updated SATURDAY MORNING… IT’S TIME FOR TURF RACING!!
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IM-POSSUM-BLE! – NYRA VIDEO
The grass is back today at Woodbine. Photo by Norm Files
SPADINA ROAD REELS IN WILD PACE BATTLE
Woodbine wrap for Friday
There was a lot of action on the track on Friday and trip handicappers were busy getting down some notes for horses to watch.
The end of the day meant a huge payoff for one bettor too. One winning ticket grabbed $144,000 in the High 5 Jackpot!
The feature, a 3yo sprint at 5 1/2 furlongs, featured rapid stakes winner FLASHY MARGARITTA and multiple stakes winner SPADINA ROAD, both guys making their sophomore debuts.
The former was the big favourite but a step-slow start meant he was hard ridden early to the lead and he had company in the form of Callmeoldfashion. The pair of colts screamed through 21 2/5 and 44 3/5 fractions and predictably folded. Spadina Road, a Where’s the Ring dark bay owned by Rolph Davis and trained by Robert Tiller, came from miles behind and blew by to win by 3 lengths under Eurico da Silva.
The 1:03.69 time was good for a 78 Beyer Figure.
Tiller had another big winner on the card…let’s dive into the Friday results:
RACE 1- Odds on favourite SWEET STARLET was given a lovely, patient ride by Michelle Rainford and the 7yo mare came from last at 5 furlongs and won by 3 lengths in 57.69 in the $25,000 claiming race. The classy mare is trained by Jim Ensom, who has always done well with his small stable of horses. The mare is 8 for 29 in her career and this was her season opener.
RACE 2- The first 2yo race of the year had a pair of Wesley Ward youngsters entred but one was a vet scratch (Vinolicious). The other, Lamontagne, was the only one in the race with a start (3rd at Keeneland behind the very good colt Conquest Tsunami).
Lamontangne sped to a clear lead early and looked home free but she could not hold on at 4 1/2 furlongs and a sizy, long striding Her Majesty’s Flag rallied by for the win at 31 to 1. The time of 52.79 was translated into a 41 Beyer Figure by DRF.
The winner is the first North American winner for promising young sire Midshipman (Unbridled’s Song) who stands at Darley. The stallions first winner was in Mexico.
The dam of this winner is out of REGAL PENNANT, top 2yo in Ontario who beat Dance Smartly.
Her Majesty’s Flag was also the first winner of the seaosn for trainer Dave Cotey and his Dominion Bloodstock, Barry Butzer is a co-owner. Cotey has done well with selling young runners for big money and he may have another big score in a long line of big scores with this gal.
RACE 3 – An allowance race for Ontario sired 3yo fillies feastured yet another very, very slow pace, a common occurrence this spring in races at every distance. SWEATER WEATHER was allowed to crawl through 25.65, 50.13 in the tiny 5 horse field and she took off to win by 5 1/2 lengths for Frank DiGiulio Jr. and Tiller. Luis Contreras stole the race while others behind him were checking, steadying or simply guzzling. The winning Beyer was 67 for this Milwaukee Brew 0 Susur, by Cape Canaveral filly.
RACE 4 – OVER THE CLIFF battled on the pace and kept going to win this $12,500 claiming race for fillies and mares. The 3yo by Eddington is owned by Debmar Stables and she is 2 for 9 in her career for trainer Ricky Griffith. Justin Stein rode the winner.
RACE 5- A maiden $25,000 claiming race was a tough event. The winner, IN DISPUTE, was well prepared by trainer Denyse McClachrie for owner Barry Kerbel, as he battled on the rail on the pace and won in his season debut. He had been claimed from his final race of 2013 for $12,500. This is a well bred War Front gelding, a 4yo, who was ridden by Gerry Olguin.
Meanwhile, in behind this gelding, WISDOM LISTENS, also a 4yo, was moving past horses with ease from the back of the pack until he shifted paths into the turn and caused Fingertips and Bristol Blitz to check sharply. Wisdom Listens was full of run the rest of the way but was in all kinds of traffic trouble and he had to cool his heels in 3rd. He was then disqualified and placed 9th.
RACE 6 – SILENT SCREAM was loud and clear winning his maiden for $9,500 for Abraham Katryan. The colt was making his first start of 2013 and his 5th career start and he is by Silent Name (Jpn).
