HORNER BRINGS MARES BACK TO ONTARIO
COLTIMUS PRIME won last December’s Copa Invitational Importados at Gulfstream and is readying for that race again – Gulfstream Park photo
Coltimus Prime expected to return to ON 2019
Owner and breeder Jayson Horner has brought his mares back to Ontario to foal in what is an exciting move for racing and breeding fans of Canadian racing.
Horner, whose mare CERTAINLY SPECIAL (Distorted Humor) has provided the online marketing trader from Toronto, with wonderful horses, will greet his new homebreds at Curraghmore Farm owned by Vera Simpson and Mike Dube in Waterdown, ON.
“I am not a big commercial breeder but I will do what I can to support the local industry and there will be more support to come,” said Horner.
Previously, Horner’s mares had produced foals in Florida after beginning their breeding career with the owner in Ontario.
A fan of racing at a young age when his father took him to the track, Horner’s Certainly Special has been just that. Her first foal was Crysta’s Court, a stakes winning 2-year-old in 2012 who was bred by Horner and several partners. She was only the 2nd foal to race of Certainly Special and from one of the first early Ontario crops of Silent Name (Jpn).
CERTAINLY SUPER – photo courtesy of Jayson Horner/Feb 2018 Twitter
A year after foaling Crysta’s Court, Certainly Special produced a solid colt by Milwaukee Brew and that fellow, christened COLTIMUS PRIME, provided Horner and partners of his JMC’s Stable with a remarkable victory in the 2014 Prince of Wales Stakes. Horner had only been in the business of racing breeding for six years.
Coltimus Prime, trained by Justin Nixon, was a 2-time winner heading into his Prince of Wales victory but really took to the dirt track at the Fort that July day. The colt would place in the Grade 3 Ontario Derby later int his 3-year-old season.
In 2017, Coltimus Prime was leased to Rene Douglas to race in Panama. He has won 5 races for Douglas, was a multiple champion in Panama and last December came to Gulfstream Park and won the Copa Invitational Importados on a special Caribbean day at that track. Coltimus Prime is back in Florida to get ready for that race again and in 2019 is expected to come back to Ontario. He has earned over $600,000 and may be a stallion prospect to consider in the future.
Certainly Special then produced graded stakes placed Narrow Escape, who is still doing well on the local circuit. Her progeny have earned $1.5 million.
The mare is in foal to Violence.
Crysta’s Court, who has a yearling colt by Field Commission and a weanling filly by Kantharos, is in foal to Midnight Storm for 2019.
Thoroughblog wishes Jayson and his horses the best of health and luck for 2018-2019 and onwards. Congratulations for bringing this great bloodline back to Ontario!
EURICO WATCH: Woodbine card number 121
Thoroughblog has been tracking leading rider Eurico Rosa da Silva from the last few weeks as he aims for setting a record for most wins in a single Woodbine meeting.
That record, set by Mickey Walls in 1991 of 221, has been tough to beat (Walls actually won 286 races that year as there were also 2 Greenwood meetings).
Heading into Wednesday night’s card, Eurico has 213 victories with 13 cards of racing left.
His mounts tonight only total four but Georgian Dancer and Pictures of You are serious factors.
2 Maiden Special Weight – Sahara Breeze, Sid Attard
5 Maiden Claiming – Cheekylicious, Jim Ensom
6 Allowance – Georgian Dancer, Robert Tiller
8 Claiming – Pictures of You, Catherine Day Phillips
