PHOTOS OF THE DAY – Canadian champion STRUT THE COURSE gets some kid lovin’
BRODY AND MASON DURR are giving lots of love and mints to Strut the Course at Webb Carroll Training Centre.
Champion mare, foaled in Ontario and owned by John Unger, trained by Barb Minshall. Photos courtesy of Barb Minshall.
HAPPY SATURDAY! First a big day of racing at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita and then the Super Bowl tomorrow…Canadian racing fans will eye Gulfstream while racing fans everywhere will take a look at the 3yo set in California – the awesome SONGBIRD returns today and the colts do it up in the Robert Lewis…
LUKES ALLEY, a beautiful, consistently good horse for owner and breeder Eugene Melnyk, goes for a Grade 1 at Gulfstream today – MICHAEL BURNS PHOTO – WOODBINE
CANADIAN BREDS LUKE AND AMI go for big wins in Florida
‘Bibi’ in the Grade 3 Suwanee River
AMI’S FLATTER will try and get his first stakes win in the Grade 3 Fred Hooper today at Gulfstream on a super card of racing. The 4yo colt’s race goes at 1:54 p.m. as race 5.
Avoiding the dreaded ‘bounce’ will be key today as he stretches out one furlong to a one-turn mile off the 105 Beyer Figure effort.
The horse he must beat today is TOMMY MACHO, the Macho Uno colt who cost $25,000 at auction and was a Grade 3 winner in November in New York.
As for Ami’s Flatter, the 4-year-old son of Flatter’s victorious return from a six-month layoff came in an allowance race at Gulfstream Park Jan. 13, but the manner in which he scored by a dominating four lengths ranks among the most outstanding performances of the Championship Meet regardless of race status.
The Josie Carroll trainee pressed the pace of the seven-furlong sprint before powerfully drawing away to victory in a swift 1:21.59 over a ‘good’ track.
“I expected this horse to come back and run well. He had been training exceptionally well,” Carroll said, “but performances like that always surprise you.”
Not that a strong performance was outside his range of ability. The Ontario-bred colt finished second in the Mucho Macho Man and third in the Florida Derby (G1) last season during a 2015 campaign that concluded with two off-the-board finishes over Woodbine’s Polytrack surface, including an eighth-place finish in the $1 million Queen’s Plate on July 5.
“We were on the (Kentucky) Derby trail, but it didn’t look like he was going to peak at the right time to compete with those horses, so we switched focus to the Queen’s Plate,” Carroll said. “By that time, he was tired and had some bruising on the ends of his cannon bones we found out about later. Nothing serious. After two mediocre performances, we took a look at this horse and sent him for a scan. He just wasn’t himself and that’s when we found out about the bruising on the cannon bones.”
Ami’s Flatter returned for his 2016 in peak form under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, who’ll once again be aboard for the somewhat quick turnaround in the Hooper.
“We weren’t sure whether to come back quite this quickly, but he bounced out of the race very well,” Carroll said. “So it seems like this race is the logical race to go in.”
LUKE’S ALLEY another powerhouse horse today for trainer Jose Carroll
Race 12 is the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf and the wonderfully consistent LUKES ALLEY, owned and bred by Eugene Melnyk is 8-1 in the 1 1/8 mile grass race. The son of Flower Alley from the A.P. Indy mare Vaulcluse was the champion older horses in Canada in 2014 off a pair of graded stakes wins on Polytrack at Woodbine. He was second in his 2016 debut in the Ft. Lauderdale to speedy Heart to Heart and posted a 103 Beyer Figure, a career best.
Luke has been 1st or 2nd in his last 9 races. The speedy Shining Copper, nominated to the Barbados Gold Cup next month, is one to be considered in this field along with the 7-year-old gelding THE PIZZA MAN, winner of 16 of 26 races.
Q – Who is the ONLY Canadian-bred to win the Gulfstream Park Turf? Send Thoroughblog a comment!
The Grade 3 Suwanee River is also on the card today and the Woodbine based and trained HABIBI tries for the win for trainer Mark Frostad. The cutback to 9 furlongs from 12 furlongs is a sharp one but she may like it..watch out for Bibi today.
Saturday, Gulfstream Park, post time: 5:23 p.m. EST
GULFSTREAM PARK TURF H.-GI, $350,000, 4yo/up, 1 1/8mT
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Lukes Alley Flower Alley Lopez Carroll 117
2 Legendary (GB) Exceed And Excel (Aus) Lynch Saville 116
3 Triple Threat (Fr) Monsun (Ger) Lezcano Mott 116
4 All Included Include Saez Pletcher 116
5 Eh Cumpari K Elusive Quality Velazquez Dilger 114
6 The Pizza Man English Channel Castellano Brueggemann 122
7 Takeover Target K Harlan’s Holiday Ortiz, Jr. Brown 116
8 Shining Copper Aragorn (Ire) Rosario Brown 116
KEEN ON THE DONN HANDICAP ON BIG SATURDAY AT GULFSTREAM
Keen Ice Holds Unique Distinction over G1 Donn Rivals
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Donegal Racing’s Keen Ice holds a unique and rather newsworthy distinction over his seven rivals in Saturday’s $500,000 Donn Handicap (G1) at Gulfstream Park.
