Horseperso
n extraordinaire – SUE LESLIE co-owns and trains Oaks starter MOMENT OF MAJESTY but also works a zillion other important jobs. Her friend, Curtis Joseph, sold part of the Oaks starter recently to Leslie and hockey agent Don Meehan because of the team’s previous ‘good karma’…
IT’S THE OAKS, FOLKS
Four women aim to be first to win Oaks
World Cup soccer will be the only thing on most people’s minds for the next few weeks but horse racing is heating up too.
The WOODBINE OAKS, worth $500,000, is the ‘Queen’s Plate for fillies’ and it takes place Sunday at Woodbine. It is on CBC and TVG will be highlighting it too.
The draw for posts at Wegz Stadium bar was well attended, with ROGER ATTFIELD, CAROLYN AND BOB COSTIGAN, SUE LESLIE AND CURTIS JOSEPH, MIKE DOYLE, IAN AND JANET BLACK, GLENN SIKURA, IAN HOWARD plus a whole slew of Woodbine employees taking part.
JOANNIE ROCHETTE was a gracious, interesting guest.
Indeed, former NHL goalie CURTIS JOSEPH was the main attraction for most media, with Leslie and Attfield getting some interest.
Joseph, who bred MOMENT OF MAJESTY with his wife (now separated) Nancy Joseph from his expensive filly Lady Indy, was mobbed by local media while a lot of the main players for the race, and the Plate Trial, stood on the sidelines.
What is interesting about Moment of Majesty is that she is one of very few foals by the deceased stallion SAINT LIM, who died at a young age, and that Jospeh sold shares in Momemnt of Majesty only recently to his friends Don meehan and trainer Sue Leslie because he believes in good karma.
“That’s typical Curtis,” said jockey Rob Landry, who has known Curtis and Leslie for many years. In fact it was Sue Leslie who really got Landry rolling as a jockey some 15 years ago. And the team of Landry, Leslie, Jospeh and Meehan have been in big races – the Plate, the Woodbine Mile, but the big wins have yet to come.
Perhaps Sunday.
SUE LESLIE has become the current face of local horse racing as she is on boards and president of several groups, constanting working on issues to improve the indsutry.
“It’s part of my personality I guess. I’m not a flashy person but I was the industry to thrive, I don’t have all the answers but I hope we can get everyone to work together.”
Sue Leslie, Josie Carroll and Carolyn Costigan, plus jockey Chantal Sutherland would be the first women to win the Oaks should they be successful on Sunday.
EMBUR’S SONG is the 9 to 5 fave on the morning line, likely to go off lower but ERNFOLD will be close in the betting behind her.
EMBUR’S SONG is reportedly guaranteed to run back in the QUEEN’S PLATE on July 4 should she win the Oaks on Sunday.
OAKS FIELD
horse owner trainer odds
1 – ISABEAU’S ELEGANCE Classic Oaks Farm Mark Casse 20-1
2 – RESENTLESS Don Ross Ian Howard Chantal Sutherland 3-1
3 – ROAN INISH Robert Costigan Carolyn Costigan Davy Moran
4 – TEE GAME Hendrie Stable Mike Doyle 20-1
5 -OIL PAINTING Hill ‘n’ Equine Holdings Josie Carroll Patrick Husbands 20-1
6 – EMBUR’S SONG Fares Farm Todd Pletcher 9-5
7 – MOMENT OF MAJESTY Meehan, Joseph, Leslie Sue Leslie 10-1
8 – ERNFOLD Jim and Susan Hill Roger Attfield 5-2
WOODBINE’S OAKS SITE OFFERS A TRANSCRIPT of the draw on this page, however, as of this morning, there was no link to click on..
http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/woodbineoaks/
ALSO ON SUNDAY….PLATE GUYS GET SORTED OUT..
Plate Trial S.
1 1/8 Miles (All Weather Track) | Open | 3 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $150,000
1 GHOST FLEET
2 BIG RED MIKE
3 MOBILIZER
4 HOLLINGER
5 D’S WANDO
6 CAPTAIN CANUCK
7 GIANT’S TOMB
8 MOBTHEWARRIOR
Oaks news continued below…
OAKS IN THE NEWS
TORONTO STAR:
Moment of Majesty chases spotlight in Woodbine Oaks
Sue Leslie is a woman of many hats, so many, in fact, that saddling her good filly Moment of Majesty, which she co-owns with former NHL goalie Curtis Joseph and agent Don Meehan, for the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks on Sunday might be the easiest thing she’s done lately.
