TOP BEYER FIGURES OF WOODBINE WINNERS FRIDAY – MONDAY
90 – CONQUEST SWAGMAN
90 -MY ARCH ENEMY
90- SWEET ROMANCE
87 – BLACK CANARY
86 -MISS MO MENTUM
86 – SCOTTY’S MODEL
85 -MISS SAVVY
84 -GOLDEN SPEAR
Thoroughblog will catch-up with some of the winners of last week’s races.
WOODBINE OAKS – QUEEN’S PLATE UPDATES
DIXIE MOON (inside) is caught by American filly MISS MO MENTUM in the Grade 3 Selene on Saturday at Woodbine. It was a career best effort Beyer Figure wise for the Woodbine Oak contender MICHAEL BURNS PHOTO
DIXIE MOON made an impressive return to the local scene with her 2nd place finish in the Selene Stakes on Saturday at Woodbine to American bred Miss Mo Mentum and seems ready to peak for the Woodbine Oak on June 9.
Sea and Dorothy Fitzhenry’s 3-year-old daughter of Curlin looks bigger and stronger than last year when she won two stakes and she surged to the lead late in the 1 1/16 mile race only to be caught in the final stages. The time of the race was 142.36 for an 86 Beyer Figure – giving Dixie Moon an 85, the best of her career.
Catherine Day Phillips trains Dixie Moon who was ridden by Eurico da Silva.
Awaiting Ms. Moon on the Woodbine backstretch is WONDER GADOT, who was 2nd in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks the day before the Kentucky Derby, earning a 96 Beyer Figure. Gary barber’s top filly had a workout last week at Woodbine and is getting back in gear for the biggest race for Canadian-bred fillies. Mark Casse trains Wonder Gadot who was bred by David Anderson’s Anderson farms in St. Thomas, ON.
Top 5 Woodbine Oaks Contenders
1 Wonder Gadot
2 Dixie Moon
3 Avie’s Minshaft
4 Safe to Say
5 Split the Sea
The Queen’s Plate field could include the Oaks winner plus an assortment of boys coming from various parts of the continent. With the news that multiple stakes winner FLAMEAWAY is going to pass the Plate, the door is open for other Mark Casse trainees to take center stage, including the lightly raced TELEKINESIS. Owned by Barbara Banke’s Stronstreet Stables, TELEKINESIS was 2nd to My Boy Jack in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland. Telekniesis, a debut winner, had a bullet 5 furlong workout on may 18 in 59 3/5 at Keeneland and he will run in the Plate Trial on June 9.
Incredibly, Telekinesis, who was bred by Bill Graham, is by Ghostzapper, sire of the last 2 Queen’s Plate winners.
Casse also has NEEPAWA for Chiefswood Stables. This dark bay fellow raced in an allowance event on Sunday at Woodbine, a race that featured a slow early pace on a speed favouring surface and this son of Scat Daddy had to come from far off the pace and he landed 3rd. He earned a 77 Beyer Figure.
Owner and trainer NICK NOSOWENKO strapped on a set of blinkers on COOLER MIKE and the Giant Gizmo gelding led all the way in an allowance race, stealing off with the win – MR WILL WONG PHOTO (www.mrwillwong.com)
In that allowance race, the winner COOLER MIKE, with blinkers on, led all the way and lasted for a head win for Nick and Mike Nosowenko who bred the son of Giant Gizmo, Cool Mike paired up his top Beyer of 80 from a previous race with the win. (The 2nd place finisher, the American-bred March to the Arch was arguably the best horse in this race but had loads of trouble throughout the event).
The Sam-Son colt STRIKE ME DOWN has an 81 Beyer Figure from his maiden win and he is a son of Tapit.
New on the scene could be ABSOLUTION, who won an allowance race with a 72 Beyer Figure for owner Brian O’Leary and trainer Tony Gattellaro. This is a Singing Saint colt, a stretch runner, who was ridden by Alan Garcia.
REDOUTE’S LIGHT won a maiden race for Charles Fipke and trainer Roger Attfield last week with a 72 Beyer Figure.
The Thoroughblog Top 10 Plate horses are on the main page of Thoroughblog.
ALTERNATIVE ROUTE on way to Plate
Trainer Al Stall, Jr. has a plan to get Ontario-bred 3-year-old Alternative Route to the $1,000,000 Queen’s Plate on June 30 at Woodbine Racetrack, and said plans include a start at Arlington International Racecourse this month.
