STUNNING

 

 PHAR OUT 

A canter in the park? A common gallop? Barely took a deep breath?

AMERICAN PHAROAH left us with goosebumps yesterday as he crushed an overmatched field in the $1.75 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth in front of 60,000 fans.

There was never any doubt he was going to win this race as the field was a modest group. So far, the colt’s 105 Beyer Figures that he runs are simply better than anything he has met.

Yes, he is the best 3-year-old we have seen in a long time. Yes, he does it with ease.

Now is the time for him to meet older horses and really test his mettle, however.

When you talk about horses like EASY GOER and SUNDAY SILENCE and SPECTACULAR BID, AFFIRMED and ALYSHEBA and others who ran Beyer Figures in the 120’s..you really cannot compare the Pharoah to those great ones.

He is the best of a modest group of sophomores and he could be one of the best of all-time.

I hope we will get to see him really tested soon.

 

 

 

read MR. WILL WONG’S report from Monmouth Park about the amazing American Pharoah:

http://www.mrwillwong.com/horseracing-american-pharoah-wins-the-2015-haskell-invitational/

 

 

IT’S HALL OF FAME WEEK – today we celebrate SHEPPERTON

The 2015 inductees to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame will be honoured at a dinner and ceremony on Wednesday evening in Mississauga and today at Woodbine, one of the stakes races is named for a Hall of Fame her.

One of the first horses to enter the CANADIAN HORSE RACING HALL OF FAME was SHEPPERTON,, the “wonder horse”

from CHHF: When Shepperton won the Canadian Championship (later named the Canadian International Championship) on the half-mile track at Dufferin in the war years of 1942 and 1943, his total earnings from those two victories was just $5,202. How times have changed! Now they run it for $1.5 million and in 2005 the winner’s share of Canada’s richest and most prestigious thoroughbred race was $900,000.

Shepperton was ridden by Bobby Watson in his Canadian Championship wins. The chestnut horse did not run in the Championship in 1944, but Shepperton was still turning in some impressive races. In the Bryan and O’Hara Memorial Handicap at Toronto’s Old Woodbine, he carried 138 pounds to victory in the 1 1/16 mile race in the track record time of 1:44 3/5. “He (Shepperton) went to the front without any special urging and won comfortably,” said the Thoroughbred Record. “This is probably the best Canadian-bred we have seen in many years.” He was a superb weight carrier, often winning while carrying up to 140 pounds.

Bred, trained and owned by Fred Schelke of Gormley, Ont., Shepperton was “the wonder horse” of his time. He was a confirmed cripple from birth but a great race horse nevertheless.
In 1944, as a 5-year-old, Shepperton won three of his five starts. But his best years were at three and four. In 1942, he won six races, was second seven times and third once in 17 starts and in 1943, he won nine of fourteen races and was out of the money only twice. He raced from 1942 to 1948, winning 22 of his 54 starts, finishing second eleven times and third five times. Besides his Canadian Championship wins and the Bryan and O’Hara Memorial, his important wins included the Breeders’ Stakes and Autumn Handicap in 1942 and the Jubilee Handicap in 1943.

 

 

WOODBINE WEEKEND

Sunday racing  ends with a bang

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The racing has been excellent at Woodbine for the first three days of this long weekend and look who is back on form…PATRICK HUSBANDS won both stakes races.

The story of SUNDAY was the intense storm that swirled in as the horses were going into the gate for the last race of the day, a turf maiden race for fillies and mares.

The lightning began to flash and horses and riders headed for cover – most going inside the nearby standardbred paddock where the TALKIN HORSES TV (www.talkinghorses.com) show, Episode 9 was being filmed.

A few horses made it to the Thoroughbred paddock and the storm rolled and roared around for about 20 minutes before the race was finally called off.

Sunday’s feature was the Grade 3 Seagram Cup and the compact chestnut colt FLORIDA WON powered to victory at odds-on for Live Oak Plantation and trainer Mark Casse. This 4yo by Birdstone was a $385,000 yearling purchase and he had just been 2nd in the Dominion Day Handicap – Grade 3 to RED RIFLE, who came back and won the Bowling Green at Saratoga on Saturday.

His time of 1:43.33 was a 98 Beyer Figure for the 1 1/16 miles.

PENDER HARBOUR had a remarkable run again, rallying on the rail to be 2nd as he gets ever close to $2 million in earnings. He earned a 97 Beyer Figure.

HOT HOT HEAT won a 1 1/16 mile turf race in 1:39.82..yes, that is correct. The turf has been lightning fast (no rain in a long time) and this JMJ Stable 4yo colt by Pulpit is really hot – he has 2 straight wins. Bob Harvery bred the colt and Sid Attard trains. The Beyer Figure was 83 (that’s how fast the grass course is)

A trio of 2yo races on Sunday were won by RUTH LESS BLUE (dark bay by Giant Gizmo – Luna Blue by Lemon Drop Kid) – 71 Beyer for his win in his 2nd race, Owned and bred by Rijack Frm, trained by Scott Fairlie. There is a full brother to this one in the upcoming yearling sale on Sept. 8; ULTRAFLAME won asplit of Ruth Less Blue’s race by 7 lengths with a 66 Beyer Figure. Bred by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, he is by Old Forester out of Baby Blaze by Mr Greeley. Owned and trained by John Ross; BUTTERFLY DANCE, a Sam-Son Farms’ homebred by Awesome Again, won a grass maiden race first time out while lugging in pretty much the entire race.

