HAPPY FRIDAY, and it is for FORT ERIE RACETRACK!
SUE LESLIE, the president of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, Ontario division would like to assure all FORT ERIE HORSEMEN, employees and racing fans that RACING IS GOING FORWARD AT FORT ERIE in 2011 despite rumours landing in some media outlets.
“I want to assure everyone that racing will begin on the first weekend of May as scheduled – horsemen, get your horses ready to come in.”
Leslie said the FORT ERIE LIVE RACING CONSORTIUM had very temporary cash flow issues but they were alleviated ” thanks to $150,000 grants from the TOWN OF FORT ERIE and the HBPA.” Also, the HBPA has loaned the FELRC $300,000 that will be paid back by August.
“We are going to have a great season at Fort Erie this year,” said Leslie. Last season was the first under the FELRC and it was an innovative and popular meeting with new additions such as twilight racing and quarter horse racing.
Hey, January almost over, whaaaat? Catch that 119 to 1 winner at Fair Grounds yesterday? That Evangeline Downs invader had Beyer Figures from 16 to 28 in her last 4 starts. Ouch. Her name? GAZILLIONAIRE.
FROM FAIR GROUNDS NEWS
by Graham Ross
Anybody who wagered substantially on Stephen Stigall’s Gazillionaire in Thursday’s second race at Fair Grounds might be halfway to becoming one, because the 4-year-old filly by Authenticate lit up the tote board with a $240 win payoff based on a $2 wager – largest straight price recorded thus far in the New Orleans 2010-2011 Thoroughbred Racing Season. Was the owner surprised?
“Not really,” said Stigall in the winner’s circle immediately after the race. “She’s been training great (a half-mile in 52.80 last Saturday at Evangeline Training Center) and she’s been feeling good lately. She seems to like to run on the lead, so I told the jockey (Carlos Gonzalez) to take her there and that’s just what he did going down the backstretch.”
Trained by Romeo Omana, Gazillionaire held sway in the late stages of Saturday’s upset for a 1 1/4-length score, accomplishing the mile and 70-yard distance in 1:47.76. The Louisiana-bred, who last visited the winner’s circle on Kentucky Derby Day last spring (albeit at Evangeline Downs), paid $80.80 to place, $20.60 to show, and was largely responsible for an exacta payoff of $2,172.40 (also a season-high payoff) and a Daily Double payoff of $334.40.
The previous high win payoff at Fair Ground this winter was recorded by John Weber’s Doo Wap Daddy, who returned a $128.20 win mutuel on Dec. 12 in the 10th race of the afternoon.
CANADIAN STUFF
GULFSTREAM PARK MEDIA NOTES:
By Ed Gray
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – The 2009 Keeneland September Yearling Sales was headlined by a colt sired by Storm Cat that attracted a winning bid of $2,050,000, which was $2,047,500 more than Zayat Stables paid for a dark bay son of Devil His Due.
“He’s not very big, other than that he’s really well made. He’s a nice looking little colt. He was late in the sale, and it wasn’t a popular sire – and there was no reserve,” said trainer Dale Romans, explaining the circumstances that brought Black N Beauty into his stable for a paltry $2500. “Sometimes you get lucky.”
(to read more about BLACK N BEAUTY and how Morning Bloodstock, owned by former Zayat manager So. Sobol, see THOROUGHBLOG
Bred in Ontario by 2010 Eclipse Award-winning Adena Springs, Black N Beauty will keep some fashionable company Sunday in the $400,000 Holy Bull (G3), a stepping stone in the Preakness 5.5 bonus series.
“When we first got him, he was a nice horse. As soon as we started breezing him, he could compete with most of our 2-year-olds,” Romans said.
Black N Beauty debuted at Belmont in September, closing to fourth in a field of 10 after enduring a wide trip from his far-outside post position. He came right back to finish second, beaten by only a half-length by Brethren, a Todd Pletcher-trained half-brother to 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver.
“They ran really fast that day. The both ran fast races,” said Romans, noting the 1:08 4/5 six-furlong clocking of the Oct. 16 maiden race. “That was a key race.”
Like Brethren, Black N Beauty won his next start. Favored at 1-2 at Churchill Downs on Nov. 12, he graduated from the maiden ranks by nearly three lengths.