Owned by Spendthrift Farm LLC in partnership with Town and Country Racing LLC, the son of Tiznow is scheduled to make his next start in the Grade III $100,000 Arlington Classic on May 26 over the local turf course. A victory in this race would give Alternative Route a win over all three surfaces. Guided by Mitchell Murrill last time out, he won over the Polytrack in Turfway Park’s Rushaway Stakes on March 17 in addition to breaking his maiden on the main track at Fair rounds Race Course and Slots in January.
“He didn’t get into the (Grade II) American Turf (at Churchill Downs, May 4) and we didn’t want to ship to Canada twice – the prep for the Queen’s Plate is three weeks before,” Stall said. “We landed on the Arlington Classic. His full sister (Enstone) is a graded stakes winner on the turf. He worked nice on the turf at Churchill (a half-mile in 51.80 on April 29). [It was] kind of slow but finished up well. It’s the logical spot for us, if it rains and gets taken off the turf then that’s fine with us.”
Out of the Storm Cat mare La Suena, Alternative Route was bred by 2014 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Bill Graham. Graham’s breeding program at Windhaven has produced multiple graded stakes winners such as Joyful Victory and Uncaptured. Alternative Route was purchased last year for $265,000 by his current owner partnership at the Fasig-Tipton Florida Select 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale from the Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds consignment operation.
JUSTIFY
JUSTIFY holds on in the Preakness – Cindy Pierson Dulay photo
Preakness win was hard fought, will he become a Triple Crown winner in less than 3 weeks?
Justify’s win in the Preakness was brave and strong, albeit certainly a lot more hard fought than most thought it would be. Horses charged at him late on the quagmire that was the Pimlico main track. The Beyer Figure of 97 for the race was much lower than any of his previous four wins.
That has led for quite a division in opinion on whether the flashy chestnut son of Scat Daddy, bred by Vancouver’s John Gunther, will be able to sweep the American Triple Crown just three years after AMERICAN PHAROAH did it.
June 9 is the Belmont Stakes.
Belmont’s imposing 1 1/2 mile track, sandy surface and the sneaky New York horses waiting on the Derby champ are going to be significant hurdles
“He got a little tired. This is the hardest race that he’s had, but he was also waiting on competition. It was awful loud out there and the track’s pretty narrow and he was kind of looking and jumping tracks and doing a few things, but it was a good kind of tired. It was that kind of tired I’m hoping, anyway, and I feel like he’ll move forward.” – Mike Smith, rider of Justify
“Baffert tried and failed to pull off Triple Crown sweeps with the Derby and Preakness winners Silver Charm in 1997, Real Quiet in 1998 and War Emblem in 2002. But in 2015, he guided American Pharoah to the first Triple Crown victory in 37 years, delighting die-hard and casual racing fans alike.”
EQUINE DRUG PROCESS
Brush up on your knowledge of Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario’s process/and penalties
The positive test incurred by trainer MARTIN DREXLER on Friday May 18 for Clenbuterol (Class III) taken from a sample from May 6 winner SWEET LITTLE MAN brings up some material that horsepeople and fans alike should be familiar with.
Of course, there will not be any coverage of this positive test from media but it was interesting to follow along with fans and others who wanted to know more about what the process was following this notification to Drexler.
A positive test is immediately posted to the Race Reports section that is found on the Woodbine.com website under Horsepeople.
His horses were scratched throughout the Friday to Monday long weekend. A replacement trainer for his stable, which includes horses owned by Joey Gee Thoroughbreds, Jim Ensom and others, had to be found and paperwork submitted to the AGOC stewards to move these horses to the replacement trainer.
In this care it appears as if Ensom will be taking over the training of most of the Drexler horses.
This is the 2nd positive test for the trainer in 3 years and he was on probation for the first one for Acepromazine, Class III, in the summer of 2016.
This means that the Drexler process will be under STREAM 1 according to the chart below (after the first 4 steps).
All of this information is available in RACELINE newsletters from AGCO and on the website. Check the link and diagram below.
Please use the chart below and this AGCO link to read up on the parameters and process.
FASIG TIPTON MARYLAND 2-YEAR-OLD SALE
Day 2 set for today
A colt by More Than Ready shot to the lead late Monday afternoon and held on to top the first session of the Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training sale held in Timonium, MD.
