WWW.HORSE-RACES.NET PHOTO, BRERETON JONES and his filly BIOFUEL. Jones had never seen the filly run and he lured a crowd when he lunched at Woodbine.
POWER UNLIMITED
Biofuel charges to victory
It looked a bit grim for champion BIOFUEL as the LA LORGNETTE Stakes unfolded yesterday on a very warm day at Woodbine.
With her owner/breeder BRERETON JONES watching her in person for the first time (and visiting Woodbine for the first time) Biofuel was outrun behind slow pace of 25 1/5 and 50 1/5 and was under a bit of a ride on the final turn.
But Eurico Rosa Da Silva was never worried and once he gave the filly her cue, she mowed down front runner Moment of Majesty and kept eventual runner-up Ernfold at bay.
The time of 1:45 2/5 good for an 82 Beyer Figure.
The track seemed to be a whole lot slower than it was on Sunday when horses were racing 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 and 6 furlongs in 1:08. Yesterday, the 1:44 run by Queen’s Plate hopeful ARTIC FERN got virtually the same Beyer Figure as the 1:42 on Sunday posted by Embur’s Song (read more about Artic Fern below).
BRERETON JONES was thrilled with his filly’s score and looks forward to the Stormin Fever miss heading to the U.S. to tackle graded stakes company.
Jones was a popular visitor at Woodbine yesterday and he attracted quite a bit of attention. He has sent more horses to Woodbine to race in the future.
FERN IS NOT BUSH LEAGUE
Look out, there is a new kid on the Plate block. ARTIC FERN (yes, his name is not spelled the Canadian way Arctic) scooted way on the pace after setting slow fractions and won an allowance race that featured the very much hyped MOBILIZER.
ARTIC FERN is a Langfuhr – Wood Fern homebred for Gus Schickedanz, who brought a whole flock of people to the track yesterday to see his fast improving gelding.
Fast is right – he started slow but raced the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44 good for a whopping 97 Beyer Figure, putting him at the head of the class for Plate boys.
Trainer Mike Keogh has battled shins problems with the gelding but he has brought him along very well. The gelding’s dam is a full sister to Plate winner WOODCARVER so the family tree is ready to help move Fern along to the Plate.
Daily Racing Form’s Bill Tallon talked to Keogh before the allowance race.
“He was working nicely (last year), but we had to keep stopping on him, because he kept coming up with shins on us,” Keogh said.
Artic Fern finished an encouraging second in that debut and then spent the offseason with Keogh on the Schickedanz spread in South Carolina.
“He did everything good down there,” Keogh said.
Artic Fern showed the benefits of that winter in his return to action as he recorded a front-running half-length score in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race here April 17.
Finishing second was the promising Sam-Son Farm runner Dark Cloud Dancer, a Queen’s Plate nominee who was debuting there and came back to graduate impressively in his next start.
“He won impressively, and he beat a nice horse,” said Keogh, who also believes Artic Fern can handle Sunday’s stretchout in distance.
“I think he’ll get two turns — he’s by Langfuhr, out of a full sister to Woodcarver,” he said. “Hopefully, he’ll sit off the pace if he has to, but he breaks like a bullet.
MONMOUTH RACING TO RICHES
but HPI viewers can’t watch
For months, the news about Monmouth’s boutique meet with huge purses and short racing week has been in the news.
The track finally opened on Saturday with a packed card of 13 races, large fields and tons of intrigue.
But if you were a Horseplayer Interactive TV subscriber and not at the track on Saturday, or Sunday, you weren’t watching the Monmouth card on TV. Calder was one of the tracks you could watch instead.
As super as the HPI channel has been over the years, this is a bizarre occurrence – Calder racing is well known for its small fields as the summer meeting drags on.
Monmouth, which will have locals competing (Scott Fairlie among other) has attracted a ton of wagering money already (read story below) and has met/exceeded expectations as far as wagering and attendance.
Hopefully HPI will catch up to the current events in racing and make the necessary adjustments to include Monmouth on the station. Email queries to HPI on the weekend went unanswered.
FROM APP.COM, NEW JERSEY..
New format paying off at Monmouth Park
By STEVEN FALK • STAFF WRITER • May 23, 2010
OCEANPORT — Bob Kulina was astonished when he found out the pool for Sunday’s Pick 5 at Monmouth Park reached a staggering $806,172
“This is just outrageous,” said Kulina, the vice president and general manager of racing for the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, which operates Monmouth Park. “This is so far above anything we’ve ever seen here.”
The Pick 5 is a wager where betters have to pick the winner of five consecutive races. On Sunday, it was the sixth-10th races.
There was a $123,029 carryover because no one picked all five winners between the sixth and 10th races on Saturday.
The Pick 5 was hit on Sunday and paid $2,402.55. There were 293 winning tickets. Kulina said the Pick 5 pool had never exceeded $100,000 until Saturday, the opening day of Monmouth’s 50-day summer meet.
http://www.app.com/article/20100523/SPORTS/5230341/New-format-paying-off-at-Monmouth-Park