RACE 7 – A pace battle between Helio Bird and Golden Athena was not very fast (22 4/5) and Helio Bird looked homefree in the stretch but she was worn down late by CAVALIERS DESTINY, a very hard trying, honest mare by Mobil, owned and bred by George Ledson. Danny O’Callagan trains the mare but she was claimed for $8,000.
Davy Moran rode the winner.
RACE 8 – a 7 furlong maiden allowance for Ontario sired boys and the rail horse, LUNAR LIGHT was way overbet in this large field. That rival had been 2nd in both races this year but losing ground in each and now he was moving out to 7 furlongs. He stalked from the rail but faded.
The winner was the 5yo BRIGHTON ROCK, a Kinshasa – Semester’s End, by End Sweep gelding who was bred and is owned and trained by Shelley Fitzgerald. This was quite a nice win for Fitzgerald and her homebred (she used to train the dam). The gelding had shown promise at 4 when he debuted last year and he had big workout times this year. Tommy Wong rode the winner and the pair were 5 to 1.
Catching the eye in this race – I AM WHO I AM, a firster by Sligo Bay, owned and trained by Krista Cole…nice run while green from well back.
PLAYING (O) POSSUM – CALIFORNIA CHROME GALLOPS
Great photos of the opossum striding out alongside the Derby and Preakness winner.
Also, did you know that California Chrome has never been allowed to graze?
MICHAEL VEITCH sizes up early Belmont field
By Michael Veitch, sports@saratogian.com, @Saratogasports on Twitter
What does the Belmont Stakes competition for California Chrome look like at this early stage?
Despite his second straight dominant victory in the Triple Crown series over his fellow 3-year-olds, it appears a sizeable and solid field awaits him as he tries to complete the sweep.
As the Preakness offered a more difficult challenge than the Derby, I believe the Belmont will be even tougher for California Chrome.
Nonetheless, he is the one they all have to beat, and with his conquests this spring, he has possibly already wrapped up the title as champion 3-year-old.
Triple Crown Near Misses (Derby/Preakness doubles)
Year Horse Belmont finish
1932 Burgoo King (Did not start)
1936 Bold Venture (Did not start)
1944 Pensive 2nd (Bounding Home)
1958 Tim Tam 2nd (Cavan)
1961 Carry Back 7th (Sherluck)
1964 Northern Dancer 3rd (Quadrangle)
1966 Kauai King 4th (Amberoid)
1968 **Forward Pass 2nd (Stage Door Johnny)
1969 Majestic Prince 2nd (Arts and Letters)
1971 Canonero II 4th (Pass Catcher)
1979 Spectacular Bid 3rd (Coastal)
1981 Pleasant Colony 3rd (Summing)
1987 Alysheba 4th (Bet Twice)
1989 Sunday Silence 2nd (Easy Goer)
1997 Silver Charm 2nd (Touch Gold)
1998 Real Quiet 2nd (Victory Gallop)
1999 Charismatic 3rd (Lemon Drop Kid)
2002 War Emblem 8th (Sarava)
2003 Funny Cide 3rd (Empire Maker)
2004 Smarty Jones 2nd (Birdstone)
2008 Big Brown DNF (Da’Tara)
2012 I’ll Have Another (Did not start)
**Won on disqualification.
IF YOU OFFER IT, WE WILL COME..
Last Saturday night while the Thoroughbred folks were on a Chrome high and perhaps with a toddy or two on the go, Woodbine’s Standardbred season was winding up. Thus, the High 5 Jackpot was in mandatory giveaway mode. After 36 racing days with no single winner of the bet (picking the top 5 finishers in the last race), the jackpot was already in the $650,000 range.
It could not have been the more perfect of two storms for Woodbine and the Standardbred industry.
This player was armed with the Standardbred Past Performances before attending a Preakness Stakes party, and discussed the race with fellow TB bettors.
Where are the speed figures? One asked. Where are the chart comments?, queried another.
Once we had figured out what we were looking at, we picked out a set of 6 horses in the evening’s 12th race.
Tickets were organized (I spent way more than I should have, sigh, sorry Jake, no dog treats this week) and it was fun to watch my fellow Thoroughbred’ers decipher the program. Myself, I had a few tickets of boxes and part wheels and, gosh, only Horseplayer Interactive really knows what I bet.
We all missed (Speed Again, um, better than 4th would have been helpful!) and it was really late (and a bit blurry) by the time the race went off but it sure was exciting when Drain Daddy crossed the finish line in front (hmmm, fitting name for those of us who could not work out the winning tickets!).
