Happy Thanksgiving to US readers of Thoroughblog!
CANADIAN-BREDS IN BIG EVENTS THIS WEEK
Champion older male in Canada could be up for grabs in the Clark (Grade 1) at Churchill tomorrow). ARE YOU KIDDING ME, the leader in the category and BREAKING LUCKY take on some of the best older horses on the continent in this very tough race. Another Canadian-bred SHAMAN GHOST, will be the likely favourite.
Earlier on that card, Canada’s probable champion 3yo filly CAREN is on the road to try her stuff against some graded gals on the grass in the Mrs Revere (Grade 2):
Friday, Churchill Downs, post time: 5:56 p.m. EST
CLARK H. PRESENTED BY NORTON HEALTHCARE-GI, $500,000, 3yo/up, 1 1/8m
PP HORSE SIRE OWNER TRAINER JOCKEY WT
1 Gun Runner Candy Ride (Arg) Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC & Three Chimneys Farm Asmussen Geroux 118
2 Effinex Mineshaft Tri-Bone Stables Jerkens Alvarado 123
3 Are You Kidding Me Run Away and Hide Michael Riordan, Ronald K. Kirk & John C. Bates Attfield Garcia 119
4 Shaman Ghost Ghostzapper Stronach Stable Jerkens Castellano 122
5 Hawaakom Jazil Stephan H. Smoot & Wesley E. Hawley Hawley Mena 116
6 Noble Bird Birdstone John C. Oxley Casse Leparoux 121
7 Breaking Lucky K Lookin At Lucky Gunpowder Farms, LLC Baker Contreras 118
8 Mr. Z K Malibu Moon Calumet Farm Lukas Santana, Jr. 114
9 Hoppertunity K Any Given Saturday Mike Pegram, Karl Watson & Paul Weitman Baffert Velazquez 124
10 Prayer for Relief K Jump Start Zayat Stables, LLC Romans Albarado 115
Friday, Churchill Downs, post time: 5:27 p.m. EST
MRS. REVERE S.-GII, $200,000, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT
PP HORSE SIRE OWNER TRAINER JOCKEY WT
1 Dear Elaine Broken Vow Richard & Bertram Klein LoPresti Leparoux 118
2 Noble Beauty Kitten’s Joy Great Point Stables, LLC Brown Albarado 118
3 Caren Society’s Chairman Robert Marzilli De Paulo Campbell 118
4 Celestial Insight Scat Daddy The Elkstone Group, LLC Ward Santana, Jr. 118
5 Mo Knows Uncle Mo Kent Spellman & Wes Welker Ward Velazquez 118
6 Linda Scat Daddy Whitham Thoroughbreds, LLC Wilkes Hernandez, Jr. 118
7 Sweet Tapper Tapit Winchester Place Thoroughbreds, LLC Wilkes Landeros 118
8 Harmonize Scat Daddy Larkin Armstrong Mott Alvarado 123
9 Cross Country Divine Park On Cloud Nine, III, LLC Anderson Kennedy 118
10 Ready for Chianti More Than Ready Charles E. Fipke Stewart Rocco, Jr. 118
11 Hawksmoor (Ire) Azamour (Ire) Lael Stables Delacour Geroux 120
12 Strive Congrats Ben Hughes Trust #1 and Dean Hughes Von Hemel Quinonez 118
13 Shelbysmile Smart Strike QatarRacing, JBL Thoroughbreds LLC&Crystal LaneRacing LLC Walsh Castellano 118
14 Fitpitcher Kitten’s Joy Calumet Farm Fernandez Borel 118
15 Nobody’s Fault , Blame Lothenbach Stables, Inc. Block Geroux 118
Wednesday night at Woodbine
The track played much slower than it was last week and that was perhaps due to the moisture that fell most of the evening (in the form of light snow). By today, that snow will have turned to rain and there will be quite a bit of rain in the next two days.
Trainer RICHARD DAVIS won his first race of the Woodbine season with his 8th starter – ROXY’S BREW – who was placed first in race 4. Davis won 5 of 30 starts at Fort Erie and one of those winners was this 4yo gelding by Milwaukee Brew.
This gelding was narrowly beaten by heavily favoured Hardcastle in this $10,000 claiming race but the winner was deemed guilty of bumping Executiveguts (who was 4th) twice in the stretch run as he bulled his way through. It was unfortunate as Hardcastle, who has only raced 11 times since 2012, was winning for the first time since November 2012.
Roxy’s Brew is owned by Davis’ daughter Brianna and David Moran rode.
Joey Gee Thoroughbreds won race 5 with the big, galloping fellow FINAL OFFER, who led all the way through 1 1.16 miles to win for the 3rd time this year. The son of Marchfield won this $10,00 claiming race by 5 lengths with a career best 76 Beyer Figure. Final Offer is the 25th winner for trainer Martin Drexler this year and his previous best at Woodbine was 26 wins.
REGAL MARK led most of the way and won an allowance race worth $47,500, race 6 for Soli Mehta and partner. Trained by Kevin Attard (38 wins at the meeting), Regal Mark has 3 wins in 10 races this year and he is by Marcavelly.
Classy 5yo BIG BAZINGA won for the 3rd time this season when he took a $20,000 claiming race for Bull and Bear Racing Stable and trainer Katerina Vassilieva. The Bluegrass Cat gelding, ridden by Alan Garcia, put up an 85 Beyer Figure in this win, his 5th in 17 career races.