Black N Beauty earned a trip to the Gulfstream Park winner’s circle in his 3-year-old debut on Jan. 7, setting all the pace under jockey Kent Desormeaux on his way to a smart 2-1/4-length triumph.
“He was always one of our favorite 2-year-olds,” Romans said. “He always showed that he had a lot of talent, even though he wasn’t a very expensive horse.”
Black N Beauty will be making his stakes debut in the Holy Bull against some more proven graded-stakes performers, including the Kathy Ritvo-trained Mucho Macho Man, runner-up to highly regarded To Honor and Serve in both the Nashua (G2) and Remsen (G2) at Aqueduct; and Steve Standridge-trained Gourmet Dinner, the $1 million Delta Jackpot (G3) winner.
“You’ve got Gourmet Dinner and Kathy Ritvo’s horse – they’re pretty nice horses – and they’re pretty even after that,” Romans said.
The one-mile Holy Bull is the first major prep on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, as well as the first Gulfstream Park qualifying race for the Preakness 5.5, which offers $5.5 million in bonuses to the owner and trainer of a horse able to win either the Holy Bull or the Feb. 26 Fountain of Youth (G2) before going on to win the April 3 Florida Derby and the May 21 Preakness Stakes.
“We’ll see how he progresses against the best,” said Romans about what the future may hold for Black N Beauty beyond the Holy Bull, “ and then we’ll leave it up to, Mr. (Ahmed) Zayat.”
Sunday, Gulfstream Park, post time: 5:26 p.m. EST
HOLY BULL S.-GIII, $400,000, 3yo, 1m
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Gourmet Dinner Trippi Madrid Standridge 120
2 Major Gain More Than Ready Castellano Catalano 120
3 Printing Press K Tapit Trujillo Pompay 116
4 Black N Beauty K Devil His Due Desormeaux Romans 116
5 Ribo Bobo Louis Quatorze Prado Azpurua 120
6 Leave of Absence Harlan’s Holiday Maragh Violette Jr 116
7 Mucho Macho Man Macho Uno Coa Ritvo 116
8 Sweet Ducky K Pulpit Bravo Breen 120
9 Dialed In Mineshaft Leparoux Zito 116
CANADIAN-OWNED CATEGORY SEVEN in Millions Action
$300,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf (Gulfstream Park, Race 9, post 4:51 EST), 4 & Up, 1 1/8 Miles (Turf)
Position Horse Weight Rider Trainer
1 Speak Easy Gal 122 J Leparoux M D Wolfson
2 Trip for A. J. 120 J Velazquez M W Wolfson
3 Unbridled Essence 122 P Lopez G Sacco
4 Scolara 122 K Desormeaux W Mott
5 Askbut I Won’ttell 122 S Bridgmohan C Block
6 Wild Mia 120 J Lezcano T Proctor
7 Granted Tiger 122 J Sanchez H Jenkens
8 Omega Cat 122 J Bravo M D Wolfson
9 Dynaslew 122 E Coa S Benzel
10 Becky’s Exchange 122 E Trujillo M Hartmann
11 Romin Robin 122 E Prado D Kassen
12 Bran Jammas 122 A Solis P Eurton
13 Category Seven 122 R Maragh K Hargrave
14 Honeymoon Girl 120 J Castellano C Brown
–Also Eligible–
15 Jet Blue Girl 120 A Garcia P Eurton
Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/60974/askbut-i-wonttell-up-for-sunshine-challenge#ixzz1CKsIloO2
SAM-SON FILLY
Forest Uproar, Avie’s Tale Vie in Saturday’s Marie G. Krantz Memorial ‘Cap
Sam-Son Farms’ Forest Uproar, a facile winner at Fair Grounds in her only local start this season, has been installed as the solid 9-5 choice based on that effort in Saturday’s Fair Grounds feature, the 15th renewal of the $60,000 Marie Krantz Memorial Handicap for older fillies and mares over the Stall-Wilson turf course.
Past heroines of the Marie Krantz Memorial include the legendary Louisiana-bred Hallowed Dreams, owned by Johnny Gaspard and Lloyd Romero, who won the about 1 1/16-mile grass test 10 years ago when it was run as the Victoria Lass Stakes. The race was renamed in 2004 in honor of the late former chairman of the board of the Fair Grounds Corporation.
