CONQUEST TYPHOON returns on Saturday – Michael Burns photo
CANADIANS ELSEWHERE
A day after OWNER/TRAINER Scott Fairlie had Dig ALittle Deeper claimed away at Mahoning Valley, his stable kept up its roll at Penn National when SICK LOVE rallied to win an allowance race on Wed. night. The Where’s the Ring filly out of Cosa Rara by Tethra was bred by Fairlie’s Ace Racing and Hard Eight Racing. She is a 3-year-old who was 2nd in her Nov. outing at Penn National and was 3-1 in her win on Wednesday. The time for 1 mile and 70 yards was 1:44.25. The winner’s share was $17,700 in US funds.
TUCCI STABLES had a win on Wed. at Gulfstream when MANHATTAN MOXY led all the way at odds-on to take her maiden for $12,500 in a 1 mile dirt race. The Lemon Drop Kid filly is an Ontario bred who is trained by Sid Attard and Paco Lopez rode. The filly was bred by Charles Fipke and claimed earlier in 2015 by Tucci from trainer Catherine Day Phillips.
WHO I S YOUR HORSE OF THE YEAR IN CANADA FOR 2015?
THOROUGHBLOG listed some of the contenders for the top honour at the Sovereign awards for 2015 (to be held in April) and voting will begin in early January.
From conversations with a few voters, it certainly seems to be a contentious match-up with the edge going to ACADEMIC, a 3yo filly who did the amazing as she traveled from Woodbine Polytrack and her Oaks win to beat the boys in 2 Derbys on the dirt in Alberta and BC. Then she was 2nd against older mares in her return trip back to Ontario.
It has been a long time since an Ontario horse has been able to travel out west and do well in the western Derbys, let alone win 2 of them, let alone be a filly.
Plenty of horses in the last 30 years have gone from Ontario to one of the tracks and won and even a couple of fillies, Raylene and Lady Shari, won the Canadian Derby.
But only 1 horse in some 60 plus years has won the Canadian Derby and BC Derby – the remarkable gelding FANCY AS 14 years ago (and he did not win a $500K race at Woodbine in that same year!) So, a great accomplish for the year’s best 3yo filly.
Would be very hard to duplicate.
Catch a Glimpse won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly Turf and that is a huge win for the Woodbine stakes winner – she will take a lot of support too.
below – ACADEMIC’S BC DERBY…
WOODBINE RUNNER CLAIMED AND RETIRED
Dig Alittle Deeper taken for $4,000 at Mahoning
DIG ALITTLEDEEPER, promising turf horse who could not maintain a high level, was claimed this week for $4,000 and retired. Changing Leads.org photo
Prominent Thoroughbred owners Gary Barber, Adam Wachtel and Bradley Weisbord recently partnered with emerging aftercare organization Changing Leads Thoroughbred Retraining Project to claim and retire Dig Alittle Deeper. The 4-year-old gelding was stakes-placed in Canada as a juvenile but failed to hit the board in six claiming races this year. The group contacted friend and fellow racehorse owner Ali Goodrich, founder and president of Changing Leads http://www.changingleads.org/, to make arrangements for Dig Alittle Deeper’s aftercare and retraining.
“Our goal in this industry is to win Graded races and it is always fun to have Saturday horses. However, it’s a tough business and we miss many more times than we hit and unfortunately Dig Alittle Deeper didn’t turn into that Saturday horse but it wasn’t for lack of heart,” said Bradley Weisbord
WE MISS ARTIE’S 3YO HALF BROTHER WINS HANDICAP in Korea
Commander Ko, g, 3, Arch–Athena=s Gift, by Fusaichi Pegasus. Seoul, 12-12, Hcp. ($60k), 1800m. B-Richard L Lister (ON). *1/2
to We Miss Artie (Artie Schiller), GISW, $738,843. **$55,000 RNA Ylg >13 KEESEP; $75,000 RNA Ylg >14 FTKOCT; $22,000 2yo
14 OBSJAN.
LOOKING FOR A WIN-D
Conquest Typhoon is scheduled to make his first start since May in Saturday’s $75,000 Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park, where he will seek to regain the graded stakes-winning form that ranked him near the top of the list of 3-year-old turf performers earlier in the year.
Owned by Conquest Stables, LLC, the sophomore son of Stormy Atlantic, who is slated to face a field of 12 3-year-olds in the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes, hasn’t run since finishing 11th as the favorite in the American Turf (G2) at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day.
“He’s been training well. I thought his last race in May was a little flat. He had a long hard campaign. He ran as a 2-year-old into his 3-year-old year. I just stopped with him and gave him some time,” trainer Mark Casse said. “He traveled North America. I just thought his last race was flat. He did have a very wide trip in that race – he was wide on both turns – but sometimes you get a wide trip when you don’t have enough horse to maneuver around.”
Conquest Typhoon debuted last year with a second-place finish in a stakes over Woodbine’s synthetic surface before breaking his maiden two starts later in the Summer Stakes (G2) over a yielding turf course. A subsequent runner-up finish in the Grey Stakes (G3) was followed by a late-closing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) at Santa Anita and a victory in the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes (G3) at Del Mar last fall. The Ontario-bred colt started his 3-year-old campaign with a third-place finish in the El Camino Real Derby (G3) at Golden Gate Fields and a second-place finish in the Spiral (G3) at Turfway prior to his American Turf disappointment.
“Unfortunately, when you bring a horse of his caliber back, you don’t have any conditions and have to bring him back in some pretty tough spots. But I like this race. It’s against straight 3-year-olds. This will be his last shot to play with the 3-year-olds and then hopefully he can prove that he can play with the big boys,” Casse said. “He got beat by less than three lengths in the Breeders’ Cup and won a stake at Del Mar. I don’t see any reason why he can’t come back and be a good horse at 4.”
Conquest Typhoon is expected to be joined in the starting gate by War Story, who will also seek to recapture his early 2015 season form in the Tropical Park Derby while making his first start on turf. Loooch Racing Stables and Glenn Ellis’ gelded son of Northern Afleet finished second in both the LeComte (G3) and Risen Star (G2) before finishing third in the Louisiana Derby (G2) at Fair Grounds. He went on to finish off the board in the Kentucky Derby (G1) after experiencing early traffic before running in two Grade 1 and two Grade 2 stakes, his best race coming in a third-place finish in the West Virginia Derby (G2) at Mountaineer Park.
Like Conquest Typhoon, Tropical Park Derby entrant Solemn Tribute is an Ontario-bred who has demonstrated talent at Woodbine. Unlike the Casse precocious trainee, Lael Stables’ gelded son of Medaglia d’Oro was a late developer. Solemn Tribute, who was winless in four starts while dropping into a $32,000 claiming race at Tampa Bay Downs, blossomed upon being transferred to trainer Bryan Lynch at Woodbine, winning back-to-back races before finishing third by the length of two heads in an allowance race. After moving on to Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training center in Palm Beach County, Solemn Tribute finished second in the Showing Up Stakes at Gulfstream Park West last time out.
“I’d like to say it’s because of my superior training, but I wouldn’t gamble on that,” cracked Lynch of Solemn Tribute’s vastly improved form. “He might have just traveled right and enjoyed Canada. He turned it around up there, and his first race down here was creditable. Hopefully, he can carry it on in the Tropical Park Derby.”
