I apologize to TB owner Bruno Schickedanz for an error in two Toronto Star articles I wrote. Schickedanz did not violate the Woodbine rule I wrote about by having Wake at Noon on the training track at Woodbine. There was no such rule preventing Wake from training at the track. The ORC administration later accepted that the horse went onto the track in good condition and normal procedures were followed. A necropsy found no relevant pre-existing injury or medical condition.
Full apology from the Star to Bruno Schickedanz can be found here:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/corrections/2013/09/08/apology_to_bruno_schickedanz.html
**One week to go before a big weekend.day of racing at WOODBINE – a turf festival of sorts with the $1 million WOODBINE MILE the headline event.
Canadian fans will get a special treat as WISE DAN is scheduled to make another visit, a year after his Mile win over Hunters Bay in 2012. This year, his rivals will include speedy guys like DIMENSION and EXCAPER (1-2 in the Play the King Stakes), RIDING THE RIVER, who was less than perfect health-wise last year for the Mile and still ran 4th, Euro invader TRADE STORM, a decent horse and solid US runner ZA APPROVAL…
BELOW: Riding the River (far right) will try to turn the tables on superstar WISE DAN in the Woodbine Mile next Sunday (Michael Burns Photography)
Amber Chalfin’s photo of ZA APPROVAL, by Ghostzapper – Win Approval by With Approval
WOODBINE MILE PROBABLES
Wise Dan
Riding the River
Dimension
Trade Storm
Excaper
Za Approval
RIDING THE RIVER WORKS, going into race better than 2012
http://www.drf.com/news/woodbine-riding-river-readies-woodbine-mile
OPEN YEARLING SALE SESSION, MORE DECLINES
A NOT BOURBON colt out of Fleet Kris by Northern Afleet topped the open session at the CTHS yearling sale yesterday. It is the first crop of Not Bourbon, the Queen’s Plate winner in 2008. The topper, a $32,000 purchase by Frank DiGiulio Jr. was sold by Gail Wood’s Woodlands, agent and bred by Frank Mermenstein.
Not much has changed in the world of the Canadian-bred yearling sale in Ontario since Tuesday’s select session. That session, which declined in average, gross and median and skyrocketed in buy-backs, followed up a disastrous 2012 sales week.
Yesterday, the open session, which dropped 50% in average last year, had another decrease in average price..$4,521 from $4,900. Gross dollars and the median decreased also.
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/80552/struggles-continue-for-canadian-yearling-sale
WOODBINE WRAP
Take three!!
CHIEFSWOOD STABLE won 3 races on Saturday, all with sons of NIIGON and each one trained by someone different!
It was a nice day for the stable which has had dreadful luck in the last year: the deaths of Niigon and Nipissing rocked the Ontario industry.
The winners were IROQUOIS FALLS, Paul Attard sent this one out for a maiden allowance win., TAKE THREE, Stuart Simon trains him and NIIGON’S GLORY won an allowance race for trainer Rachel Halden.
The stable will also be cheering for the colt AWESOME OVERTURE at Presque Isle today and we wish them good luck.
Saturday’s LA PREVOYANTE STAKES was the first stakes win for the Silent Name (Jpn) filly PROFESSOR’S RIDE, a homebred for Ace Racing and Hard Eight Racing. This quirky filly is coming of age on the grass and she also gave jockey Michelle Ranford her first stakes win. Scott Fairlie co-owns and trains.
Who was the fastest winner on Saturday? By a good margin it was MOOSE VASKO, a 4yo B.C. bred by Mutakkdim – Golden Needles, by American Chance, who won a maiden allowance at 7 furlongs on Polytrack in 1:21 1/5, good for an 88 Beyer Figure. The winner is a homebred for John Gunther and he is trained by Elizabeth Charalambous.
The 2yo filly REGAL CONQUEROR posted a 71 Beyer in winning her 2yo debut yesterday for Bill Sorokolit. The filly was very impressive, won geared down, and she is the first starter for SKY CONQUEROR, a Grade 1 winning grass star who stands at Hunterview Farm in Orangeville for a fee of $5,000.
B.C. DERBY DAY!
update from Glenn Todd, Derby Newsletter..
The weather couldn’t be any better and the table is set for a great day of racing at Hastings Racecourse today.
Ten races on the card including six stakes races featuring the $150,000 BC Derby which goes as the ninth race.
The richest day of the year with purses totaling over $600,000.00.
Hastings management is expecting the largest crowd of the year and hopefully the largest handle as well. Last year Derby Day the handle was just over $1.4 million dollars.
The stakes races start in the third race with the S.W. Randall Plate for 3 year olds & up going 1 1/8th miles. The fourth race is the Delta Colleen for the older fillies and mares also going 1 1/8th miles.
Races six and seven are the Sadie and Jack Diamond Futurity’s both races are for 2 year olds going six and one-half furlongs for a purse of $100,000 each. These are the races dreams are made of with two-year-olds as every owner dreams of winning the futurity.
