JOHNNY LA RUE and jockey Erika Smilovsky were an unbeatable team at Fort Erie this summer. NORM FILES PHOTO
JOHNNY LA RUE named FORT ERIE HORSE OF THE YEAR
Colebrook Farms’ JOHNNY LA RUE won all 3 of his races at Fort Erie including the Puss n Boots Stakes and was named the Horse of the Fort Erie season last night at the track’s annual awards dinner. The Harlan’s Holiday 5-year-old also won top grass horse and older male. His jockey Ericka Smilovsky won apprentice of the meeting.
Fort Erie has been on a high this week after receiving funding for 4 more years of racing and hopefully the possible new development plans by new owner Carol Paladino, will grow that entire area and help racing.
SUPER SATURDAY AT BElMONT!
The top three finishers of the Grade 1 Travers will face older horses, including Grade 1 Whitney winner Moreno, on Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park.
The 1 ¼-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup for 3-year-olds and up is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” race in the Classic division and is one of six graded stakes on the TVG Super Saturday card. With $3.4 million in stakes purses, TVG Super Saturday is the Belmont fall meet’s most lucrative day of racing.
The Jockey Club Gold Cup will be shown live on an NBC Sports Network broadcast that begins at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time.
The 2014 Jockey Club Gold Cup has attracted the winners of the NYRA circuit’s three biggest races for 3-year-olds: Tonalist, who took the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, and stablemates V. E. Day and Wicked Strong, who respectively have won the Grade 1 Travers and Grade 1 TwinSpires.com Wood Memorial. The most recent 3-year-old to win the Jockey Club Gold Cup was Summer Bird, who had previously captured the Belmont and Travers.
In the 1 ¼-mile Travers on August 23, Wicked Strong stalked the pace in third and led by 1 ½ lengths at the stretch call before V. E. Day closed hard from seventh to get up by a nose in the last stride. Tonalist, who raced in second early, couldn’t match strides with V. E. Day and Wicked Strong in the stretch and finished third, beaten 2 ½ lengths.
Both V. E. Day and Wicked Strong are trained by Jimmy Jerkens.
“I realized inside the eighth pole it was going to be between our two [horses],” said Jerkens, who picked up his second Travers victory, having also won it in 2010 with Afleet Express. “I thought Wicked [Strong] was going to hold on, but [V. E. Day] switched his lead and surged the last three jumps and nailed him right on the wire. I mean it was really the very last jump. It was disheartening for Wicked Strong. You know, he ran so hard. He didn’t cut out the pace, but he was pretty close to a lively pace. He pretty much ran all the way.”
The Travers was V. E. Day’s graded stakes debut and fourth consecutive victory. The winning streak also includes a half-length maiden score in an off-the-turf race in May at Belmont, a two-length triumph on Belmont’s inner turf course in July, and a head victory in the restricted Curlin on July 25 at Saratoga.
Previously, V. E. Day, a son of 2007 Champion Turf Horse English Channel, was fifth in January and second in March in a pair of maiden races on the grass at Gulfstream Park.
“We even entertained the thought of running [V. E. Day] for a high-priced claiming race [during the winter at Gulfstream Park],” said Jerkens. “Thank God we didn’t, but we were toying with that idea, because he was taking a long time to kind of turn the corner. Then all of a sudden, after his second turf race, he seemed to kick in, and he’s just been doing everything right ever since. It’s one of those strange things. Horses can really surprise you that way.”
V. E. Day, who is owned by Magalen O. Bryant, was installed as the 5-1 fourth choice on the morning line. He’ll leave from post 10 with Javier Castellano aboard.
V.E. DAY, the Travers winner, in the Jockey Club Gold Cup against fellow sophomores and older horses. COGLIANESE.NYRA PHOTO
READ MORE at http://www.nyra.com/belmont/travers-top-3-take-on-elders-in-g1-jockey-club-gold-cup/
WEGCARES WEEK attracts attention
Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) wrapped up its Woodbine Cares Week celebrations with the 16th annual Woodbine Turf Races, in support of United Way Toronto,last Sunday morning at Woodbine.
Dozens of participants of all ages enjoyed the unique experience of running/walking on Woodbine’s world-renowned E.P. Taylor turf course. This fun fund-raising event, featuring participation from WEG employees, their families, business partners, community associations, racing fans, walkers and runners of all experience, raised $17,615 in 2014.
Participants enjoyed music, face painters and balloon artists followed by a barbecue lunch in Woodbine’s east-end track-side tent which overlooks the glorious 1 ½-mile turf course.
The Turf Races, which included a fun 5K walk/run, co-ed relay, and kids events (12 years and younger), are the culmination of Woodbine Cares Week – a 10-day celebration of WEG-supported community associations and causes that contribute so much to the life, health and vibrancy of Toronto.
The power behind the Woodbine Cares Week festivities was an online Charity Challenge, which presented a chance for racing fans, along with charitable supporters, to vote for their favourite cause. The charity that received the most votes by September 19 was to be awarded a $10,000 donation by Woodbine Entertainment Group.
More than 10,000 people voted in the Woodbine Cares Week Charity Challenge, and Pathways to Education Rexdale collected the most votes – a total of 2,160.
“We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in Woodbine Cares Week,” said Madina Wasuge, Program Director, Pathways to Education Rexdale. “Thank you to Woodbine Entertainment Group for your generous donation, and to all of the amazing supporters who voted for Pathways to Education. The $10,000 donation will help us provide students with academic tutoring, and social and financial supports, and will bring us one step closer to our goal of a Graduation Nation, where all youth in Canada have the opportunity to graduate.”
Many of WEG’s longtime charitable and community partners were profiled and highlighted on the www.WEGCares.ca site throughout the campaign. The #WEGCares hashtag had 1.5 million impressions on Twitter and the Facebook campaign earned more than 120,000 impressions.
“We are proud of our Woodbine Cares Week celebration,” said Nick Eaves, WEG’s President and CEO. “This voting challenge was a new initiative for us and the results have exceeded our expectations. WEG is very fortunate to have so many supportive community partners, and we wanted to use horseracing as the platform to raise awareness for the work they do that makes such a big difference in Toronto. The organizations embraced the challenge with creativity and enthusiasm, and worked tirelessly to rally support from the horse racing community and the public at large. The outpouring of support for Woodbine Cares Week has been very gratifying.”
The Turf Races action is available at www.YouTube.com/WoodbineTurfRaces.
