Celebrating the win, the Finks (holding trophy with John Velazquez) Dave Landry photo
EVERYONE LOVES A WISE GUY
Now that the turf has settled and we are well into championship seasons in racing across the globe, it is nice to remember some of the good feelings about WOODBINE MILE day.
The betting was booming and that has to be the big news taken away from the day as far as Ontario hors eracing is concerned.
The all-sources handle on the Ricoh Woodbine Mile card was a record $6,698,099, shattering the former mark of $6,064,189 set in 2011.
The attraction of a big horse means a lot to any race and Ontario needs that boost. Hey, betting has been good this year, field size has been solid.
Yesterday’s stakes race field size was small, the card of racing, compared to most other big days, less-than-stellar, but the people bet with both hands. I know I did.
People cheered when Dan came to the wire in front under a hand ride. He indeed is a freak.
The trainer, Charles Lopresti, is a nice guy, media friendly and easy to cheer for. Owner Morton Fink was getting his picture taken with the locals in an after-Mile gathering at the track.
And WISE DAN. What can you say about a horse who has only lost once on grass..has not lost in 9 races and carried weight, battled the elements?
There are stil a few detractors, but not many. He was my Horse of the Year last year and he may be my HOY this year.
I got to talk to STEVE HASKIN at the Blood-Horse before Dan ran, he mentioned Dan in the same breath as some of the great, great greats!
“I wouldn’t call him great on a level with geldings Forego, Kelso, and John Henry, because he’s been a specialist in his peak years. But for what he is now, which is a miler on the grass, he is great.”
(that’s what my story in the Toronto Star was supposed to say!)
GET YOUR GAME ON, DUDE
A thin line now separates the top two vote getters in the week 29 edition of the NTRA National Thoroughbred Poll. Game On Dude and Wise Dan are basically a nose apart in the latest tabulation.
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/09/16/2825848/wise-dan-draws-closer-to-game.html#storylink=cpy
Scrappy little FORTE DEI MARMI hold off giant PERFECT TIMBER in the Northern Dancer Stakes – Grade 1 – Dave Landry photo
FRIDAY NIGHT FEVER IN 4 DAYS!!
Let’s party like it’s the 1970s and support our horses!
Wear your velvet and your bell bottoms, let’s party at an informal gathering for LongRun Friday Sept. 20 at Woodbine.
Tickets are just $150 and you get tons of stuff including an awesome meal for that price – just look at the sponsors and then at the list of some of the auction items!! Wow, it’s gonna be a great night.
You better be there! SHAME ON YOU if you are not!
AUCTION ITEMS include..
Polo weekend at Polo Parc Farms (I will send you details) as well as a $500 travel voucher.
Tickets to the Arc de Triomphe weekend in members’ enclosure as well as a $1,000 travel voucher.
Bike tour, wine tasting, dinner and overnight stay in Niagara-On-The-Lake.
Dinner hosted by Roger Attfield, Ian Black and other racing notables.
Hockey or horse camp for a week at Teen Ranch.
Date with the gate……..lunch for two at Woodbine combined with an up close and poersonal experience with Woodbine’s starting gate and gate crew.
LONGRUN WANTS TO THANK
OUR FRIDAY NIGHT FEVER SPONSORS!
SAM-SON FARMS
Sponsor of the Evening’s Meal
BEN & MAY HUTZEL
Sponsors of the Evening’s Entertainment
GUSTAV & ANNE SCHICKEDANZ
Sponsor of the Evening’s Décor
ADENA SPRINGS NORTH
Sponsor of the Evening’s Florals
MARK CASSE & JOHN OXLEY
Sponsors of the Scotch Bar
COLIO ESTATE WINES
Sponsor of the Evening’s Wines
EUGENE MELNYK
Sponsor of the Welcoming Cocktail
SPONSORSHIPS HONOURING HORSES OF THE 1970S
FLORENCE BEGG
TED BURNETT
CANADIAN THOROUGHBRED HORSE SOCIETY
CENTENNIAL FARMS
MIKE DOYLE
LOU & WENDY MYLES
MALCOLM & SALLY PIERCE
SAM-SON FARMS
YVONNE SCHWABE
CATHERINE WILSON
IMAGES OF SUNDAY
We don’t know her name, but this little girl has a stuffed horse she calls FORTE DEI MARMI and she was invited into the winner’s circle by Roger Attfield and his girlfriend Tina Konyot for a thrilling moment! Dave Landry photo
STRRRRRRRRETCHHHH – HIS RACE TO WIN is really blooming now..a son of Stormy Atlantic, a Sam-Son colt, no it’s not a Bird! It’s another good 3yo in Canada. He won the Ontario Derby (grade 3). Dave Landry photo
LUIS CONTRERAS celebrates aboard MINAKSHI (Fr), who led a Michael Matz-trained exactor in the Canadian Stakes – the winner is not Breeders’ Cup eligible so expect to see her back for the EP Taylor Stakes. Dave Landry photo
KEENELAND SALE..
ONTARIO BREDS SELLING FOR BIG BUCKS…sigh, at Keeneland
Ted Burnett sold a Stormy Atlantic colt to top the 7th session of the Keeneland sale.
Burnett’s Josham Farms bred the colt in Ontario. He is out of Swanky Bubbles, the dam of Bubbles to the Top.
New Canada friend Ernie Semersky (Conquest Stables) bought the gal.
1949 c Stormy Atlantic Swanky Bubbles 330,000
B-Josham Farms (KY)
Consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency, agent
Purchased by Conquest Stables
from THOROUGHBRED DAILY NEWS:
“He’s very muscular, correct, and looked like he’d be an early 2-year-old,@
Burnett assessed. “He vetted absolutely clean, and his
scope was A+. Everything about him was attractive,
and he was very classy.”
Burnett purchased dam Swanky Bubbles as a yearling
for about $68,000 at the 2003 FTCSEP sale. She
didn=t earn black-type for him, but was a hard-knocking
check-getter who banked nearly $75,000. Her true worth, though, has come in
the breeding shed.
Burnett sold her first foal, Bubbles to the Top, for
about $70,000 at the 2009 ONTSEP sale, and she’s
gone on to place in three stakes and earn over
$275,000. Swanky Bubbles=s second foal sadly died in
a training accident; this colt was her third. The mare
has an Old Forester filly on the ground and is back in
foal to Zensational. “And she’ll go back to Stormy
Atlantic next year,” said Burnett
On Sunday, Anderson Farms sold a session topping Ontario bred by Medaglia d’Oro:
1397 Medaglia d=Oro Loving Vindication 385,000
B-Anderson Farms Ont (ON)
Consigned by Anderson Farms, agent
Purchased by Lael Stable – Roy Jackson
Anderson Farms purchased Loving Vindication for $180,000 out of the 2011 Keeneland January sale.
Dave Anderson knew he was leading a popular commodity up to the sales ring. “We ran out of cards Saturday and we still have horses to sell in Book 3, so we knew we had a lot of people looking at him,”
Anderson commented yesterday. Of Loving Vindication, he added, AShe looked like she
was a young mare who could be a long-term
investment.”
Meanwhile, the full brother to QUEEN’S PLATE winner MIDNIGHT ARIA was listed as NOT SOLDfor just $70,000 at Keeneland…
