TODAY’S NEWS – It’s almost 3 p.m. and let’s look a bit at the first day of racing at WOODBINE on Friday! (Good friday)
Dave Landry photo
ENTRY DAY FOR WOODBINE 2010!
AMERICANS FLOCK
Racing starts Friday, temperature to hit 23 degrees! (Celsius)
The stars are coming out at WOODBINE these days, stakes winners of years past, and Friday’s DEBUT STAKES and the immediate upcoming stakes events, should be intriguing ones.
THE FIRST OF 167 CARDS OF ENTRIES WAS ‘DRAWN’ today by the WOODBINE RACING OFFICE as that group hunkers down for a big year.
What is immediately noticeable is the sizable American representation on the card, which includes two 5-horse fields to kick off the season.
Trainers STEVE ASMUSSEN, LARRY RIVELLI, WESLEY WARD, MIKE LIGHTNER and MIKE PINO have a litany of entries.
Ward and Rivelli are at Woodbine for the first time and as trainers who excel with fast horses in short races, this pair could win the Daily Double on opening day with NEVERRGWITHRICHIE and the filly CRIMSON GLORY ((race 2, Ward).
Meanwhile, the talented jockey JESUS CASTANON is riding a bunch too, for Ward and Rivelli but no word on if he will stay at Woodbine a la Luis Contreras, who is currently riding for Asmussen.
Strange goings on as far as musical trainers goes too – especially in the DEBUT STAKES.
It appears as if GREG DE GANNES is the latest trainer for BRUNO SCHICKEDANZ as he is listed to saddle YUMMY WITH BUTTER in the 5 furlong dash.
ME THE SEA AND GT, also a stakes winner, has another new trainer – he went from Steve Owens to Norm McKnight to Abraham Katryan.
And PASO DOBLE, trained last year by Alec fehr for Terry Hamilton, is now trained by Sid Attard.
The Debut Stakes is an intriguing event with stars such as SAND COVE, STUCK IN TRAFFIC AND DRUNKEN LOVE all in the mix against the aforementioned trio, plus speedy BOLD NURSE, DON’S FOLLY, DANCEINGALL THE WAY, GRAZETTES LANDING and STRAY CAT STRIDE.
Blinkers will be ME THE SEA AND G T
DEBUT STAKES
Purse $100,000. 5 Furlongs. Ontario Sired Overnight Stakes. FOR FOUR-YEAR-OLDS AND
UPWARD, sired by a stallion standing in Ontario for the entire season the year of conception
and registered with the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society for that season.
1 Don’s Folly Wilson, E Black, I L 118
2 Bold Nurse Callaghan, S Doyle, M L 118
3 Dancingall Theway McAleney, J Richards, L L 118
4 Yummy With Butter Jones, J de Gannes, G L 120
5 Stray Cat Stride R. Dos Ramos O’Callaghan, D L 118
6 Me the Sea and G T Pizarro, T Katryan, A L 122
7 Paso Doble Ramsammy, E Attard, S. C. L 118
8 Drunken Love Olguin, G McKnight, N L 122
9 Grazettes Landing Husbands, P Casse, M L 118
10 Stuck in Traffic Clark, D Gonzalez, N L 122
11 Sand Cove Landry, R Attfield, R L 122
21 Nominations
HALL OF FAME TRAINER BILL MOTT expected at Woodbine
Trainer BILL MOTT, whose conditioning of the great Cigar is legendary, is expected to bring about a dozen horses to Woodbine for the summer with former Woodbine trainer RACHEL HALDEN as his assistant.
HALDEN a former assistant to Roger Attfield, had a small stable last year at Woodbine.
COOL – 13-year-old Canadian-bred retired
Stakes winning Canadian-bred COOL N COLLECTIVE, who was recently 5th when trying to become a winner at age 13 in New York, will live at the Bobby Frankel Division of OLD FRIENDS at Cabin Creek in New York when that section opens in July.
Owned by Repole Stable, Cool N Collective has raced 81 times in his career, spanning eleven years, with an incredible record of 15 wins, 27 seconds, and 13 thirds. As a 3-year-old in 2000, he earned his lone stakes victory in the 2000 Elgin Stakes at Woodbine, a race he ran runner-up in three straight times from 2002 -2004. He also ran second in the Pegasus Handicap (gr. II) at Meadowlands in 2000, his sole graded placing.
COMEDERO WINS BY 10 FOR REDEKOP
The fleet Posse gelding COMEDERO won another stakes race in 2010 yesterday at Oaklawn when the 3yo skipped away by 10 lengths to take the Rainbow at 6 furlongs.
The gelding, bred in Arkansas, is owned by Caandian PETER REDEKOP. The gelding has lost just once in 6 races.
His earnings are just over $146,000
NORTHLANDS RELEASE STAKES SKED
The $300,000 Canadian Derby on Aug. 21 headlines the 2010 Northlands Park thoroughbred stake schedule.
There are several differences from the 2009 schedule, but five changes stand-out:
1. The Speed to Spare has been added to the Canadian Derby day card.
2. The four-year-old and up sales stakes have been deleted from the schedule and replaced with 3 + 4 YO sales stakes on Oct. 2.
3. The Western Canada has moved from July 1 to June 19.
4. The Sun Sprint has moved into September.
5. The Edmonton Juvenile and Princess Margaret have dropped to $40,000, the only stakes under $50,000 on the sked. Canadian Connection Stakes Winners
