THOROUGHBREDS are back.. entries will be drawn today for Saturday, the first of 133-days of racing at Woodbine in 2016. The stories are out there in the media as opening day nears and here is a cool magazine cover for Portico (University of Guelph alumni magazine), featuring our popular jock Emma-Jayne Wilson. You can read the issue by clicking on the link.
ENTRIES DRAWN TODAY FOR OPENING DAY AT WOODBINE
Snow, cold temps keep main track closed for 2 days
Okay, so we got away with a mild winter for almost 4 months and then bam! The sun is shining Tuesday and while more snow could come today, the weekend calls for slightly better weather (Photo courtesy John Siscos)
Stay tuned for notes on the first card of racing that will be drawn today and out early this afternoon. The JACQUES CARTIER STAKES with STACKED DECK is the stakes feature for Saturday.
REMEMBER THESE GUYS AND GALS?
Here are the last 10 winners of the FIRST RACE AT WOODBINE of a new season:
One of these went on to do some very big things!
2015 – CIRCLE THE WORLD – Michael Tabor et al, Wesley Ward Rafael Hernandez
2014 – HIGH TEE John Mattine, Norseman, Luis Contreras
2013 – FOOLISH – Nick DeToro – owner/trainer; TODD KABEL aboard, rallied wide on an outside-flow track
2012- ABSOULUTE HEAVEN – Jim Ensom – owner/trainer; STEVE BAHEN
2011 – NEW TOMORROW – Wesley Ward owner/trainer; JUAN DELGADO
2010 – NEVERRGUEWITHRITCHIE – Larry Rivelli, trainer; J. CASTANON
2009 FLASHY N CLASSY – Anne Cameron. trainer; CHANTAL SUTHERLAND
2008 – HAVEUBEENTOLDTODAY – Nick Gonzalez, trainer; EURICO DA SILVA, rallied
2007 GOLD QUILL – Ross Armata Jr; STEVEN BAHEN
2006 – FIRE POWER – Reade Baker, trainer; Jim McAleney (DIRT)
2005 – MARYFIELD – Josie Carroll; PATRICK HUSBANDS (DIRT TRACK), favourite
2004 – CANDY HAZE – Reade Baker; DIRT TRACK, favourite
MARYFIELD, opening day winner at Woodbine and later, Breeders’ Cup Champion (Filly & Mare Sprint) CINDY PIERSON DULAY PHOTO/horse-races.net
EMMA-JAYNE TALKS TURF – CANADIAN PRESS FEATURE -BY DAN RALPH
TORONTO — Emma-Jayne Wilson is eager to help take Canadian thoroughbred racing in a new direction this spring.
Woodbine Racetrack will stage 25 turf events clockwise this season, a shift from the traditionally run counter-clockwise races.
Wilson, who became the first female jockey to win the Queen’s Plate in 2007, has ridden clockwise in Hong Kong and England and is looking forward to the first clockwise race at Woodbine in late May. The Toronto oval will be the first in North America to race in the opposite direction.
“I’d love to say ...
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/6441196-wilson-eager-for-clockwise-racing-at-woodbine/
ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN
Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) today announced the addition of Rolling Daily Doubles to its daily Thoroughbred betting menu.
“Rolling Doubles” requires horseplayers to select the winners in two consecutive races of the programme.
The wager, which will offer a $1 minimum and be offered on every race, makes its debut during this Saturday’s April 9 season-opening Thoroughbred card of racing at Woodbine.
Rolling Doubles will have a horseplayer-friendly takeout of 15%.
“The Daily Double wager has been around horse racing for decades and is one of Woodbine’s most popular bets among core horseplayers,” said Greg Martin, WEG’s Vice-President of Wagering Operations. “Woodbine is working hard to offer a comprehensive betting menu for all horseplayers and offering a Double every race at a 15% takeout rate is an attractive proposition for many of our customers.”
Fans will have a number of “exotics” to play on the nearing 133-day meet, including Rolling Pick-3s, a Pick-4, a Pick 5, a Jackpot Hi-5, plus the traditional exactors, triactors and superfectas.
SHAK IS BACK – Queen’s Plate favourite begins season in Transylvania on turf at Keeneland
Shakhimat, breaking his maiden at Woodbine in Sept. He later went on to win the Coronation Futurity MICHAEL BURNS/WEG PHOTO
SHAKHIMAT, the exciting Canadian-bred 3-year-old who was one of the top 2-year-olds of 2015 and is the early favourite for the Plate in July, is ready to go on Friday at Keeneland for his first race of the year.
The son of Lonhro (Aus) out of Reggae Rose by Touch Gold is listed at 10 to 1 in the morning line in the 9 horse field but there is no chance he will 10 to 1.
The Coronation Futurity winner was 3rd in his only turf outing but is the lone speed in the Transylvania from the inside and should be tough to run down.
Raced by Dan Gale last year, the colt is now running under the ownership of Gale and RGH Bloodstock of Richard Hogan, who bought the colt at auction last year for $60.000. The strong stretch runners in the field include Converge and Catapult.
