ALPHA BETTOR WINS PORTLAND MILE
8-year-old champion reportedly headed to stud
Alpha Bettor (blue) has been a game and gutsy top handicap horse in Canada for years. Michael Burns photo
Canadian champion ALPHA BETTOR, the top older horse in Canada in 2013, roared from far off the place in the slop to win the $25,000 Portland Mile at Portland Meadows on Tuesday.
The 8-year-old son of Alphabet Soup – Scatter Buy was recently purchased by Andy Stronach’s Pan-Am Racing from the horse’s longtime owners, Bulldog Racing, and was making his first start for Stronach. The horse was bred by Adena Springs of the Stronach family in Kentucky.
Alpha Bettor was 3-1 in his first race since last fall when he was competing for $60,00 claiming at Woodbine.
Jose Corrales was the winning trainer and he he becake the first person to win the Portland Mile as a trainer and jockey, having won on Polynesian Flyer years ago.
Alpha Bettor is now reportedly off to stud in California. He has won 12 of 40 races and just over $830,000. He won 4 graded stakes races in his career.
RYAN ‘SQUARED’ HAS SUCCESSFUL FIRST WORKING DAY
(photo courtesy Ryan Deyotte)
SHEENA RYAN (shown winning in the blue silks) and her agent RYAN DEYOTTE had their first day at the races on Tuesday as Ryan rode at Portland Meadows during her vacation. The Woodbine rider had a win, a second the three thirds, including third on longshot Old Tume Vision in the Portland Mile.
OCALA BREEDERS’ SALES RACING DAY
Gary Barber’s Whatawonderflworld rallied in deep stretch and was up in the shadow of the wire to beat Get Away Farm’s Two Step Time by a length and take the $100,000 OBS Championship Stakes at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s 27th annual Day of Champions. Golden Legacy Stable LLC’s Golden Ray, who set the pace and led into the final furlong, settled for third. Jose Lezcano rode the winner, who ran the mile and a sixteenth in 1:45 flat, for trainer Mark Casse. A gelding by Tiz Wonderful, he worked an Under Tack quarter in :21 2/5 at the 2015 OBS June Sale before he was sold for $50,00 by James Layden, Agent, to T M Ventures. His first stakes win leaves him 4-3-0-1 with $136,200 in earnings. Arthur Ringfield, who has been Clerk of Scales at all twenty seven OBS Day of Champions race programs, presented the trophy to the winning connections.
Juan Francisco Landaeta’s Vieja Luna took charge of the $100,000 OBS Championship Stakes for fillies at the start and never looked back en route to a 2-1/2 length victory over Evergreen Stables LLC’s Silver Magnolia. Roger L. Justice’s Will Be Magical settled for third. Ridden by Emisael Jaramillo, the winner ran the mile and a sixteenth in 1:45 flat. After turning in a eighth in :10 3/5 at the Under Tack Show, the daughter of Street Hero was purchased for $23,000 by Mr. Landaeta out of the Winners Circle Thoroughbreds consignment at the 2015 OBS April Sale. Trained by Marcos Fernandez, she’s now 8-2-0-2 and has earned $122,098.
In the $50,000 OBS Sprint for colts and geldings, Michael G. Bernard’s Danbury, ridden by Eddie Castro, took charge in the stretch and held off a late run by Leonard C. Green and Robert McLynn’s Lazarus Project to win by a length and a half. Sandra New’s Drama Club was another length back in third. The time for six furlongs was 1:10 2/5. It’s the first stakes win for the Florida-bred colt by Kantharos, bred by Robert C. Roffey, Jr. A three time veteran of the OBS sales ring, he was sold by Sharon Biamonte, Agent at the 2014 OBS Winter Mixed Sale then resold by TdM Sales (Tristan & Valery de Meric), Agent to Christy Whitman at the 2014 August Yearling Sale. He was then purchased for $25,000 by Bill Kaplan on behalf of Mr. Bernard out of the Whitman Sales consignment at the 2015 April Sale after an Under tack eighth in :10 2/5 . Trained by Bill Kaplan, he’s now 8-2-0-0 and has earned $86,203. The winner paid $46.00, 16.40 and 6.80. Lazarus Project returned 7.00, 4.60 and Drama Club paid $10.00 to show. The 6-9 exacta was worth $248.00 and the 4-6 daily double paid $43.40.
In the $50,000 OBS Sprint for fillies, WinStar Farm LLC’s Social Butterfly wore down Bell Racing LLC’s Kandoo in the shadow of the wire and scored her first stakes win by half a length. Leonard C. Green’s Hi Holiday rallied to be third. Scott Spieth rode the daughter of Hold Me Back for trainer Shannon Ritter. The time for six furlongs was 1:10 4/5. Social Butterfly consigned by Cary Frommer, Agent, to the 2015 April Sale where she was sold for $140,000 to McMahon & Hill Bloodstock, Agent for WinStar Farm, LLC after an Under Tack eighth in :10 2/5. Now 3-2-0-1, she has earned $53,480.
