in the Prix de l’Arc Triomphe at Lonchamp in Paris revealed that ever horse in Europe’s most famous race carried the blood of Northern Dancer. His most famous sons include Nijinsky II, Storm Bird, Danzig, Sadler’s Wells, Nureyev, Lyphard and Vice Regent.
The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame is proud to recognize the racing and breeding feats of Canada’s most famous and successful thoroughbred and a member of the inaugural class of horses to be inducted into the Canada’s Hall of Fame in 1976.
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Note: The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame will issue further releases on the life of Northern Dancer. For further information contact Louis Cauz at 416 675-3993, ext. 2399, or lzc@woodbineentertainment.com or visit www.canadianhorseracinghalloffame.com
