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)

DEC30BOLD.jpg

#    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.

-30-

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