Friday, Keeneland, post time: 5:30 p.m. EDT
TRANSYLVANIA S. PRESENTED BY KEENELAND SELECT-GIII,
$100,000, 3yo, 1 1/16mT
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Inspector Lynley Lemon Drop Kid Geroux McGaughey III 118
2 Shakhimat Lonhro (Aus) Wilson Attfield 118
3 Prime Time Man Zensational Velazquez Lukas 118
4 Urban Bourbon City Zip Bravo Kenneally 118
5 J R ‘s Holiday Harlan’s Holiday Jaramillo Garoffalo 123
6 Sorryaboutnothing Repent Lanerie O’Neill 118
7 Converge Sidney’s Candy Castellano Brown 123
8 Catapult Kitten’s Joy Leparoux Brown 120
9 One Mean Man Mizzen Mast Torres Flint 118
Owners: 1-Stuart S. Janney, III and Phipps Stable (O. M. Phipps, et al.),2-RGH Bloodstock, Inc.(Richard Hogan) and Dan Gale, 3-Zayat Stables, LLC(Ahmed Zayat), 4-Bourbon Lane Stable (Jamie Hill), Michael C. Stinson andMichael J. McMahon, 5-J.R. Racing, LLC (Jerry Roth), 6-Fog City Stable, RAPRacing, ERJ Racing, LLC and Kenney, Dave, 7-Paul P. Pompa, Jr.,8-Woodford Racing, LLC (William S. Farish, Jr.), 9-L. T. B., Inc. andHillerich Racing LLC
Breeders: 1-Stuart S. Janney, III LLC. & PhippsStable, 2-Adena Springs,3-Zayat Stables, LLC, 4-K & G Stables, 5-Dr. John A. Chandler, 6-WoodfordThoroughbreds, 7-SF Racing, 8-Breffni Farm, 9-Bernard Flint & Ron Hillerich
FROM THOROUGHBRED DAILY NEWS –
ROGER ATTFIELD talks SHAKHIMAT and more..by Ben Massam
If patience is the game, you’ll be hard pressed to find many as skilled at the practice as Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield. After enduring a winter of unsettled Florida weather and a quarantine that essentially kept his runners out of the starting gate for the month of March, Attfield is prepared to once again make his seasonal migration north to Canada by way of Kentucky, beginning with three runners entered on Keeneland’s opening day Friday. Among them is RGH Bloodstock and Dan Gale’s Shakhimat (Lonhro {Aus})–the latest promising 3-year-old prospect for the eight-time Queen’s Plate winning conditioner.
Speaking over the phone Monday, Attfield explained with a laugh that Shakhimat means “checkmate” in Russian, a name fitting for a colt that was last seen notching a decisive 9 3/4-length win over Woodbine’s all-weather track in the Nov. 8 Coronation Futurity. The trainer said that he brought Shakhimat down to his Payson Park winter base with the intention of keeping the dark bay fresh for a spring and summer campaign beginning in March, but was steered toward Friday’s GIII Transylvania S. after a equine herpes virus scare put the training center on lockdown until late last month.
“I gave him some nice freshening time because I didn’t want to get caught up in the bigger stuff down [in Florida],” Attfield said. “It’s unfortunate that we were under quarantine for most of March, because I wanted to get a race into him in March and then go to [Turfway Park’s Apr. 2 GIII] Spiral. We didn’t get that accomplished, so I decided to go to the Transylvania at Keeneland.”
http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/attfield-begins-familiar-seasonal-journey/
Fan Favorite San Pail and Thoroughbred Trainer Mark Casse Headline CHRHF Class of 2016
Dahlia and Daryl Wells
The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame is pleased to announce the 2016 inductees. A total of 10 horses and people have been elected to the Hall of Fame from an extremely strong list of finalists, in this the 40th Anniversary year of the CHRHF.
Thoroughbred Inductees
Male Horse Category: Wise Dan – Bred and owned by Morton Fink, Chicago, IL; Trained by Charles LoPresti, Lexington, KY;
Veteran Horse Category: Dahlia (deceased), bred and owned by Nelson Bunker Hunt, trained by Maurice Zilber, later owned by Allen Paulson and trainer Charlie Whittingham
Trainer Category: Mark Casse, Ocala, FL
Builder Category: Dr. Michael Colterjohn (deceased), Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, resident of Lindsay ON and Caledon, ON
Communicator Category: Daryl Wells Sr. (deceased), Born in Victoria, BC, resident of Lewiston, NY
Standardbred Inductees
Male Horse Category: San Pail – Breeder, Glenn Van Camp, Port Perry, ON; owners Glenn Van Camp and Hughes Stable Inc., Dunsford, ON.; trainer, Rod Hughes; driver, Randy Waples.
Female Horse Category: Odies Fame – Breeder, Glengate Farms, Campbellville, ON; owners, Buddy (Harold) Wellwood and Dr. Norm Amos/Linda Wellwood, St. George, ON; trainers, Harold Wellwood, Lyle McArthur; primary driver, Dave Wall.
Builder Category: John Ferguson, Sr. (deceased), born in Vancouver, BC, resident of Montreal, QC, & Windsor, ON
Driver/Trainer: Yves Filion, Saint-Andre-D’argent, QC
Communicator Category: Bruce Johnston, (deceased), Aylmer, ON
