HAPPY SATURDAY – Mark Casse is at it again with some possible Kentucky Derby starters..Harold Howe writes about where the horses will go if racetracks start to disappear in Ontario..Melnyk bred a fave in Jamaican Grade 1…MONDAY – be downtown at the horse racing rally at Queen’s Park..READ ON!!
WHAT UP? here’s a newbie from Kingsgate Farm – colt by Legal Jousting (Ire) – Cherokee Lynn, holding down the fort at the St Catherines farm.
Krista Kocot photo
STAIRWAY TO KENTUCKY DERBY?
Spiral Stakes produced last year’s Derby winner
Today’s SPIRAL STAKES (formerly Jim Beam Stakes) at Turfway Park on Polytrack is one of 2 major Derby preps this weekend. Tomorrow is the Sunland Derby with a small field and a huge purse.
And from THOROUGHBRED DAILY NEWS, Brian DiDonato’s Handicapping column makes a case for Stealcase noting :Trainer Mark Casse’s success adding blinkers is another positive angle. According to DRF Formulator, the conditioner boasts a gaudy $3.67 ROI over the past season (5/21 24%) in the ‘blinkers on’ category, which includes Prospective’s recent victory in the GII Tampa Bay Derby
THOROUGHBLOG’S SPIRAL LOOK:
Gosh, MR. PRANKSTER should have a better pace to run at in this race than he did in the Battaglia Stakes, WENT THE DAY WELL could be any kind and yes, i buy into STEALCASE running well.
PAST PERFORMANCES FOR SPIRAL:
http://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbNTRAGetFreeFF.cfm?TRK=TP&RD=03/24/12&CTY=USA&DE=D&RN=10
CANADIANS BILL WERNER/ROGER ATTFIELD/PAT HUSBANDS go Pan Am
SIMMARD has to duplicate that gritty win in the MacDiarmida Stakes to win this big event…can he do it?
PAN AMERICAN S.-GII, $150,000, 4yo/up, 1 1/2mT
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER ML
1 Newsdad K Arch Leparoux Mott 9-5
2 Simmard K Dixieland Band Husbands Attfield 2-1
3 Harrods Creek Langfuhr Lezcano Mott 3-1
4 Hailstone K City Zip Rocco Jr. Ribaudo 10-1
5 Cause of Freedom Alphabet Soup Prado McGaughey 12-1
6 Center Divider K Giant’s Causeway Bravo Brown 5-1
INCREDICAT at the Gulf
He has the tough RIGHT TO VOTE to beat but Incredicat is at least getting his start to his 3yo campaign today and perhaps a nice journey along the way to the Queen’s Plate/ He is a Canadian-bred by Discreet Cat, owned by breeder Kinghaven Farms and a whole bunch of fun folks in the Ontario racing scene – John Fielding, Ben Hutzel et al.
Race 4 goes at 2:35 p.m.
FASIG TIPTON 2YO SALE FLORIDA
Gallop show yesterday
Canadian-breds, Hip No, and Breeding workout time, T-blog comment
6 f. Street Boss – Firebaby, by Marquetry :10 1/5 – love the way this white faced gal streaked in her work and reached out!
50 c. Street Sense – Leaveminthedust, by Danzig :10 4/5
60 f. Lemon Drop Kid – Mine Alone, by Belong to Me :11 1/5
92 c. Johannesburg – Sans Souci Island by Chester House $80,000 Kee Sept. yearling :10 4/5
OUT 166 c. Macho Uno – Ever Elusive, by Forestry $25,000 yearling Keeneland Sept.
GRADE 1 EROS TROPHY IN JAMAICA TODAY
Eugene Melnyk-bred major contender
Raise a Ruckus – from Gleaner paper files
RAISE A RUCKUS (yes, his name is the exact same as his maternal great granddam) is a contender in the Grade 1 Eros Trophy today at Caymanas Park in Jamaica.
The 5yo horse was bred in Florida by Canadian Eugene Melnyk, owner of Winding Oaks Farm.
Raise a Ruckus is by Graeme Hall out of the Canadian bred mare Likely Ruckus (Bold Ruckus), who did not race.
Interestingly, Likely Ruckus, bred by Angus Glen Farm, was bought as a yearling by JOHN OXLEY.
Meanwhile, RAISE A RUCKUS, the mare’s 3rd and final foal, cost $1,000 at an Ocala yearling sale.
The favourite for the Eros Trophy is MARK MY WORD, a champion who was bred in Jamaica and is by Market Rally (an Unbridled winner) out of Miss Chesnut, by Horse Chestnut.
STORY FROM THE GLEANER:
by Orville Clarke, Gleaner Writer
The season’s first grade-one race, the Eros Trophy over 1400 metres, is on at Caymanas Park today with the 2010 Triple Crown winner and Horse of the Year, MARK MY WORD, the one to beat on this his seasonal debut.
The $1.1-million race for three-year-olds and up has attracted seven starters, including ante-post favourite MARK MY WORD and main rival, the American five-year-old horse RAISE A RUCKUS, to be ridden by former champion jockey Omar Walker and reigning champion Dick Cardenas, respectively.