The $100,000 BC Oaks goes as race eight with a field of nine three year old fillies going 1 1/8th miles.
Race nine is the $150,000 BC Derby with a field of 10 – 3 year olds going 1 1/8 miles and the richest race at Hastings for the season.
Good luck to everyone and enjoy a great day of racing.
THOROUGHBLOG PICK – TRACKER
BRITISH COLUMBIA DERBY-GIII, $150,000, 3yo, 1 1/8m
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER ML
1 Shooting Jacket K Hard Spun Williams Condilenios 9-2
2 Hopeseeker Heatseeker (Ire) Reyes Lausten 12-1
3 Tracker Finality Gutierrez Heads 6-1
4 Modern Tiznow Fuentes Condilenios 15-1
5 Title Contender K Pulpit Walcott Bolton 10-1
6 Reporting Star Circular Quay Gonzalez MacPherson 5-2
7 Bluegrass Pride Bluegrass Cat Hamel MacPherson 7-2
8 Go for Guinness Rosberg Perez Forster 8-1
9 Leo’s in the House K Lion Heart Skelly Taylo 20-1
10 Success Rate Friends Lake Gryder Taylor 12-1
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? NOPE!!
Roger Attfield trainee wins Grade 3
Ronald Kirk, John Bates and Michael Riordan’s Canadian invader Are You Kidding Me made every pole a winning one with his impressive victory in the $200,000 Grade III Kent Stakes at Delaware Park today. The Kentucky-bred conditioned by Roger Attfield posted a 4-length victory and returned $4.80 as the favorite in the field of seven. With Rajiv Maragh aboard, the 3-year-old son of Run Away and Hide cut early fractions of :48.69 for the half mile and 1:11.65 for the three-quarters mile before completing the mile and an eighth over a firm turf course in 1:47.61.
“The trip was pretty straight forward,” said winning jockey Rajiv Maragh. “He broke really willing, he got comfortable on the lead, and he had a lot left at the finish. He broke on the lead and nobody really challenged him. I figured if he is going to be on lead and he was comfortable, I was going to take advantage of it. When I got to the 3/8ths pole and I asked to him to go, he really took off. At that point, I knew they were really going to have to finish strong to catch us.”
Michael With Us , with Gabriel Saez, finished second a head in front of Hard Enough, with Daniel Centeno, in third.
The Kent Stakes was the first stake and graded stake victory for Are You Kidding Me who raised his career mark to three wins from 13 starts with earnings of $301,689.
TODAY: AWESOME, BETTOR AT PRESQUE ISLE,
Sunday, Presque Isle Downs, post time: 7:40 p.m. EDT
PRESQUE ISLE MILE S., $250,000, 3yo/up, 1m (AWT)
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER ML
1 Alpha Bettor Alphabet Soup Stein Vella 5-2
2 Occasional View Silver Deputy Rodriguez Motion 10-1
3 Mezzano Mizzen Mast Serpa Goldberg 9-2
4 Awesome Overture Awesome Again Campbell P Attard 3-1
5 Ponzi Scheme Sunday Break (Jpn) Trujillo Navarro 4-1
6 Whatthecatdrugin Cat Thief Morales McCauley 6-1
7 Hoofit (NZ) Mossman (Aus) Prado Motion 6-1
8 Heaven’s Runway Run Away and Hide Mello Martin 20-1
9 Hogy Offlee Wild Rocco Jr Catalano 2-1
10 Photo Shoot Giant’s Causeway Pino Cheeks 15-1
11 Gourmet Dinner Trippie Spieth Triola 8-1
12 Super Chunky Put it Back Franklin Cox 6-1
AE Mongolian Saturday Any Given Saturday Martinez Ganbat 15-1
Stakes races today at Presque Isle Downs
From staff reports, Erie Times-News
Alpha Bettor never has raced outside of Canada, but the Woodbine-based 5-year-old makes the relatively short trip to Erie to try and seize the $250,000 Presque Isle Mile today at Presque Isle Downs.
The 8-race card also features the $75,000 Mark McDermott Stakes for Pennsylvania-bred 2-year-olds, with three fillies facing eight colts in the 11-horse field. The biggest race of the season is Monday, with Eclipse Award winner Groupie Doll trying to repeat in the Grade 2 $400,000 Masters Stakes.
Alpha Bettor will have Justin Stein aboard when the son of Alphabet Soup faces a full 12-horse field in this evening’s sixth race. Alpha Bettor is coming off a win in the Seagram Cup Stakes at Woodbine on Aug. 8 and won the Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes at the Toronto track earlier this season.
Hogy, who won a sprint at Saratoga in the 51/2-furlong Troy Stakes and won the one-mile Grade 3 Hanshin Cup at Arlington Park in May, figures to be one of the favorites. The 4-year-old will be ridden by Joe Rocco Jr.
http://www.goerie.com/stakes-races-today-at-presque-isle-downs
