NORM FILES takes amazing images – here is the 2yo colt TALE OF FIRE winning his debut at Fort Erie last week
YEARLING SALE CATALOGUES OUT
New races for CTHS grads – 2yos – coming up
We still want a lot more of summer but the Canadian Premier Yearling Sale catalogues made their way out to the public yesterday and there are 50 more yearlings in the book than last year.
The foal crop of 2016 marks the first year that numbers are starting to go up ever so slightly.
With the Aug 31 sale comes the Yearling Sales Stakes races, held the night before the sale.
In addition. there are a pair of six-furlong, $45,000 allowance races restricted to 2-year-old graduates of the CTHS sale from one year ago.
A race for fillies is carded for Aug. 6, while colts and geldings are scheduled for Aug. 7. These races are preps for the Muskoka and Simcoe on Stakes night.
More races will be coming up after the sale.
The catalogue can be found here:
LARRY REGAN
1931 – 2017
One of Ontario horse racing’s most recognizable figures, in particular when it came to representing the horsepeople of the province, Larry Regan ( far right in photo with Bud and David Willmot) passed away July 26.
courtesy Canadian Horse racing Hall of Fame
Lawrence (Larry) Regan, who was born in Stratford, Ont., in 1931, but raised in Toronto, was a successful owner on the Ontario thoroughbred racing circuit for 50 years. Operating independently and in partnership with is brother, Jim, the white and green Regan silks graced the jockeys of stakes-class horses Dawes Road, Fly Ash, Road of War, Lansing Cutoff, Trusty Forester, Sgt. Hunt and Admiral Twit.
Elected president of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association in 1972, it was in this venue where he played a leading role in the thoroughbred industry. He held this position for 24 years. In 2000, after a six-year hiatus, Regan was re-elected president for a three-year term. In 2007 he was back on the board as a director. Regan also spent 10 years as president of the HBPA’s national body. In 1987 he was honored with a Sovereign Award by The Jockey Club of Canada as its “Man of the Year.”
Regan worked, and sometimes battled, with the Ontario Jockey Club (now Woodbine Entertainment Group) and the government to bring improvements beneficial – like workmen’s compensation for backstretch employees – to racing and those who toil endlessly in it. Under his stewardship in 1977, the first “letter of intent” was signed by both management and the horsemen giving them a set percentage of the track’s share of the pari-mutuel handle.
He was also one of the founding directors of the Avelino Gomez Foundation, the Canadian Horse Council, the E. P. Taylor Research Foundation and a member of the Ontario Racing Commission’s Advisory Board until its dissolution in 1983.
WOODBINE WRAP
$514,000 carryover to High 5 on Saturday!
The Jackpot High 5 is not an easy bet to make, or win, and since you have to be the ONLY winning ticket holder, it is no surprise that the Jackpot has carried over for weeks now.
When BAD NANA won last night at Woodbine at 1 to 5 (!), that assured another carryover.
Today’s jackpot if $514,000 before wagering is added.
Bad Nana wrapped up the Friday, Twilight-Grandstand Social card with the maiden win for $8,000, overcoming a terrible start to win big under heavy pressure.
The daughter of Regal Ransom, did, however, appear to return to the winner’s circle lame.
The day’s high Beyer Figure was the 78 earned by BIG BAZINGA, a classy 6yo who won for $25,00 claiming at 1mile on turf after getting away with a very slow pace. Big Bazinga was claimed from his longtime owner, Bull and Bear Stable by Cory Hoffman and Stephen Chesney.
HATCH GATE took a ton of money in race 5, a maiden allowance for 2yos, and she won nicely for owner/trainer Roger Attfield.
The leggy Old Forester – Holy Deeds, Holy Bull filly was bred by Gail Wood and bought at the CTHS sale last year for $25,000.
HATCH GATE is named for the first place that Attfield worked when he was young.
COOL PRINCE OF WALES
(Photo – a friend of John Ross took this of John (far left and partner Cathy Wong (black shirt) as Cool Catomine raced to the wire in the Prince of Wales)
A large crowd collected at Fort Erie racetrack for the 2nd jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown on Tuesday evening and the raucous fans cheered home a longshot winner.
COOL CATOMINE, supplemented to the race for $12,500, zoomed to victory in the 1 3/16 mile dirt race in 1:55 3/5, good for an 80 Beyer Speed Figure.
The son of Spring at Last – Smart Catomine by Smart Strike had only just won his maiden on Woodbine’s Tapeta in his previous race, his first oputing with blinkers.
Purchased by John Ross and the Jack of Hearts Racing stable of Neal Mednick and Jim Aston for $39,000 as a yearling:
“When you have a horse that’s improving and on the upswing, sometimes you’ve got to have enough courage inside of you to do those things. We (owners) had to put up ($12,500 supplement) in this race just to go into it but because he was doing so well, looking so good, working so good we felt we were going to give it a chance.”
The favoured State of Honor, amidst a tough schedule, tried to lead all the way once again but he could not quite make it, fading to 3rd. He was vanned off after the race but no report on injury has been publicized.
AURORA WAY’S 2ND place finish for Chiefswood Stable was strong as the gelding continues to learn the game. He was once again rank in the early stages but he finished well. Tiz a Slam, the other Chiefswood colt, faded sharply on the turn.
MCCORMACKS CONTINUE ROLE
Bernard and Karen McCormack’s Mapleshade Farm near Port Perry,ON have been on quite a ride in the last 12 months. The couple bred last year’s Queen’s Plate winner SIR DUDLEY DIGGES, who continues ot race well for Ken and Sarah Ramsay, and now have a Prince of Wales breeder’s award.
COOL CATOMINE (nicknamed Tyrell when he was a foal) is a son of the Smart Strike mare Smart Catomine, bought by the McCormacks for $25,000 from Bob Anderson in 2011 at Keeneland in foal to Quiet American.
The mare’s foal that year, Wild Catomine, went on to become a stakes winner while the McCormack’s began selling their new purchase’s offspring.
Last season they sold a Data Link yearling, AERIODITE, to Lou Tucci for $60,000.
Hip no 75 in this year’s Canadian Premier Yearling sale is a filly by Flashback from Smart Catomine.
PRINCE OF WALES STORY IN NIAGARA FALLS REVIEW BY RAY SPITERI –
This week’s Prince of Wales Stakes day produced a bit of good and bad news for the Fort Erie Race Track.
On the one hand, program and food and beverage sales were up around five per cent from the year before, said Tom Valiquette, the track’s chief operating and financial officer.
“We don’t track attendance, but we do track program sales, food and beverage sales … and quite frankly those both … were the highest we’ve ever had,” he said.
“I would estimate the crowd probably anywhere from 7,000 to 10,000 people. The crowd was very strong.”
http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2017/07/27/positives-negatives-at-prince-of-wales-day
TALKIN HORSE RACING EPISODE 3 – Meet Will Wong, claim a horse, and MORE