Having established himself as one of the really big names in local racing by winning five of his eight grade-one races in 2011, MARK MY WORD ought to be followed despite topweight of 57.0kg.
Trained by Richard Azan for champion owners Elite Bloodstock Limited, the classy five-year-old horse by Market Rally out of Miss Chestnut has been absent from competition since his runaway win in the Harry Jackson Memorial Cup over 2400 metres last Boxing Day. But having moved impressively at exercise in preparation for today’s encounter, he should continue where he left off last season.
MARK MY WORD, who lost the 2011 Horse of the Year award by a single vote to the crack sprinter SAINT CECELIA, looked real sharp at exercise last Sunday morning when galloping five furlongs in a brisk 1:00.0, beating stable companion ERASMO (one of his opponents) quite easily in that work. And prior to that, he galloped 51/2 furlongs in a fast 1:06.1.
Being the class horse of the field, MARK MY WORD should win; however, he can expect stiff opposition from the lightly weighted American horse, RAISE A RUCKUS,
read more at
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120324/sports/sports3.html
PAST PERFORMANCES: http://www.caymanasracetrack.com/Past%20Performance/pf120324.pdf
RALLY AT QUEEN’S PARK MONDAY
Since the announcement by Minister Duncan threatening the Slots at Racetracks program, the CTHS Ontario Division has been working tirelessly to protect the interests of the Provinces breeders. As full voting members of OHRIA we have been involved in the many initiatives taken thus far.
We fully appreciate the frustration that many feel with regards to this situation but the industry association is fully engaged in this critical matter.
We are assured that there is nothing more effective than each and every member contacting your local MPP and hopefully setting up a face to face meeting with him/her. If you haven’t signed the petition (available through CTHS, HBPA or OHRIA), and for that matter had several friends, neighbours, customers etc. do so, it is not too late. It is essential that there is a massive outcry from all of us.
There are billboards, radio ads, bus shelter ads, post cards and now even car magnets (the cost is approximately $8.00, please contact Bob Broadstock at 905-626-8487 or email him at bmbtech@xplornet.com.) to get our message out.
The CTHS has been working through OHRIA because dealing from each individual segment of this massive industry is not nearly as productive. Next Friday there will be 13 separate rallies at various constituency offices. We need as much support as is humanly possible from all of you.
This Monday, March 26 at 11 AM (pre rally at 10:30) at Queen’s Park, OHHA is conducting a rally (with support from the OFA and members of the PC Caucus). OHHA is hopeful for a large representation from the horse industry. This rally is not an OHRIA initiative as had been acknowledged by some reports in other sources.
Sincerely,
CTHS Ontario Board of Directors
For more information please visit http://value4money.ca/
MUST READ ….FATE OF HORSES FORGOTTEN IN POLITICAL GAMBIT
BY HAROLD HOWE
There is quite little that provokes horse lovers more than the subject of horse slaughter, which is why Premier Dalton McGuinty’s moves to effectively destroy the horse racing industry has signed the death warrants for thousands of animals.
According to the Ontario horse racing industry there were approximately 14,000 unique starters who raced last year, which includes standardbreds, thoroughbreds and quarter horses. It is estimated that the total race horse population, which includes broodmares, stallions, foals and yearlings, comes in at just over 26,000.
But if racing is decimated in the McGuinty plan, the question has to be asked as to what happens to all the horses. Does the welfare of the horse play any role in all this?
It’s anyone’s guess as to what the prize money will be in 2013, when the slot machine revenue sharing agreement ends. But for the sake of this argument, let’s speculate that it is 25 per cent of what exists today. That will involve far less racing across the province, hence less demand for horses and so on.
For both the standardbred and thoroughbred racing people, the point will hit home this fall. Most of the small standardbred tracks will be closed and there is nowhere to race these less expensive horses. The same applies to the thoroughbreds, who have only Woodbine to rely on with it closing in December and not opening again until March.
http://www.thespec.com/sports/article/692751–fate-of-horses-forgotten-in-political-gambit
NEW YORK HORSE SAFETY TASK FORCE
by Ed Fountaine
The New York Task Force on Racehorse Health and Safety, formed Thursday in response to a letter sent last week from Gov. Cuomo’s office to the New York Racing Association expressing concern over the rash of fatal breakdowns this winter at Aqueduct, will provide the first comprehensive outside investigation of horse injuries ever undertaken at the NYRA tracks.
But it is still too early to say what the task force’s focus, schedule and staffing will be, attorney Alan Foreman, one of its four members, told The Post Friday.
“At this point, I can’t discuss it,” said Foreman, the Maryland-based chairman and CEO of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which represents more than 20,000 owners and trainers nationwide. “We haven’t had our first meeting as a group yet. Given the sensitivity of the issue and the work we have to do, it would be premature.”
The other members of the task force are retired Hall-of-Fame jockey Jerry Bailey and two veterinarians: Dr. Scott E. Palmer, director and staff surgeon at the New Jersey Equine Clinic and a past president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP); and Dr. Mary Scollay, equine medical director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission
