TODAY’S NEWS – PLATE, PLATE, it’s almost the PLATE!…Refresh and reload your Thoroughblog page, it is a bit tricky, don’t miss anything and review all the posts from the last month…lots of comments rolling in recently, be patient, they will appear on the site soon..
They will be coming at you tomorrow!! BIG RED MILE (green silks) outside of MOBILIZER battle in the Plate Trial. The Plate is tomrorow…DAVE LANDRY PHOTO
WAKE AT NOON STORY UPDATE
Schickedanz in Woodbine paddock to watch horses yesterday
The story is on every forum and publication you can find – it is the topic that is being discussed almost as much as the Plate.
Another old horse has died, another old, popular, very rich horse who had not raced in so long, certainly his body was not going to be ready for the rigours of a track workout.
(See the Verne’s baby story from a couple of months ago)
Finally, WOODBINE RACETRACK is taking a stand here, not backing down, and the ORC seems to be in the hunt as well.
We are not a callous group of people in this game..are we? We care what happens to our horses and when something bad happens, we don’t sweep it under the rug, shrug our shoulders or get mad at the people who write about.
It is interesting to listen to the different reactions from folks around the track – most are mad and wanted to see this story come to light in the media, the less-than-brilliant folks at the track, front side and back side, well, not much place for you in the business.
Too many of these instances happen, too many folks out there possibly on the verge of doing the same thing as to what happened to Wake at Noon on Tuesday June 29.
Here’s what happened yesterday from the TORONTO STAR, which broke the story on Wednesday morning…
Wake At Noon owner, trainer barred
Thoroughbred owner Bruno Schickedanz has been barred indefinitely from racing and stabling horses at Woodbine racetrack in the wake of the death of a 13-year-old horse.
The ruling follows an incident on Tuesday in which Schickedanz-owned Wake At Noon, former Canadian thoroughbred of the year, shipped in to work out on the training track and was euthanized after breaking down. The reason why the horse broke down has yet to be determined.
Wake At Noon, which had not raced since November 2007, was not eligible for a stall at Woodbine according to rules regarding a horse’s age and how long it had been since its last race, but was still allowed into the backstretch.
“His name was not on the in-slip when he shipped in,” said Jamie Martin, executive vice-president of racing. “It doesn’t necessarily mean they were trying to sneak him in. The van folks may not have known who he was.”
The Ontario Racing Commission has started an investigation that includes a post-mortem on the popular horse, which won $1.6 million in its career.
Wake At Noon was voted Canada’s top horse, sprinter and older horse in 2002, but had limited success standing at stud for Schickedanz.
Tom Marino, Wake At Noon’s trainer of record at the time of the incident, has also been barred indefinitely.
Schickedanz, 63, has been in the racing business since the early 1980s and maintains a large number of racehorses and breeding stock. He also owns B.G. Schickedanz Homes in Vaughan.
Schickedanz also has 30 stalls at Fort Erie, where officials are awaiting the outcome of the ORC investigation before making a decision on whether he can race there.
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ab-horseracing&tid=22097
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ab-horseracing&tid=22095
http://fuglyblog.com/?p=2098
http://www.thoroughbredchampions.com/showthread.php?3122-Wake-at-Noon-13-dies-on-Woodbine-track/page4
http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72387&page=2&pp=15
PLATE IN THE NEWS
If you read the WOODBINE WEBSITE or other sites with POLLS on it about who is going to win the Plate this is what you will get…
WHO WE GUNNA CALL!! What? Well it seems as some mischievious sort is voting over and over again as 16% of the votes on the Woodbine site are for this longshot, making him the favourite on the Woodbine website..
BIG RED MIKE is also a favourite…
WHO IS YOUR PICK?
BUFFALO NEWS
Happy Handicapper: Big Red Mike may nose out Plate field
By Robert J. Summers
TORONTO — For a change, the Happy Handicapper has no problem picking his favorite horse for this year’s Queen’s Plate, set for Sunday at Woodbine.
Big Red Mike, the No. 5 horse at morning line odds of 6-1, is first in both the Handicapper’s heart and his head.
The gelding leads the heart parade because of his Fort Erie Race Track connections. He is trained by Nick Gonzalez, the Niagara Falls, N.Y., native who — along with Martha, his wife and training partner — has been a regular, and a regular winner, at the Fort, it seems, since the Peace Bridge had just two lanes.
http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/07/02/1102308/happy-handicapper-big-red-mike.html
GLOBE & MAIL
Mike Grange
How to get to the Plate
The 151st running of the Queen’s Plate on Sunday, will be a typical afternoon of pomp and circumstance, top hats, tails and long white gloves.
Adding to the pageantry in no small measure will be the presence of the Queen.
The event is a tradition for those who love horse racing and can’t-miss afternoon for those who love to wager. But what about those who want to be a little closer to the action, as in, the owner’s box and, from there, the winner’s circle?
It’s a steep climb, as the favourites are almost always homebred horses from famous bloodlines owned by the sport of kings’ elite in Canada: Sam-Son Farm has three entries in the field, including favourite Hotep, who goes off at 3 to 1, while Mobilizer, trained by Roger Attfield for Stronach Stable and is 7 to 2.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/quest-for-the-plate/article1627395/
GLOBE & MAIL
HRH THE QUEEN AND THE PLATE
Beverley Smith
TORONTO — Globe and Mail Update Published on Friday, Jul. 02, 2010 11:06PM EDT Last updated on Friday, Jul. 02, 2010 11:35PM EDT
If the Queen had her way, she would be attending the $1-million Queen’s Cup on Sunday, not the Queen’s Plate.
Fifty-five years ago, the newly crowned Queen told Canada’s Governor-General she wished the Queen’s Plate to be renamed and that the 50 guineas awarded to every winner since 1860, would be replaced with a “challenge cup,” according to Queen’s Plate historian Louis Cauz.
While recognizing that royal tradition was a wonderful thing, in the end, the Ontario Jockey Club decided to continue its own tradition of referring to the race as a Plate, which it had been for 95 years.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/getting-fit-for-the-queen/article1627379/
TORONTO STAR
Feschuk: Battle of the sexes plays out at Plate
By Dave Feschuk Sports Columnist
There’s a scene in the reality TV show Jockeys in which Chantal Sutherland, one of Canada’s top riders of thoroughbred horses, recalls her first encounter with Mike E. Smith, the U.S. racing star who has counted among his victories all three jewels of the U.S. Triple Crown.
“Mike said to me, ‘You know, Chantal, I just don’t think that girls should be jockeys,’” Sutherland says on camera.
Replies Smith, sitting across the table: “I didn’t say that I don’t think girls should be jockeys. I just said that I don’t think you should be a jockey, you being pretty.”
So there’s your gossipy subplot to Sunday’s 151st running of the Queen’s …
http://www.thestar.com/article/831541–feschuk-battle-of-the-sexes-plays-out-at-plate
Post Horse Trainer Jockey M/L
Odds
1 Vicar Street Catherine Day Phillips Tyler Pizarro 30-1
2 Who We Gunna Call Tino Attard Gerry Olguin 30-1
3 D’s Wando Ian Black Emma-Jayne Wilson 20-1
4 Dark Cloud Dancer Mark Frostad Javier Castellano 15-1
5 Big Red Mike Nicholas Gonzalez Eurico Rosa Da Silva 6-1
6 Smart Sky Mike Doyle Chantal Sutherland 30-1
7 Ghost Fleet Sid Attard Richard Dos Ramos 20-1
8 Giant’s Tomb Mark Frostad Mike Smith 12-1
9 Mobilizer Roger Attfield Jono Jones 7-2
10 Roan Inish (f) Carolyn Costigan Davy Moran 9-2
11 Hotep Mark Frostad Patrick Husbands 3-1
12 Mobthewarrior Greg de Gannes Emile Ramsammy 10-1
13 Moment of Majesty (f) Sue Leslie Robert Landry 12-1
