FLOW

 

 

HAPPY CAMPER – 90 Beyer Figure for Breeders’ Stakes winner

Garland and Marie Williamson with another good grey!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Canadian Triple Crown for 2016 has ended and three different winners won the three very unique races. And all 3 events were super fun to watch and won by some good people who loves their horses.

One of the most memorable images of the entire series includes MR KEN RAMSAY, a true sportsman and owner of Sir Dudley Digges, that cool dark bay fellow who won the Queen’s Plate as a longshot.

While Dudley did not dig the dirt at Fort Erie, he was back for the Breeders’ and ran a winning race, just getting passed late by 26 to 1 bomber CAMP CREEK, the lightly raced, improving gelding who just won his maiden in his grass debut.

As Camp Creek’s winning owners, Garland and Marie Williamson of Erin, Ontario and trainer Rachel Halden walked back to the track apron from the winner’s circle with jockey Rafael Hernandez, there was Mr. Ramsay awaiting the winners and congratulating them.

Ramsay was also instrumental in getting Rafael  out of Fairmount Park near St Louis, where he was the riding king, and getting him onto A circuit tracks. Wesley Ward and Ramsay took the talented jockey, whose uncle was also a rider, from obscurity and into a big name.

And it was Rafael’s patience and cool hands on the lightly raced Camp Creek that helped power the pair to the big Breeders’ win, the jock’s 2nd classic victory in Canada in 2 years (he won the Plate last season on Shaman Ghost).

At the very tough distance of 1 1/2 miles on the grass, a distance beyond a lot of the 11 entrants, Rafael had his grey 3-yo mount camping at the back while a solid pace was set by Scholar Athlete and Narrow Escape (24.99, 49.66).

Suddenly, an eager Amis Gizmo made a bold move inside the half mile mark and a rush of horses went with him.

Gizmo was going along well but the distance and/or the grass did not work for the classy colt and he stalled. Dudley surged to the lead while others who made busrst strated to fade.

And then the lanky and leggy son of Dunkirk – Go Go Neigh by Storm Boot turned on the jets. Camp Creek charged to the Breeders’ win at 26 to 1, winning by 1 1/4 lengths over Dudley with the closing Leavem in Malibu coming along well for 3rd. The time was 2:29.45 (as reported by Equise chart, the time displayed after the race by Trakus said 2:30.78 with very different pace fractions).

For Rachel Halden, who trained horses on her own in 2008 after 10 years as assistant to Roger Attfield, then did not have any clients until she received some horses from Chiefswood Stable in 2011, this was her second classic win (2012 Woodbine Oaks with Nipissing). Halden, from Leeds, England, is a complete horsewoman and she has learned from the best and plied her skills well.

Camp Creek is another good grey raced by the Williamsons’ Hillsbrook Farms. The couple raced Like a Gem, the 2006 Wonder Where Stakes winner, a grey by Tactical Cat who won $550,000.

Like a Gem is from the Williamsons’ mare Its a Ruby, who has been producing foals for the couple – stakes winner WIN AND REIGN and stakes placed COOL GATOR among other winners.

GO GO NEIGH, a winner who was foaled in 2002, is one of It’s a Ruby’s daughters. Go Go Neigh has had 6 foals to race for the couple including winners Lady Go Go and Precious Stone.

The mare’s 2yo of this year is the promising Hansen filly ERIN COMMODITY, 2nd in her debut recently.

LIKE A GEM is the dam of the Williamson’s superstar mare HARD NOT TO LIKE, who won the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley in 2014 and was sold for $1.5 million at auction by the couple.

DUNKIRK, who stands in Japan, is a son of Unbridled’s Song who was 2ndin the Florida Derby and Belmont Stakes and had speed but handled long distances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The biggest Beyer Figure of the day – 102 –  went to MESSI, who cleaned up in the Grade 2 Sky Classic Stakes. Edgar prado knew there was no speed in the race and set a slow cadence before letting this flashy chestnut German bred roll.

Great story on this guy – he had a serious eye surgery that saved his eye and he is back on track as a top older grass runner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOT THIS TIME, SHE’S ONLY HUMAN AFTER ALL

