SO FAR SO GOOD
• Entries will be drawn today for Woodbine’s Friday card and after 5 racing cards to begin the 2009 season the horses who stayed in Ontario to train have been doing a bit better than the winter raced ones.
Certainly the distances of 5 and 5 ½ furlongs play more in the favour of the pure quick-types and oftentimes, horses coming from winter racing in the United States are having to adjust their distances.
After 5 cards, the percentage of locally-wintered horses to southern-raced/trained is almost 3 to 1. The leading trainers and jockeys are listed below:
(stats provided by Equibase)
WOODBINE- TRAINERS
Donald C. MacRae 6 3 1 0 $77,786
Malcolm Pierce 6 3 0 0 $192,974
David R. Bell 8 2 2 2 $123,687
Reade Baker 9 2 2 2 $101,737
Nicholas Gonzalez 12 2 2 0 $62,607
David Cotey 8 2 1 0 $30,991
Tony Mattine 5 2 0 1 $81,388
Ross Armata 7 2 0 0 $23,869
WOODBINE JOCKEYS
Patrick Husbands 26 8 4 3 $415,107
Eurico Rosa Da Silva 22 5 3 2 $229,896
Tyler Pizarro 20 5 2 3 $134,690
Chantal Sutherland 29 4 6 6 $225,470
Emile Ramsammy 27 4 3 3 $161,161
Emma-Jayne Wilson 22 3 5 3 $217,239
David Clark 22 3 1 3 $102,612
Steven Ronald Bahen 19 3 0 1 $46,028
*Beth Wyard 11 2 0 1 $43,168
*10-pound apprentice
QUEEN’S PLATE NEWS
Sam-Son, Melnyk colts at Keeneland
Canadian-bred, Queen’s Plate hopefuls KELLHAM, EYE OF THE LEOPARD and D’ORO DIABLO are seeking their maiden wins tomorrow at Keeneland for owners Eugene Melnyk, Sam-Son Farms and Bob Harvey respectively.
With a very light group of accomplished Canadian-bred 3yos currently on the road to the June 21 Plate, newcomers are still considered contenders with still 2 months plus to the race.
KELLHAM is a son of Distorted Humor out of the Canadian bred mare Appleby Gardens, a daughter of champion Larkwhistle.
EYE OF THE LEOPARD is by A.P. Indy and is the first foal of champion 3yo filly Eye of the Sphynx. This will be the Leopard’s debut.
D’Oro Diablo debuted at Gulfstream and he is by Medaglia D’Oro.
From Keeneland’s fan-friendly website, the Clocker’s Comments section had this to say about Eye of the Leopard’s recent workout:
Eye of the Leopard(6f) in 114/3
Track Condition 3 – 3.5
Comment:
broke 2-3 lengths behind Harvest Home as was the best at the finish
ENTRIES FOR THE TWO RACES TOMORROW AT KEENELAND:
5th (3:05)
7 Furlongs (All Weather Track) | Open | 3 Year Olds Maiden Special Weight | Purse: $50,000
Prg. # PP Horse Jockey Trainer, Wt. Claim $ Equip. Med. ML
1 1 Sarvatha Desormeaux K J Mott William, I 120 LA 5-1
2 2 Kellham Gomez G K Casse Mark, 120 LA 6-1
3 3 Something Gold Bridgmohan S X Asmussen Steven, M 120 LA 10-1
4 4 Eagle Poise Leparoux J R Frankel Robert, 120 LA 3-1
5 5 Glendover Guzman M Ladd Erin 120 30-1
6 6 Ramblin Boy Theriot H J II Zito Nicholas P 120 LA 15-1
7 7 Albin Castanon J L Simon Charles 120 LA 10-1
8 8 Original Ink Prado E S Romans Dale 120 LA 12-1
9 9 Great Crusade Mena M Lukas D Wayne 120 L 6-1
10 10 Flame Jewel Velazquez J R Zito Nicholas P 120 LA 8-1
11 11 Good Mon Albarado R J McPeek Kenneth G 120 LA 5-1
7th (4:05)
7 Furlongs (All Weather Track) | Open | 3 Year Olds Maiden Special Weight | Purse: $50,000
Prg. # PP Horse Jockey Trainer Wt. Claim $ Equip. Med. ML
1 1 D’oro Diablo Prado E S Kenneally Eddie 120 LA 3-1
2 2 Prince Teton Theriot H J II Romans Dale 120 LA 5-1
3 3 Baryshnikov Desormeaux K J Mott William I 120 LA 7-2
4 4 Eye of the Leopard Albarado R J Frostad Mark 120 LA 12-1
5 5 Ethics Reform Lanerie C J Scherer Merrill R 120 L 12-1
6 6 Storm Ranger Graham J Lay Larry 120 LA 20-1
7 7 Little Montie Prescott R Holt Larry W 120 Blk-On L 12-1
8 8 Don Gato Leparoux J R Wilkes Ian R 120 L 6-1
9 9 Big Top Velazquez J R Zito Nicholas P 120 LA 5-1
10 10 Jimanator Farina T McCann Elwood D Sr 120 Blk-On L 30-1
11 11 Noah’s Arch Garcia Alan McLaughlin Kiaran P 120 LA 12-1
COMING UP THIS WEEKEND
Grade 3 Whimsical, Oaks fillies in Star Shoot
• SMART SURPRISE, a double stakes winner for Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings Inc., is back from a winter in the south and may not have many rivals in Saturday’s feature at Woodbine – the Grade 3 Whimsical.
Named after a famous mare who won the Preakness Stakes, the Whimsical will be Smart Surprise’s first race at Woodbine since she romped in the Bessarabian Stakes last fall.
She is a daughter of Smart Strike.
On Sunday, fillies trying out for the Woodbine Oaks in June are up in the STAR SHOOT STAKES.
Several from opening day’s La Voyageuse Stakes figure to be in the race although the winner of that event, MULLINS BEACH (Speightstown) would have to be supplemented to the Star Shoot since she has not been nominated.
TOP CANADIAN BRED STERWINS SET FOR SUNDAY
• Eugene Menyk’s graded stakes winner STERWINS, consistently on the HOT CANADIAN-BRED LIST on Thoroughblog (see list on the main page of the site) is schecueld to meet a small group on Sunday in the Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes at Keeneland.
Sterwins recently worked 5 furlongs over a slow track (yesterday) at Keeneland the Clocker’s Comment reported:
Sterwins(5f) in 100.0
Comment: was well within himself