Offered as Hip 204 by Hartley/de Renzo Thoroughbreds, the colt by More Than Ready was purchased by Mr. Ed Savant, Jr. for $750,000. Out of Canadian champion Embur’s Song, Hip 204 worked a co-fastest eighth in 10:1 during Wednesday’s under tack show (video).
First crop sire Mucho Macho Man sired the session’s second highest price. Hip 278, a colt by the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner out of Itsagiantcauseway, sold for $625,000 late in the session. He was purchased by Michael Lund Peterson from the consignment of Kirkwood Stables after working a quarter in a sharp 21:1 during the second session of the under tack show
Ontario breds entered in sale:
OUT – 194 F HAYNESFIELD DREAMINOFCARMELA GOTTCHA GOLD ONTARIO H ENDS WELL AGENT
352 C AFLEET ALEX MEANDERING STREAM GONE WEST ONTARIO I-J DE MERIC SALES AGENT
478 F MAJESTICPERFECTION ROMANTIC SONG SONGANDAPRAYER ONTARIO F-G PAUL SHARP AGENT I
522 C STREET SENSE SIWA ALYDEED ONTARIO I GRASSROOTS TRAINING & SALES LLC
550 C GHOSTZAPPER STREET DANCER STREET CRY (IRE) ONTARIO G-H ALL DREAMS EQUINE AGENT
GET YOUR TICKETS!
CTHS Awards & LongRun Ladies Lunch
It is the season to party on!!
EARLY LOOK AT THE INVESTIEC EPSOM DERBY (JUNE 2)
Smith, Tabor and Magnier’s SAXON WARRIOR (Deep Impact, a Japanese bred colt, is heavily favoured for the 239th EPSOM DERBY a week from this Saturday.
This link is a super package of race replays and notes on horses headed to the Classic:
ANDERSON-BRED COLT COMPOSES BIG WIN
GROUP 2 COVENTRY STAKES NEXT
The same day his MEXICAN HAT (co-owned by Narola LLC) won a maiden allowance at Woodbine in her first North American start, David Anderson’s $1.1 million yearling he sold last year won big overseas.
SERGEI PROKOFIEV (a Soviet composer) is headed to the Royal Ascot meeting later next month after a sharp win in a listed stakes event May 20. The Canadian/Ontario bred by Scat Daddy was the most expensive yearling sold by David Anderson since he began his full fledged Anderson Farms, taking up the reins from his late father Bob.
(Another Canadian bred 2-year-old by Scat Daddy also owned by Magnier, Smith and Tabor is VAN BEETHOVEN, bred by Ballycroy Training Centre of Steve and Kathleen Kemp who is also headed for stakes company).
Chart courtesy of Thoroughbred Daily News:
COOLMORE WAR COMMAND ROCHESTOWN S.-Listed, €65,000, Naas, 5-20, 2yo, 5fT, 1:00.80, g/f.
1–SERGEI PROKOFIEV, 129, c, 2, by Scat Daddy
1st Dam: Orchard Beach, by Tapit
2nd Dam: Song and Danz, by Unbridled’s Song
3rd Dam: Danzig Til Dawn, by Danzig
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. ($1,100,000 Ylg ’17 KEESEP). O-Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier & Michael Tabor; B-Anderson Farms (Ontario) Inc (ON); T-Aidan O’Brien; J-Ryan Moore. €38,350. Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, €53,670.
2–Andre Amar (Ire), 129, c, 2, Dandy Man (Ire)–Heaven’s Vault (Ire), by Hernando (Fr). (€15,000 Wlg ’16 GOFNOV; €38,000 Ylg ’17 TIRSEP). O-Sean Jones & David Spratt. €13,000.
3–Offline (Ire), 129, c, 2, Requinto (Ire)–Poppy’s Rose (GB), by Diktat (GB). (€4,800 RNA Wlg ’16 GOFNOV; €2,000 RNA Ylg ’17 GBSOCT). O-Mrs Christina Phelan. €6,500.
Margins: HF, 2HF. Odds: 20.00, 8.00.
Also Ran: Dandys Ocean (Ire), Izzer (Ire).
ONE YEAR EXTENSION FOR TRACKS/GROUPS WHO DIDN’T SIGN INTO LONG TERM FUNDING
Contract For Harness Horse Racing Extended After Deal Rejected
By: Adelle Loiselle (@ALoiselleNews)
After rejecting a 19-year proposal put forth by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission and Woodbine Entertainment, smaller racetracks, like the one in Leamington, have an extra year to work on a deal.