More than $1.3 million was bet INTO the wager, making it a $2 million PAYOFF on the one race. Remarkable.
There were 194 winning tickets that paid out $43,796 per person on a $1 Jackpot Hi 5 wager (the minimum bet is 20 cents).
There is another big betting event coming up – Monday’s mandatory payout at Gulfstream Park on its RAINBOW PICK 6 (pick the winners of the last 6 races). I have played this bet what seems like a zillion times since the winter and have been close to getting all 6 winners. The payoffs have been very good even if you have to chase part of the payoff.
Now, with a projected pot of some $15 million (let’s see, if there are 1,000 winning tickets….and one is mine..) it is going to be one heck of a betting day for Gulfstream.
There is not a lot of buzz about it, at least not up here. And the woes at Daily Racing Form, which had a serious power outage earlier this week and has been down since, means the information on the races could be skimpy if you love the DRF.
Let’s hope it is up and working soon..I think I found a few bucks in my step-son’s piggy bank…
AFTERMATH – HOOMAN AKBARY ABANDONS 41 THOROUGHBREDS
Most members of the Ontario horse racing industry have been well aware of the group of horses left at Hooman Akbary’s farm in southern Ontario since the news broke late last year. Akbary opened Arrow Track Farm in 2009, advertised his stallions like Balthazar’s Gift and Bear’s Kid but he then disappeared.
Some of the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society (Ontario) directors stepped in and many of its members took a lot of the horses, some of them were very well bred mares that Akbary had purchased at auctions like the CTHS winter mixed sale in 2011.
Bear’s Kid, the first stakes winner for owner Danny Dion’s Bear Stables when he won the Summer Stakes in 2005 , had his own, strange tale leading into his move to Akbary’s farm, selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars at Fasig Tipton in 2010.
Anyway, Dion got his stallion back recently and he now stands at Colebrook Farms.
And what about the 11 horses who were shipped off to slaughter? You would not believe the names of these mares:
Smart Rose,
Silver Adventure
Miss Yankee
Didana
Birsay
Amazing Miss
John Brnjas, Bonnie Greener Rowntree, Sam-Son Farms (through Dave Whitford) and Jennifer Leuty bought 6 mares for $6,000. CORRECTION: Brnjas, Rowntree and Whitford are CTHS directors. Marc Blouin (see story below), the CTHS and LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society were also instrumental in the overall re-homing of horses.
SILVER ADVENTURE (Silver Deputy – Go First Class by Easy Goer) sure is interesting. The Sam-Son Farms’ bred is listed as a $10,000 purchase by Akbary at the 2011 CTHS sale, not in foal. She had produced a couple of foals for Sam-Son and had been bought back from a Kentucky sale but finally wound up with Akbary.
Sam-Son unleashed the mare’s 2nd foal last weekend – SHAFT OF LIGHT, a debut winner who was odds on and ran a 73 Beyer Figure.
Silver Adventure was bought by Jennifer Leuty of Walkers Falls.
SMART ROSE, by Smart Strike, well, she’s a direct/immediate relative of Blue Grass winner Dance With Fate (6th in Kentucky Derby) . BIRSAY, by Bold Executive, won $154,00 on the track, MISS YANKEE, by Yankee Gentleman won $118,000.
AMAZING MISS? Oh, she’s simply a half sister to multiple champion and $2 million earner RAHY’S ATTORNEY.
Here is the feature in TORONTO STAR
By: Mary Ormsby Feature reporter, Dale Brazao News, Published on Thu May 22 2014
HAGERSVILLE, ONT.—Five years ago, international horse trainer Hooman Akbary converted a sprawling Haldimand County dairy farm into stables to raise world-class racing thoroughbreds.
He was gambling that the genetic mojo of million-dollar winner Balthazaar’s Gift, owned by a sheik in the Abu Dhabi royal family, would produce crops of champions, just like the stallion’s legendary great-great-grandfather, Northern Dancer.
To mine Canada’s thoroughbred racing hotbed, Akbary mingled with the sport’s top players at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack, where the “charming” native of Iran, in his mid-40s, pitched a $5,000-a-shot stud fee for Balthazaar’s Gift. His operation near Hagersville, Arrow Track Stallions, was soon producing well-bred babies.
- BIRSAY before landing with Hooman Akbary…
BIRSAY after her close call with slaughter
SILVER ADVENTURE, saved from slaughter – photo courtesy of Bonnie Greener Rowntree
see you tomorrow…..