Vassilieva is just 1 win away from tying her career best of 12 wins in a season and she is just in her 7th year of training.
DYNAMIC SKY LATEST ADDITION TO ONTARIO STALLION RANKS
DYNAMIC SKY, by Sky Mesa, was a stakes winner at 2, 3 and 4 sprinting, going log, on turf and synthetic and dirt. TERENCE DULAY PHOTO
John Oxley’s Sovereign Award champion Dynamic Sky has been retired and will enter stud at the Everatt family’s Shannondoe Farm in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. He will stand for a fee of $4,000 (Canadian funds), stands and nurses.
The stallion was in the Keeneland November sale recently and was bought back for $45,000 (US) by Oxley before being moved to Ontario.
Stakes-placed in his two-year-old debut, Dynamic Sky won the subsequent Vandal Stakes at Woodbine before a strong runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.
Dynamic Sky flirted with the American Triple Crown after a highly impressive three-year-old debut in Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and close second, beaten just a neck, in the Sam F. Davis S. (G3). Back in Canada to prep for the Canadian classics, Dynamic Sky was a game nose victor in the Plate Trial Stakes before a third-place run in the $1 million Queen’s Plate.
Dynamic Sky blossomed into a top grass runner during his four-year-old season. He placed in four graded stakes, including the Northern Dancer S. (G1) and the Canadian International (G1), Canada’s two most important turf events. He capped off the year with a rousing victory in the Red Smith H. (G3) in New York. In that race he defeated eventual Eclipse Award winner Big Blue Kitten by 1 ¼ lengths. That effort also solidified support among Sovereign Award voters, who made him 2014’s champion turf male in Canada.
“Dynamic Sky is the most versatile good horse I have ever trained,” said trainer Mark Casse. “He was a stakes winner at 2,3 & 4 on dirt, poly & turf from 6.5 furlongs to 11 furlongs. If you are looking for a Queen’s Plate winner he is the horse to breed to.”
A son of the good Pulpit stallion Sky Mesa out of the stakes-winning Distorted Humor mare Murani, Dynamic Sky won or placed in a total of 15 blacktype races. He retires with a career bankroll of $1,099,258.
“From the proven sire line of Pulpit, he was precocious, versatile and sound!”, added Shannondoe Farm’s Arika Everatt-Meeuse. “Dynamic Sky offers breeders the total package as he is a gorgeous individual as well!”
Dynamic Sky is now available for inspection at Shannondoe Farm. Inquiries can be made to Arika Everatt-Meeuse at 519-871-9347 or via email at arika@shannondoefarm.com.
DYNAMIC SKY joins a host of new stallions in Ontario this year including RELOAD (Northern Dawn Farm), AMI’S HOLIDAY (Colebrook) and HYPER (Tara Farms). The latter is a Grade 2 stakes winner on the grass by Victory Gallop who was recently bought at Keeneland November for $5,000 by Tony Russo.
ONTARIO RACING CONSULTATIONS WRAP UP
Timeline – January presentation to government of framework for industry going forward
THREE BREEDS – ONE VISION.
The Ontario horse racing industry has been getting together and discussing the state of the business going forward as there are only a couple of years left in the provincial government’s 5-year subsidy plan.
Members of the Ontario Quarter Horse industry were out with great force at the Nov. 19 consultation meeting hosted by Ontario Racing to discuss future proposals for long-term funding for horse racing in the province.
Ontario Racing (OR), the new industry association for horse racing in Ontario, has held several consultation meetings throughout Ontario to engage with industry members and obtain feedback from a funding framework. This plan will then be presented to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and the Ontario government to provide input to the development of a roadmap to sustainable funding for the industry.
This proposed framework is based on key principles including:
-A new racetrack alliance: all Ontario racetracks that conduct live racing will be invited to create a new alliance. It is proposed that Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) will serve as the administrator of this new alliance.
-Long-term, predictable funding: Ontario’s horse-racing industry can invest in their businesses beyond 2021.
-Ongoing accountability and transparency: decision-making based on evidence and agreed upon success indicators.
-Industry leadership: racetrack business plans, race dates, purse levels will be aligned across racetracks for a coordinated approach. Ontario Racing will play a key industry leadership role in the future.
“It was a good meeting and great to see so many Quarter Horse people there,” said Bob Broadstock, president of the Quarter Racing Owners of Ontario Inc. “There were no real answers yet but a lot of discussion and from that can come solutions.”
Quarter Horse racing is held at Ajax Downs which has been maintaining its racing and purses through its savings since the slots-at-racetracks revenue sharing program was cancelled four years ago. These funds are expected to run out after the 2018 season.
The track can apply for an extension of its TPA (Transfer Payment Agreement), which was granted to all tracks by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming, or hope the proposed Racetrack Alliance begins by 2019 in order to have the funds required to make up for the savings depletion.
“It’s difficult to try getting people to breed horses when there may be no funding after two years,” said Broadstock. “But we are asking our members to breed with faith; we are going to need horses.
“We had some horsepeople spend some money at recent sales and that’s good news. Myself, I will be breeding all the horses I can.”
Ontario Racing, which represents all three breeds of racehorses in the province, will present the industry’s ideas and concerns to the government in January. Many issues with horsepeople include representation and how much control WEG will have as administrator of the Alliance.
“I have some confidence that if we can make it through the next few years we can grow,” said Broadstock. “And if that happens, I think we will look pretty good in 10 years.”
