WOODBINE MILE NEWS
Ventura sizzles on Poly
SHE’S BAAAAACK…
Tough mare VENTURA, shown here after her Breeders’ Cup score last fall, will try to come off a layoff and win the Woodbine Mile on Sunday. Cindy Pierson Dulay photo.
PROBABLE FIELD FOR SUNDAY’S WOODBINE MILE (11)
Bribon/Marc Keller/Robert Ribaudo/Alan Garcia
Daylight Express/Lord Michael Taylor/Robert Peirce/Anderson Ward
Ferneley/Silver Springs Stud Farm/Ben Cecil/Rafael Bejarano
Field Commission/Edward Seltzer & Dan Vella/Dan Vella/Julien Leparoux
Grand Adventure/Sam-Son Farm/Mark Frostad/Eurico Rosa da Silva
Ice Bear/Augustin Stable/Mac Benson/Chantal Sutherland
Jungle Wave/Tucci Stables/Sid Attard/Todd Kabel
Rahy’s Attorney/Ellie Boje Farm, Read Peters, Jean & Jim MacLellan/Slade
Callaghan
Sand Cove/Ralph Johnson/Roger Attfield/Richard Dos Ramos
Sterwins/Melnyk Racing Stables/Malcolm Pierce/Patrick Husbands
Ventura/Juddmonte Farms/Robert Frankel/Garrett Gomez
BREEDERS’ CUP WINNER VENTURA,a 5 yo mare, will try and come off a long layoff and win the WOODBINE MILE on Sunday for Juddmonte Farms and trainer Bobby Frankel.
The white faced mare, winner of the Filly & Mare Sprint last year but beaten out for the Eclipse Award, is at Woodbine now, in the care of Brian Lynch, and she sizzled 5 furlongs on the Polytrack Monday morning in 59 2/5.
The turf training sessions scheduled for early this week have been reportedly cancelled with a possible re-opening of the grass on Wednesday.
In last year’s edition, the daughter of Chester House finished second to locally-based Rahy’s Attorney, before going on to win the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita.
This year, the Bobby Frankel trainee has won one of her three starts, all Grade 1 events, the Santa Monica at Santa Anita in January. She lost two photos in the others – to Gio Ponti in the Frank Kilroe Mile in March and to Informed Decision in the Madison at Keeneland in April, her last outing.
“We considered a couple of races for the summer, but then, when that didn’t work out, we just decided to back off her, give her a couple of months off,” said Garrett O’Rourke, Juddmonte Farms manager in Lexington, Kentucky. “She’s been back to work for the last six weeks. I saw her (recently) in Saratoga and she looks absolutely magnificent. She needs seven furlongs or a one-turn mile, but there just wasn’t that much opportunity, so we decided to skip everything and just aim for this race and the Breeders’ Cup.”
Frankel has won two previous Woodbine Miles, with Riviera in 2000 and Leroidesanimaux in 2005. Garrett Gomez, who will ride Ventura, the field’s leading money winner with over $1.6 million, took the 2007 Woodbine Mile with favoured Shakespeare.
Meanwhile, JUNGLE WAVE, who might be the more fancied local runner over Rahy’s Attorney thanks to a sizzling series of wins this season for Tucci Stables and trainer Sid Attard, worked on the dirt training in 1:17 BREEZING.
ICE BEAR could be a late addition. He just raced last week and would be back in 89 day for George Strawbridge and trainer Mac Benson.
BRIBON, DAYLIGHT EXPRESS and FERNELEY are the only other shippers in a field of what could be 11.
C.T.H.S. SALE PREFERRED DOWN TOO, KEENELAND DAY ONE…”BRUTAL”
The Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society’s annual Canadian-bred yearling sale wrapped up Saturday with a preferred session that saw the average drop more than 30% following a 23% drop in average for the select session last Tuesday.
At Keeneland, the number was 35% – drop in average.
The one Canadian-bred offered included a Distorted Humour – Annasan colt that was bought back for $375,000,
CHIEFSWOOD STABLE was buying. The Krembil family paid $350,000 for a filly from the first crop of whiz kid BERNARDINI, out of Home Court, for $350,000,
FROM THE BLOOD-HORSE:
Keeneland Numbers Plummet in First Session
By Deirdre B. Biles
Padua Stables’ Satish Sanan summed up the opening session of the Keeneland September yearling sale in two words: “It’s brutal.” And the trends for the key business figures backed up his opinion. Compared to results for the auction’s first day last year, the gross revenue plummeted 55.5% Sept. 14 in Lexington while the average price dropped 35.9%. The median price declined 33.3%.
“People put a lot of money into stud fees two years ago, and the market is disastrous,” Sanan said soon after selling an A.P. Indy —Class Above filly, through Three Chimneys Sales, for $250,000. “There is no way you’re going to get your stud fees back. This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.”
Read more:
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/52558/keeneland-numbers-plummet-in-first-session
WOODBINE WEEKEND WRAP
On SATURDAY, stakes winner LADY ATTACK was euthanized after breaking down in a grass sprint at Woodbine.
The mare, owned by Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings had won the Repercussion Stakes in the summer, a prep for the Royal North Stakes, by-passed that big event and was coming off a layoff for the allowance.
YUMMY WITH BUTTER (inside, head just down) wins his first stakes race when he took the Overskate Stakes for Ontario sired guys by a nostril over STRAY CAT STRIDE. Norm Files photo.
GHOST FLEET won his 2nd stakes race in the Swynford by a long neck over the filly Jenny’s So Great. Ghost Fleet is by Arch. Norm Files photo.
FORT ERIE NEWS
CHEYNE WINS
FORT ERIE, September 14 – Fort Erie native Brian Cheyne wasted no time in finding his way to the winners circle. Riding in only his fourth race, Cheyne guided Bubba Luke to victory in Monday’s fourth race at Fort Erie Race Track.
Cheyne, who was born and raised in Fort Erie, rode two races on Sunday’s card finishing 5th on Brother Griem in the first race and 4th on Skip the Night in the eighth. This afternoon Cheyne was aboard Galloping River who finished 6th in the third race before notching his first career win in the fourth.
Bubba Luke, who is trained by William Lane for owner Gustavo Urraburu, settled in nicely on the backstretch and rallied along the rail in the stretch to win by a length.
“This is a spectacular feeling.” said the 20-year-old apprentice. “I knew I was riding a good horse. I just followed the trainer’s instructions and we got the win.”
Bubba Luke paid $13.60, $6.60 and $3.50. Stretchdrive finished second paying $6.10 and $3.80. Dream Treasure was third and returned $3.40.
Cheyne rides his first at Woodbine on Thursday on SENOR GONZAGA for Bill Voijin in race 8 on the grass.