OCALA BREEDERS’ JANUARY MIXED SALE TODAY AND TOMORROW
REPORTING STAR, a graded stakes winner from Woodbine owned by Chad and Christa Joe, is offered for sale at the OBS Mixed sale.
The son of Circular Quay is already a stakes winner this winter for trainer Pat Parente and he is the last horse in the sale, selling tomorrow.
KAIGUN, another major stakes winner and a Canadian-bred, was withdrawn from the sale.
A 3-year-old grey gelding named MY NAME IS JIM, worked 3 furlongs in 33.40. The son of Society’s Chairman is an Ontario bred who was a $22,000 yearling purchase and unsold last year for $22,000 as a 2yo at OBS April.
The Ontario breds in the sale are listed below:
217 04 M Love You Crazy Touch Gold Moonlight Affair Uncle Mo Ontario Boutte Sales, Agent 10
347 03 M Sprightly Wild Rush Worthy of Silver Guilt Trip Ontario Big Easy 4
487 06 M Style Scene Sea of Secrets Liquid Fill Bold Warrior Ontario Thoroughstock, Agent II 3
562 out 10 G Kaigun Northern Afleet Cruising Kris Ontario Casse Racing, Agent (To Dissolve A Partnership) 13
599 33.4 13 G Society’s Chairman Romanced Ontario M & M Ventures 15
620 11 M Tell Me Why Corinthian Count to Three Ontario Sam – Son Farm
RUSSELL AND LOIS BENNETT TO RECEIVE E.P. TAYLRO AWARD OF MERIT
The Jockey Club of Canada Board of Stewards are proud to announce that R.J. (Russell) and Lois Bennett will be presented with the E.P. Taylor Award of Merit for their longtime involvement and commitment to Thoroughbred Racing in Canada.
A Member of The Jockey Club of Canada for close to 40 years, Russell Bennett, along with his wife Lois, has been involved in Thoroughbred racing in Canada since the 1950’s.
The Bennetts have proven to be the most successful breeders in racing history in British Columbia, topping the Leading Breeder list in that province almost every year since 1982. They have been honoured nationally and provincially with inductions into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame and the British Columbia Horse Racing Hall of Fame. In 1983 R.J. Bennett was honoured with the Sovereign Award for Outstanding Breeder, the same year his homebred multiple graded stakes winner, Travelling Victor, became the first horse not raced in Ontario to win Horse of the Year honours as well as Champion Older Male.
Most recently, the Bennetts were awarded the Leading Breeder and Leading Owner titles in British Columbia for 2015 along with their homebred mare, Touching Promise, being named Horse of the Year and Champion Older Mare in B.C. The male division of the older horse category was awarded to another Bennett homebred Brass & Gold while their Catz on Fire shared the 3-year-old B.C. bred male with two other recipients in 2015. Touching Promise is also a Sovereign Award finalist for Champion Older Female in 2015.
The Bennetts own more than 40 broodmares and maintain a population of more than 100 Thoroughbreds at their Flying Horse Farm on the shores of Okanagan Lake in Westbank, British Columbia. Producing more than 50 stakes winners, their first stakes winner was Flying Magic, in 1967. A list of other successful stakes runners include, Brandy Magic, Skovinsky, Historical Devil, Tasty Victory, Travelling Round, Easy Triumph, Hurried Romance, Billy Blue, Lively Lord, Always a Dixie, and Multiple Graded Stakes winner Lord Nelson.
The recipient of the E.P. Taylor Award of Merit is decided by The Jockey Club of Canada Board of Stewards and is not necessarily awarded annually. Previously called the Man of the Year Award, The E.P. Taylor Award of Merit is earned by those who have positively impacted or contributed to the Thoroughbred Industry in Canada. Previous recipients of this award include E.P. Taylor, Jack Diamond, George Hendrie, Jim Coleman, George Gardiner, Ernest Samuel, and Charles Taylor.
The Jockey Club of Canada will host the 41st Annual Sovereign Awards Ceremony to honour the Canadian Champions of 2015 and to celebrate Thoroughbred racing in Canada on Friday, April 8, 2016 at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.
The cocktail-attire celebration will include an opportunity to walk the Sovereign Award Red Carpet upon arriving at the “bubbly” reception followed by a buffet-style gourmet dinner and the presentation of the Sovereign Award Trophies to Canada’s racing Champions of 2015 and Canada’s 2015 Horse of the Year.
Even if you are not a finalist, you’re invited to come and have fun and celebrate with the 2015 Champions of Thoroughbred Racing in Canada.
This year’s event will once again be held on the eve of the start of Thoroughbred racing in Canada with Woodbine Racetrack’s 2016 Thoroughbred season beginning the next day at 1:00 pm (EST), Saturday, April 9.
Tickets to the 41st Annual Sovereign Awards Ceremony are $250 each and tables of 10 are slightly discounted at $2400. All tickets are plus applicable taxes and must be reserved in advance by contacting The Jockey Club of Canada at 416-675-7756 or email: jockeyclub@bellnet.ca
The Bennetts were inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2007:
http://horseracinghalloffame.com/2007/01/02/russ-lois-bennett/
