FUNNY

 It is BREEDERS’ STAKES WEEK – the Canadian Triple crown will be won by 3 different horses this year (this is the 9th time of this occurrence since Wando in 2003)  as LEXIE LOU, the Plate winner, and COLTIMUS PRIME, the Prince of Wales winner, are not in the probable 9-10 horse field…UP WITH THE BIRDS goes for Million..other news from racing and things Canadian

 

LEXIE KEEPS ROLLING

 

 

It might have lacked the buzz of her Queen’s Plate win, but LEXIE LOU powered away to her Wonder Where win to a grand cheer of the crowd which included her owner Gary Barber. Barber, the movie producer who picked out the bay, Ontario sired filly  from one of her races earlier this year, won 2 stakes and claimed a horse on the Sunday afternoon: KAIGUN blasted to win the GRADE 2  Play the King Stakes with his ears pricked and is set for the Woodbine Mile, CUMMINGS ROAD lost by a head in an allowance/optional claiming race for Sid Attard and was claimed by Barber for $60,000.

For all that action, GARY BARBER sat quietly in the Woodbine dining room Daily Racing Form’s, Canadian Thoroughbred magazine and his IPad around him as he watched and wagered all afternoon. He had a few visitors but mainly kept to himself other than going to the winner’s circle to greet his horses.

His filly Lexie Lou graces the cover of Canadian Premier yearling sale catalogue that was also available for perusing in the Woodbine Club.

Lexie’s romp on the 1 1/4 mile Wonder where in 2:00.90 was just off the course record of 2:00.12.

Kaigun won a very competitive Play the King in 1:20.71 for 7 furlongs on turf. He came from 11 lengths back behind a hot pace set by Sharp Sensation and Global Power and rode the inside before zooming between horses. His stablemate LOCKOUT was along for 2nd place for a Mark Casse exactor.

Old timer AWESOME ECLIPSE was vanned off after the race but he is reportedly to be okay and he has been retired. The 7yo by Awesome Sword won 4 of 16 races and $137,000 for Gail Proteau.

 

Congratulations to SUE LESLIE (HBPA,  OHRIA) who won the last race at Woodbine on Sunday when RYDER KAY bucked the strong speed bias and won the $12,500 claiming race in his 5th start of the year. The 4yo by Sligo Bay was well ridden by Gerry Olguin and he has won 3 of 16 races this season. Leslie also had Imperatore finish second in the day’s first race to Josham Farms’ CAPONE, from the hot Kevin Attard stable.

 

MORE WOODBINE NOTES…

 

FRIDAY…Friday’s card was re-capped on Saturday Aug. 9 during live-blogging..

*MIDNIGHT ARIA bled in his return from a year-long layoff Friday on the grass. The Queen’s Plate winner of 2013 was in close pursuit early in the 1 mile starter allowance race before he faded.

 

SATURDAY –

DIXIE TWIST was just about everyone’s trip handicapping horse of the week off her troubled debut outing and she won the Ontario Debutante Stakes ot break her maiden, John Oxley’s  Indian Charlie – Dixie Talking by Dixieland Band filly was 2 to 1 under Gary Boulanger and she came back to beat the previously unbeaten Unhindered. The winner was a $180,000 Keeneland yearling and she was bred in Ontario by Josham Farms. Mark Casse trains and her Beyer Figure was 65.

 

Race 1- The 2-year-old filly QUIDI VIDI won a maiden allowance against open company. The Ontario sired gal by Marcavelly – El Tara by Schossberg had been 2nd in her first pair of races for Lorna Perkins. bred by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms in Aurora, the filly posted a 62 Beyer Figure and Sheena Ryan rode.

Race 2- all the betting support went to the large colt CLASSIC BREW, the first foal for 3yo filly champ GINGER BREW but he was outrun while GENERAL KEON led all the way to win for Murry Stroud, Tom Micallef and Sam DiPasquale. Justin Stein rode the Florida bred gelding by Zanjero. The winner posted an 80 Beyer Figure.

Race 3- SECOND ACT ended a long winless streak with a win for $7,500 claiming for Mike Wright Racing Stable, She is a Strut the Stage mare who came close at Tampa in the winter on turf. Gary Boulanger rode.

Race 4 – TRAVELIN DREAM won this grass sprint for $40,00 claiming in the often-key 3RD START OFF THE LAYOFF. The 5yo by Express Tour is owned and trained by Kelly Callaghan and Slade Callaghan rode. The gelding is 3 for 11 in his career and it was his 2nd turf win.