The Dale Romans-trained 4-year-old’s claim to fame heading into the first major race for older horses in the calendar year is his 16-1 upset victory over Triple Crown champion American Pharoah in Travers Stakes (G1), establishing himself as the only horse to defeat the unanimous Horse of the Year titlist last year.
The stretch drive that resulted in victory by three-quarters of a length in the ‘Midsummer Derby’ at Saratoga came as a shock to American Pharoah fans but not so much to Romans.
“I thought we had a big chance. I always thought he could win. I thought he could run like that. He chased Pharoah four or five times all year and it was an exciting year,” Romans said. “The win was the crowning moment of the year.”
Keen Ice had chased America Pharoah in a seventh-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, a third-place finish in the Preakness and a distant second-place finish in the Belmont before his Travers win. The son of Curlin went on to finish fourth behind American Pharoah in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) and a late-closing fourth in the Clark Handicap (G1) at Churchill to close out his sophomore campaign
“He developed all year. His crowning moment was the Travers. His last two races weren’t bad. A couple more jumps and he wins the Clark,” Romans said. “He just continues to get better.”
Keen Ice has been given a series of six-workouts at Gulfstream Park, including a pair of five-furlong ‘bullet’ breezes.
“I feel like this is his year,” Romans said. “I think he could be as good a handicap horse as there is in the country.”
Javier Castellano, who was aboard for the Travers win the only time he has ridden the Kentucky-bred colt, has accepted the mount for the Donn. Keen Ice will carry highweight of 121 pounds while conceding between three and seven pounds to his rivals.
Win or lose Saturday, Keen Ice is likely to be shipped to Dubai for the $10 million World Cup March 26.
“We’ll pretty much go to Dubai either way. For his first time out, we’re not going to fault him if he doesn’t run his best,” Romans said. “The way he’s training, I’m expecting some big races out of him.”
Late-Developing Financial Modeling Steps Up for Donn
Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence’s Financial Modeling is set to make his graded-stakes debut in Saturday’s Donn Handicap, the centerpiece of the $1.25 million seven-stakes portion of Saturday’s 13-race program which starts with a noon first race post.
The late-developing 5-year-old enters the 1 1/8-mile handicap off back-to-back wins at Aqueduct, scoring in a second-level optional claimer on turf Nov. 28 before prevailing by 4 ¼-lengths in the Queens County Stakes over the inner track Dec. 19.
“He was one of our better dirt prospects in his 2-year-old year from my entire crop of horses, but unfortunately he sustained an injury in his hind leg and required surgery and a significant amount of time off. That’s why he got to the races late,” trainer Chad Brown said. “Once we got him going – he’s a little quirky – he required some extra schooling. It’s just been little bit of a challenge, mentally. Lately, the second half of 2015, he really put it together.”
The son of Street Sense, who will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., will be in receipt of six pounds from highweight Keen Ice in the Donn.
“He’s just coming into his own now, so now is a good time to take a shot in a big race while he’s in top form,” Brown said. “His best races are around two turns if you look at his form. One-turn races at Belmont really didn’t suit him. His two-turn races have been real good.”
Saturday, Gulfstream Park, post time: 5:53 p.m. EST
DONN H.-GI, $500,000, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Madefromlucky K Lookin At Lucky Rosario Pletcher 116
2 Closing Bell K Tapit Lezcano Mott 114
3 Mshawish K Medaglia d’Oro Velazquez Pletcher 117
4 Valid K Medaglia d’Oro Juarez Vitali 117
5 Mexikoma Birdstone Lanerie Dilger 115
6 Keen Ice K Curlin Castellano Romans 121
7 Itsaknockout K Lemon Drop Kid Saez Pletcher 118
8 Financial Modeling K Street Sense Ortiz, Jr. Brown 115
FROSTED ICES MEYDAN RIVALS
Track record 156.67 for 1900 metres
The son of Tapit out of Fast Cookie by Deputy Minister relished the Meydan dirt and is heading to the World Cup off handy score.
DANE NELSON hoping to return to Canada, try Woodbine
Jockeys need to become touts in Jamaica to make living
by Ainsley Walters, Jamaica Gleaner
THREE-time champion jockey, Dane Nelson, said his stint in Canada last summer exposed him to professionalism in horse
racing, making him a better horseman.
Sadly, he said it also opened his eyes to the poor state of local racing, so much that he intends to continue his career overseas.
“The horses, jockeys, trainers teach you a lot, it’s like you’re learning all over again. I find myself dealing with the horses different. It’s good for every jockey,” said Nelson, who finished fifth in the standings at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg, Canada, despite leaving Jamaica after the four-month season of live racing had started at the Manitoba racetrack.
Nelson, resting at home after suffering a broken nose in a spill two Saturdays ago, said the wait to be paid purses in Jamaica has caused jockeys to become touts.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/sports/20160206/riding-pro-way-go-top-jamaica-jockey-dane-nelson
