Thursday racing returns for the last 2 weeks of Woodbine…big return for Fifty Proof, Frank Stronach’s Horse Racing League hits new peak and the case for Canadian Horse of the Year
Yep, he’s back. FIFTY PROOF wins the Sir Barton in his first race in a year. Norm Files photo
FULL PROOF
Champion older horse from 2012 makes strong return
It had been a year since champion FIFTY PROOF had raced. The giant, flashy fellow, owned by a group that includes famed Kinghaven Farms, John Fielding and Ben Hutzel, had a suspensory injury, then a bone injury, but after 3 months of training, he was fit and ready for his comeback. Taking on a group who were way overmatched, FIFTY PROOF made it look easy and he probably was not event totally fit.
He ran a 95 Beyer Figure and is now headed to grass racing in Florida. Ian Black trains and Justin Stein rode.
Uh, IZITLEGAL? Guess so – this 2yo FILLY WAS 31 TO 1, making her first strat since Aug. but led all the way to win a MSW for Ont. sired gals. She is by Legal Jousting out of Shubiz, by Shuilaan, bred by Kingsgate and Cedarcrest. Just 30 min, earlier, her full brother SILO RIDGE won his maiden at the MSW level. Norm Files photo
MR JACKSON, IF YOU’RE NASTY
Gentleman Jackson (Norm Files photo) won his 5th race at Woodbine in 2012 to tie for the lead for the year’s winningest horse…owned by Frank Cirillo, trained by Marty Drexler.
1 Gentleman Jackson 10 5 1 2 $181,676 50% 8 80% 100
1 Hold That Echo 12 5 3 3 $114,088 42% 11 92% 81
but where do these 2 fit in Canada in 2012? Three horses are ahead of them…
1 Big Brother Joe 8 6 0 1 $44,536 75% 7 88% 102
1 Tethra’s Word 8 6 0 0 $41,276 75% 6 75% 86
1 Dance the Dance 9 6 0 3 $36,010 67% 9 100% 92
Balooga Bull 6 5 0 1 $120,221 83% 6 100% 114
She’s Regal 7 5 2 0 $86,225 71% 7 100% 813
Whos Hot Now 9 5 0 0 $32,449 56% 5 56% 75
You’ve Been Played 11 5 1 2 $30,392 45% 8 73% 82
High Plateau 7 5 0 1 $29,986 71% 6 86% 95
Shanghi Charlie 9 5 0 1 $43,672 56% 6 67% 89
Disco Damsel 9 5 2 0 $28,979 56% 7 78% 79
Highly Favoured 6 5 1 0 $14,934 83% 6 100% 81
PYRITE MOUNTAIN won the Kingarvie Stakes as a maiden (he was a close second in his debut against open company) by inches over Power Phil (Philanthropist). This is a son of Ontario sire SILENT NAME (JPN) and he is the first stakes winner for Frank Stronach’s HORSE RACING LEAGUE, (http://www.horseracingleague.com/) a series of syndicates that originally were going to be in the $10 a share range to attract new owners. The League costs a lot more than that to join and Pyrite Mountain is owned by the Awesome Again Stable. The winner was bred by Sean Hall.
PYRITE MOUNTAIN by Norm Files
91 BEYER SPEED FIGURE FOR AVIE’S QUALITY IN DISPLAY
Ivan Dalos’ homebred AVIE’S QUALITY stamped himself as a leading 2yo in Canada with a strong win in the tough DISPLAY STAKES on Saturday at Woodbine, putting up an impressive 91 Beyer Figure. That number is better than most numbers earned by 2yos this year in Canada, although Uncaptured had one better, a 96 in a 5 1/2 furlong sprint in the summer.
Avie’s Quality certainly has the pedigree to be a long distance star, however, as he is by Elusive Quality out of E P Taylor Stakes winner Fly for Avie, by Lord Avie. Darley is a co-breeder and Dalos bought the youngster for $35,000 as a yearling.
Trained by Josie Carroll, Avie’s Quality was in the back of the field along the inside for most of the race. CLEARLY NOW, the pacesetter who was very rank early, stayed on okay to be 3rd while MY NAME IS MICHAEL, recently sold to a partner in the US charged for 2nd.
Strange outings in the race came from 2 Mark Casse trainees. GUNDERMAN appeared to be fading being pulled up in the stretch but then he rallied late and galloped out okay. SKY COMMANDER was moving on the turn with Avie’s Quality but then suddenly dove to the rail into ths stretch and he stalled.
SATURDAY WRAP
There were some super performances on Saturday in addition to AVIE’S QUALITY. The 2yo QUICK TURNOVER won a maiden $40,000 claiming race and had a beautiful ride behind the pace duel by Patrick Husbands. The chestnut gelding by Value Plus out of stakes winner Penny’s Growl is owned by Debmar Stables, which had a good season with trainer Ricky Griffith, at least with its lightly raced youngsters. Quick Turnover had been 2nd, 3rd and 4th in her 4 races.
Cindy Cox and Lisa McCallum-Smith and trainer Greg Cox have a nice prospect in CHIEF CHATO (a famous Indian chief). This 2yo by Tomahawk – U R Eneggy by Bold n Flashy was bred by the team and he was a super 3rd in his debut after a tough trip.
He was an easy one to pick to win the 4th race Saturday and he was a nice 5 to 1 to kick off the Pick 4. The gelding battled on the pace all the way under Steve Bahen and while that seemed to be scary tactics since he rallied so well in his debut, he out-dueled Silver Striker (Vibank) and held on to win by a length with a 56 Beyer.
Race 5, a $10,000 claiming race for older horses marked the first win of the year of the longtime nibbler QUARTERBACK, owned and bred by Petra and Yvonne Schwabe.
The Polytrack played very slow all day so sprint races that went in 24 4/5 and 48 for the first half mile should not be scrutinized too closely. The track is just very slow.
QUARTERBACK made his move off the turn and then held off Looks Purrfect to win by a neck for trainer Kevin Attard.
in a rarity, POWERMOUSE was pulled up early in the race (he was under a hard hold early and then eased up in early stretch) as his rider Gerry Olguin “apparently was hit in the face by a clod”, said the EQUIBASE chart.
HOSKINS PLATFORM ENCOURAGING
The past year has been extremely painful for horse racing, as the entire industry has been devastated by the government’s plans to cancel the Slots at Racetracks Program, which set to take affect in March 2013. The industry is in crisis, with 60,000 jobs at risk, over half of which are in rural communities, where jobs are harder to come by. Ontario’s horse breeding industry operates on a multi-year cycle and has already taken a crippling blow this year due to the government’s plans.
YOU KNOW IT’S CLOSE TO CHRISTMAS WHEN….