Race 5- SPIRITOFTHENORTH, coming off an April – Aug. layoff, was up in the last couple of jumps to win her maiden for $9,500, one of the few runners to win from off the pace on Polytrack all weekend. This Sligo Bay 3yo, bred by Susan Jane Hope and owned by Hidden Springs and Barry Dobbin had been blasted 24,20 and even 50 lengths in races on Polytrack and dirt this year. Sheena Ryan rode for the red-hot Kevin Attard stable.

Race 6 -= YOUNG FORESTER was 2nd in a maiden allowance allowance race off a one-year layoff, 12th and last in a bounce next time out, and then won this race for just $12,500 under Luis Contreras. The 2 to 1 shot is an Old Forester 4yo gelding owned by Murray Stroud and trained by Sam DiPasquale. The $6,000 yearling purchase has won over $21,000.

Race 7 – BIG BROWN BROOKSKI, another winner for Kevin Attard, and this Big Brown filly was making her 3rd start for Soli Mehta and partner after being claimed for $12,500. She had blinkers off and worked hard to get this win in a grass sprint under Jesse Campbell.

Race 9 – Jockey Jim McAleney returned to action in this allowance race but it was favoured CONSTANTINO who won the race in his 4th career race. Conrad Farms owned and bred this 4yo chestnut gelding by Master Command who enjoyed the turn-back from 1 1.16 miles. Mark Casse trains and the winning Beyer Figure of 85 was the best number of the day.

RACE 10 – ENVIRONMENT, a $250,000 yearling purchase who had some cloudy form and was returning to $50K maiden claiming, won this turf race and he was the 2nd mount for jockey NA SOMSANITH this year. The Medaglia D’oro 4-year-old  was 9 to 1.

 

123 RD RUNNING OF THE BREEDERS’
POSSIBLE BREEDERS’ STAKES RUNNERS

The Breeders’ Stakes was inaugurated in 1889, it is one of Woodbine’s oldest stakes events. It is a one-lap tour of the E P Taylor grass course and this year’s edition will feature one stakes winner in Ami’s Holiday, who has never tried grass, and a mixed collections of maiden winners and maidens. Ami’s Holiday will once again be heavily bet but this is a colt who runs well without winning most times. The lightly raced winners UNIKAT and BANGKOK will take a lot of support. The latter will now be ridden by Gary Boulanger as Chantal Sitherland Kruse left Woodbine last week.

 

Possible entrants:
AMI’S HOLIDAY

b.c.Harlan’s Holiday – Victoria Ami by Victory Gallop

Ivan Dalos Josie Carroll

BANGKOK
b.g.3 by Street Hero(Street Cry (IRE)) – Get It Straight(Black Minnaloushe)
Gail Wood and Dr. Ruth Barbour W. Phillip Gracey

EAST SIDE
b.g.3 by English Channel(Smart Strike) – Russian Sweetiepie(Absent Russian)
Stoneway Farm Mark E. Casse

INTERPOL
b.c.3 by English Channel(Smart Strike) – Adel(Strawberry Road (AUS))
JMJ Racing Stables LLC Sid C. Attard

MAJESTIC SUNSET
b.c.3 by Artie Schiller(El Prado (IRE)) – Sunset Cocktail(Precise End)
John C. Oxley Mark E. Casse

MILWAUKEE FLASH
b.g.3 by Milwaukee Brew(Wild Again) – Flashy Consort(Bold n’ Flashy)
C. Scott Abbott Racing Stable Ltd. Michael J. Doyle

NIIGON EXPRESS
ch.c.3 by Niigon(Unbridled) – Harlan Express(Harlan’s Holiday)
Chiefswood Stable Paul Attard

SMART SPREE
dk b/.g.3 by Smart Strike(Mr. Prospector) – Celebrate(Rahy)
Augustin Stable Mark R. Frostad

UNIKAT
b.c.3 by Galileo (IRE)(Sadler’s Wells) – Dreamtheimpossible(Giant’s Causeway)
Stronach Stables Brian A. Lynch

 

ARLINGTON MILLION, IS IT FOR THE BIRDS?

Canadian Horse of the Year UP WITH THE BIRDS will take on some of the world’s top 1 1/4 mile turfers in the Arlignton Million this weekend. The 4yo colt, owned and bred by Sam-Son Farms, will chip Thursday by van to the big race. Eurico da Silva will ride.

 

More Arlington Festival news…

EIGHT EUROPEANS ARRIVE FOR INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF RACING
Eight European contestants for the International Festival of Racing at Arlington International Racecourse have arrived on the grounds and are currently in quarantine with an expected release on Tuesday. Arriving first via an Air France flight at 8:35 p.m. on Saturday was the French contingent of the Niarchos Family’s Smoking Sun and Augustin Stable’s Sparking Beam. Smoking Sun is pointing toward the Grade I Arlington Million and expected to be one of the favorites, while Sparkling Beam is a slight outsider aimed toward the Grade I Beverly D.