GLOBE & MAIL
CURTIS JOSEPH
Beverley Smith
Life has taken former Toronto Maple Leaf goalie Curtis Joseph to a different place since he retired from NHL hockey in January.
Now family is No. 1. But at the moment, horse racing is running a close second.
Joseph is part owner of Moment of Majesty, a horse that will run in Sunday’s $500,000 Woodbine Oaks, the premier race for three-year-old fillies in Canada.
TORONTO SUN – Queen’s Plate feature
This Plate is wide open
Woodbine Oaks and Plate TRial sort out field
By ROB LONGLEY, Toronto Sun
One of these years, the Queen’s Plate is going to be more serious than ceremonial when it comes to the two minutes and change it takes to run the storied event.
Not since Awesome Again won the “gallop for the guineas” in 1997 has a Plate winner gone on to distinguish himself beyond Woodbine.
Now that one of the more ordinary U.S. Triple Crowns has been put to bed with three indifferent winners, it’s time for the best foals in Canada to distinguish themselves.
Starting with this Sunday’s Labatt Woodbine Oaks for fillies and the Plate Trial for colts, the picture for this year’s Plate – held later than usual on July 4th to accommodate a special guest – will begin to sort itself out.
http://www.torontosun.com/sports/othersports/2010/06/10/14344171.html
ZENYATTA FEATURE IN TORONTO STAR
Undefeated mare carries flag for girl power
Horse racing’s newest fans? Girls who follow the thoroughbred that drinks beer, beats the boys and dances Garnet Fraser Toronto Star
Photographers sense her charisma and get to work; the crowd cheers to see her arrive and erupts into joyous laughter when she dances. It’s hard to know whether they love her for her big-money success, her grace or her beauty, all of it summed up by the billboard she’s on in L.A., which declares, simply, “this is my town.”
The glamour girl is Zenyatta, a six-year-old thoroughbred racehorse,
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/821866–undefeated-mare-carries-flag-for-girl-power
WOODBINE – WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY WRAP
lots of dances
DANCING ALLTHEWAY won the NEW PROVIDENCE STAKES ON Wednesdanight in a sharp 1:09 and he earned a 104 Beyer Speed Figure.
The stakes score was the first for the 5yo by the late A Fleets Dancer out of Roses at Sunset. Bred by Cam Allard, who raced A Fleets Dancer, Dancing Alltheway was a $10,000 yearling purchase who raced for Mark Casse until he was sold to K K Sengara and trainer Lorne Richards.
The gelding had won 7 of 17 races and established himself as an allowance/high claiming type. He went to Florida with trainer Julia Carey and won 1 of 2 turf sprints but then bombed badly in the Debut Stakes at Woodbine that is was hard to imagine he could bounce back so well. He has, – winning 2 straight now.
Another dancing winner on the Wednesday night card was DANCING RAVEN, a first time starter for Bill Graham’s Windhaven, who came from last place and zoomed to her maiden win over what appeared to be an inside biased track. The Tomahawk – Captivating, Arch filly ran a 77 Beyer Figure. Mike Doyle trains the 3yo.
On Thursday, the track was very fast again and STALLONE, a promising 3yo from the Josie Carroll stable, won the opener, an maiden allowance, B level. The Smart Strike colt ran in 1:10.
Trainer Marc Blouin won his first race of the meeting when the English bred filly KOULOURA won an off-the-turf claiming race in race 3. The Redback filly was coming off her maiden win at Tampa Bay Down on the grass and she had fared okay on Polytrack in England. Don Swick owns the filly.
SPIDER ROCK won off the layoff for trainer Steve Attard and it was his 9th win in his 20th start. The cool 7yo, with regular rider Rob Landry on board, led most fo the way to win the starter allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs.
CTHS AWARDS TOMORROW NIGHT!!
Come out to COOPER CREEK GOLF CLUB in Kleinburg Ontario and celebrate the 2009 breeders and their top horses, bid on some cool stuff at a silent auction benefitting LONGRUN THOROUGHBRED RETIREMENT SOCIETY and honour MIKE BURNS SR., who will receive the Mint Julep Cup posthumously.
6 p.m. is post time for the CTHS Awards. Be there!