 

SATURDAY’S feature event was also an intriguing story line. BEAR’S PRIDE, equipped with some big ear muffs, looked like a front runner on paper,. but came from far back to win the $125,000 Victoriana Stakes for Ontario sired fillies and mares on the grass. She earned an 83 Beyer Figure.

The Kentucky Bear – Molly’s Pride, by Maria’s Mon filly raced for $8,000 and $10,000 claiming last fall, won on turf at Fort Erie and has found her surface. Reade Baker trains and Bear Stables owns and bred the filly.

There is a full brother to this one in the Sept. 9 yearling sale.

 

ALL HEART – 101 Beyer Figure for Ontario bred HEART TO HEART

 

Terry Hamilton’s Heart to Heart went wire-to-wire for a victory in Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Oceanport Stakes at Monmouth Park.

Victor Espinoza guided Heart to Heart to the colt’s sixth win in 16 starts.

Ontario-bred Hothersal and Cage Fighter completed the trifecta. Final time for the mile and a sixteenth on turf was 1:40 3/5.

This was the first win in 2015 for Heart to Heart, who is trained by Brian Lynch.

Bred in Ontario by Red Hawk Ranch, Heart to Heart is by English Channel out of the Silver Deputy mare Ask the Question.

 

COME TO MISCHIEF – 90% sold to LOOCH RACING

Trainer Peter Walder to send filly to Adirondack

 

My Dear Stakes winner COME TO MISCHIEF, a sensation winner of her career debut in that stakes race, has been sold by Harvey Swartz and Martha and Nick Gonzalez to Looch racing (Ria Antonia) and is currently training in Florida with Peter Walder.

The Into Mischief filly had been in Kentucky for a Horses of Racing Age sale but was bought back for $500,000. The Ontario owners have kept 10% of the filly and  and she is expected to race in the Adirondack Stakes coming up at Saratoga. Gonzalez paid $11,000 for the filly at auction.

 

MANITOBA DERBY

Texas-bred WITT SIX (by Drums of Thunder, a son of Concerto) is 3 for 3 at Assiniboia Downs since shipping from Lone Star. He meets 2 Manitoba-breds and 6 other US breds in the $75,000 Manitoba Derby at Assiniboia today

 

KEN WIEBE – WINNIPEG SUN

Jerry Gourneau hails from North Dakota, but feels like a local.

The longtime horse trainer finds himself with the morning-line favourite for Monday’s 67th running of the $75,000 Manitoba Derby, a three-year-old dark bay gelding named Witt Six.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2015/07/30/witt-sixx-the-favourite

 

B C CUP DAY – Hastings Park

Preview courtesy of THE DERBY BAR AND GRILL Railbird Corner:

 

Monday’s BC Cup Day, featuring six stakes races with close to $400,000 in purse money up for grabs.

Four of those stakes are restricted to B.C.-breds and two others – the $100,000 Redekop Classic and $75,000 Pegasus Distaff – have been opened to horses also owned by B.C. residents.

“If all goes according to plan – and it should – we’ll have 79 horses running on the nine-race card,” says Darren MacDonald, Hastings Racecourse general manager. “Last year there were three stakes with five-horse fields.  Now that things have opened up with the B.C.-bred or B.C.-owned mandate, the fields are much more competitive.”

The rich, $100,000 guaranteed Redekop Classic for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8th miles has more potential storylines than a Disney movie.

The probable favourite promises to be Mr. Bowling going for his third consecutive stakes win at Hastings.  But without a doubt, the sentimental favourite will be the newly formed Hastings Racing Club’s Square Dancer and his 200 owners.

In his first start at Hastings on July 18, Square Dancer won a $50,000 optional claimer for trainer Steve Henson, resulting in the winner’s circle spilling into the middle of the track for the ceremonial victory celebration.

Arabella’s Muse will have her sights set on a third consecutive stakes win in the $75,000 Pegasus Distaff for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going 1 1/16th miles.  Trained by Mike Anderson, she won the $50,000 Vancouver Sun on June 7 and $50,000 Monashee on July 1.

BC Cup Day also features the $50,000 Nursery for 2-year-old B.C.-bred colts and geldings; the $50,000 Debutante for B.C.-bred 2-year-old fillies; the $50,000 Dogwood for 3-year-old B.C-bred fillies and the $50,000 Stellar’s Jay for 3-year-old colts and geldings bred in B.C.

Special start time for the nine-race holiday Monday card is 12:50 p.m.