Arriving via a Qatar Airlines flight at 5:00 a.m. was the English shipment. Team Valor International’s sophomore Euro Charline and Qatar Racing’s Just the Judge – both expected for the Beverly D. – joined a third filly in Listed $400,000 American St. Leger contestant Moment in Time. Three older horses, including Mick and Janice Mariscotti’s Havana Beat, Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock’s Dandino and Pearl Bloodstock’s Side Glance, were also on the flight. Havana Beat and defending champion Dandino are expected to join Moment in Time in the American St. Leger, while Side Glance will have a second consecutive go in the Million.

The final flight – from Ireland – is expected to arrive late Tuesday evening and contain the Ballydoyle-based Coolmore contingent of trainer Aiden O’Brien. Eye of The Storm, Belisarius, Adelaide and Million favorite Magician are expected on such.

feature: HEROIC HARDEST CORE LIVING UP TO HIS NAME

In the profusion of gripping backstories that often accompany the horseracing world, few have the sheer depth and sagacity of Andrew Bentley Stables’ Edward Graham-trained Hardest Core. Little has gone to plan for the bay gelding – except, of course, for his talent. A son of Hard Spun – a dirt specialist from seven furlongs to 1 1/8-miles – out of a mare by champion sprinter Housebuster from the family of sprinter/miler and champion juvenile Gilded Time, the late-blooming turf marathoner Hardest Core defied the odds from the beginning.

After winning three of his first eight starts – all in 2013 – with trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and owner Ghostzapper Racing, the then-sophomore was sold at Keeneland November to steeplechase horse owner Greg Bentley for $210,000, who purchased the bay colt as a gift for his son Andrew. Ex-steeplechase trainer Rusty Carrier bought into Hardest Core and initially sent the charge to be conditioned by Paul Roland.

“It really is a crazy story,” said Wendy Graham, wife to Edward Graham. “He was purchased for Andrew, Greg’s son, and this horse means the world to him. When Rusty gave up training, his horses went to Paul, my husband’s best friend. Paul had Mesothelioma and sadly passed soon after – but before he did, he made sure that Eddie was connected with Greg and got his horses.”

The soap opera of the human side of the Hardest Core operation is matched only by that of the horse himself. “After we bought him, he had a problem with his castration and fought for his life. He lost 18 feet of intestine, which was literally laying on the ground in front of him,” Wendy explained. “He is a remarkable animal with such a great disposition. Any other horse may not have made it, but he recovered and the next day was banging his feed tub against the wall. It was unbelievable.”

After recovering, the newly gelded and sutured Hardest Core slowly worked his way into a new training regimen. An ex-steeplechase jockey, Graham incorporates such prowess into the horse’s conditioning. “He trains on hills and gallops like a steeplechase – basically like a European – and it seems that the farther he goes, the better he is,” Wendy continued. “The castration seems like it definitely helped him. He loves his training on the farm and gets turned out every day. We’ve been bringing him back slowly and not overmatching him and we’re finding out that he may be as nice or nicer than we originally thought. It’s pretty amazing, if you think about it. He has flourished.”

Flourished, indeed. Hardest Core has yet to be challenged in his two starts for his new connections, including a sharp allowance victory at Parx going 1 1/16-miles and a win in the Cape Henlopen Stakes at Delaware Park on July 12 – his first test at a marathon distance, which resulted in a sharp three-length acing. Since then, Arlington International Racecourse has been on the mind of Bentley, Carrier and the Grahams.

“We originally thought about the (Listed $400,000) American St. Leger for him. It looks like the ideal spot for him because of the distance. He would love to go that far, but we also are looking at the (Grade I) Arlington Million,” Wendy continued. “We also looked at the (Grade I) Sword Dancer at Saratoga. I think everyone is going to try to sit down and make the right decision after we put the pieces of the puzzle together.

“One thing is for sure – the horse is really special to us and especially to Andrew,” Wendy concluded. “He hasn’t been tested on the racetrack before, but has overcome so much already. He is just a beautiful horse and we look forward finding out how good he is.”

When Festival pre-entries were taken this week, he was pre-entered in both the Million and American St. Leger. A final decision will be made Tuesday, Aug. 12.

 

 

CANADIAN HORSE RACING HALL OF FAME

The 2014 class of inductees to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame celebrated last week in Mississauaga and among the honourees was Robert Landry. A top jockey and horseman, now racing manager and an original member of LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society, Landry was presented his ring by Sue Leslie, who was instrumental in his career.

 

 

FOTOS FROM FORT ERIE