Catch a Glimpse’s win streak ends at 8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time and Motion turned the tables on Catch a Glimpse when she ran down the favorite nearing the wire in the $300,000 Lake Placid (G2) at Saratoga. In their previous two meetings, Catch a Glimpse had come out on top, but today jockey John Velazquez asked Time and Motion to stay closer to Catch a Glimpse and it paid off.
With rain falling at Saratoga and the rest of the races taken off the turf as a precaution, the inner turf course was still listed as FIRM. Today in the Lake Placid, which is restricted to three-year-old fillies, Time and Motion had a four pound advantage compared to their last race, the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1), when the two ran at equal weights and Catch a Glimpse won by only a half-length. Time and Motion got the victory by a neck for trainer Jimmy Toner, who had won the Lake Placid in 2002 with Wonder Again and in 1996 with Memories of Silver.
Velazquez had ridden Time and Motion in her four previous starts and won three times making a closing move from mid-pack. The Hall of Fame rider knew that he would have to try something different to beat Catch a Glimpse who came into the race with eight victories in a row. So, Johnny V. decided to say much closer to the favorite who likes to run on the lead.
“Today, I kept her on her tail [Catch A Glimpse]. Wherever she went, I was going to keep her right on her tail,” explained Velazquez. “It was a different story than last time when she was able to get away, but there was no rabbit in this race. The reason she spurted off a little bit is because she went to slip right at the quarter pole. It took five steps to get her back straight, but when I got her back together and she gained traction in the lane, she went away.”
Out of the gate, Florent Geroux put Catch a Glimpse in front and on the rail. Velazquez countered by also going to the rail and sitting in third position just a couple of lengths behind. My Impression ran in second position in the two path. These three ran the first six furlongs in 23.44, 48.58, and 1:12.78.
Velazquez moved the daughter of Tapit into second place as the mile flashed in 1:36.55 and Geroux asked Catch a Glimpse to go and she appeared to lengthen her lead. That did not last long as Velazquez had Catch a Glimpse measured and went past to a clear victory. This was Johnny V’s third win in the Lake Placid with previous tallies in 2014 with Crown Queen and 2012 with Stephanie’s Kitten.
Toner gave his take on the victory, “At the sixteenth-pole, I didn’t think we were getting by her [Catch a Glimpse] but she doesn’t quit. Catch a Glimpse is a tough filly. I didn’t think we’d get by her but she did. We had to be close. Johnny rode a perfect race and did everything right. We had to keep her in contention. There’s no way you’re going to make up five or six lengths on a filly like Catch a Glimpse. She hits that turn and she takes off. We knew it and Johnny knew it. You have to be able to execute it and she was able to do it.”
Mark Casse, trainer of the second place finisher said, “She ran well, I’m proud of her. She tries so hard and she runs so hard. Even Secretariat got beat here. It happens. A better filly beat her today.”

CUP DAY AT FORT ERIE..

Andy Passero, Bob Summers remembered

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NICK COSTA PREVIEW – A trio of $30,000 cup races involving the best thoroughbreds on the grounds at Fort Erie Race Track highlight the Tuesday program, with first race post time beginning at 4:15 pm.
Horses competing in the Andy Passero and Bob Summers Memorial Cup races, the former for fillies/mares, the latter for colts/geldings, both held at 6 1/2 furlongs, and the Molson Cup, for fillies/mares going 1 1/16-miles on the turf, require horses to have raced twice at Fort Erie this year to be eligible to compete for the top prize.
However, with racing limited to just two days a week, trainers have been in a tight spot to get their horses into the starting gate twice. Some horses competing in the Cup races on Tuesday have been raced at unfamiliar distances, raced against the opposite sex, or returning on short rest, just to get the required second start to become eligible.
Trainer Nick Gonzalez Jr., who struck twice on Cup day last year with, Two Brews To Go in the Andy Passero and English Holiday in the Molson Cup, brings both runners back for an opportunity to repeat.
Two Brews To Go, Fort Erie’s Top Female Sprinter and Horse of the Year in 2015, when she won four races at the Fort, has won only once from five starts this year, with three starts against the colts, including her lone victory. “Races for the girls weren’t filling, so I had to put her in against the males so I could get races into her.” said Gonzalez. The young trainer, following in the footsteps of his trainer parents, Nick Sr.and Martha, added “There are a couple of tough opponents in here. I feel it’s a far tougher group than last years field. She came out of her last race well, and we are hoping to repeat.”
English Holiday, Fort Erie’s Turf Female of the Year in 2015, also has one victory this season. Gonzalez had this to say about his turf champion. “It’s been a tough luck year as far as getting her into the right races, but she’s in great shape, and I feel her most recent prep, a solid fourth-place effort against the boys, has put her in a nice position to defend her title.”
Jockey Bryce Alderson will have the mount on both runners. Alderson was teamed with Two Brews To Go last year in the Andy Passero, and together they rallied to win by three-quarters of a length at odds of 49-1.
The 27-year old Gonzalez, who was practically raised in his parent’s barn on the Fort Erie backstretch, did not have a runner in the 2015 edition of the Bob Summers Memorial, but this year, the young conditioner will saddle recent acquisition, Lord of Greatness, for the race. Before being claimed last month, the 10-year old horse had spent his entire career racing at Woodbine. Lord of Greatness has had two starts for Gonzalez, both over the Fort Erie turf course. “They (owners) claimed him with intentions of running him in this race and now here we are.” Gonzalez said. “He’s an old horse, but when he shows up, he’s as tough as anybody. The old boy knows how to win races (18 lifetime wins). He was winning races before I was training.”

read the entire preview by NICK COSTA at
http://www.horseracingnation.com/blogs/Trackside/Fort_Erie_2016_Cups_Runneth_Over_123#