In Forest Uproar’s local bow this season on Dec. 18, the daughter of Forest Wildcat out of a Smart Strike mare raced wide throughout, rallied boldly to take command at the eighth pole and drew off for a 2 1/2-length score. Before that she captured a first level allowance race at Keeneland on Oct. 22 by 5 1/2-lengths. Jockey James Graham, aboard last time, returns in the irons on the Mark Frostad trainee who is assigned 117 pounds.
Shouldering the top impost of 118 pounds in the Krantz Memorial is Ivan Dalos’s Avie’s Tale, the second choice at 7-2 in the morning line, who captured Fair Grounds’ $58,000 Blushing K. D. Handicap by 3 1/4-lengths on New Year’s Day. That race was scheduled for the grass but taken off and run over the sloppy main track. Previously, the daughter of Tale of the Cat finished fourth in Woodbine’s $101,000 River Memorial at Woodbine on Oct. 30 over a Canadian lawn rated yielding that day. Jockey Rosie Napravnik will be astride the Josie Carroll-conditioned highweight.
Completing the Krantz Memorial, with jockeys and weights assigned, is Last Call Racing Partnership’s Mizzcan’tbewrong, Jesse Campbell (117); Cody Autrey’s In the Slips, Brian Hernandez Jr. (115); Naveed Chowhan’s Caminadora, Kerwin Clark (115); John Wieczorek’s Instant Style, Corey Lanerie (116); Lothenbach Stables’ Single Solution, Jamie Theriot (117); and Naveed Chowhan’s Ice Mist, Richard Eramia (114). Caminadora and Ice Mist are coupled in the wagering.
MARK CASSE sent out FAVORITE MELODY to win a $50,000 claiming event on the grass yesterday at GUlfstream. The filly by Bernstein was up to win by a neck for Horse n’ Round Stable.
Roxy Gap (ON) Filly 3 1:00.45 b 3/43
Golden Moka (ON) Colt 4 1:04.00 b 12/17
QUEEN’SPLATEKITTEN 01/24/2011 PMM 5F 1:01.70 Turf
OCALA STAR-BANNER
Finalists for Sovereign Awards announced
The winners will be named during a ceremony April 1 near Toronto.
By Carlos E. Medina
Correspondent
This list of finalists for this year’s Sovereign Awards, given to the top thoroughbreds and horsemen in Canada, is thick with Florida talent.
The winners will be named during a ceremony April 1 near Toronto.
Florida-bred horses are vying for top honors in four of the 10 categories, and Ocala resident Mark Casse is among the finalists for top Canadian trainer.
Here’s a look:
* Hooh Why, bred by the late Gail Gee at her Derby Daze Farm in Ocala, is a finalist for both champion older female and champion female sprinter.
The 5-year-old daughter of Cloud Hopping won the Seaway Stakes (G3) at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto in September.
The mare has won nearly $800,000 in her career.
READ MORE – http://www.ocala.com/article/20110127/ARTICLES/110129731/-1/entertainment02?Title=Marion-well-represented-in-finalists-for-Canadian-horse-industry-awards-
CANADIAN GRADED STAKES 2011
Five Stakes Upgraded in 2011
Mazarine, B.C. Premier’s lose grade
The Jockey Club of Canada’s Canadian Graded Stakes Committee held their annual review of the Graded Stakes in Canada and has announced that there will be a total of 37 Graded Stakes in 2011, up from 35 in 2010 .
The five Grade 1 races for 2011 are unchanged in status .
Previously a Grade 3 race, the Connaught Cup Turf Stakes for four-year-olds and up has been upgraded to a Grade 2 race for 2011 increasing the total number of Grade 2 races to 10 in 2011 .
Four listed races at Woodbine received an upgrade to Grade 3 status, bumping the number of Grade 3’s to 22 in 2011 . The new
Grade 3 races include, the popular end-of-season distance race, the Valedictory Stakes for three and up as well as three filly and
mare races for three-year-olds and up, the Ontario Matron, the Ontario Fashion and the Bessarabian Stakes, all of which run at
Woodbine for a purse of $150,000 each .
Two Grade 3 Stakes in 2010 have lost their Graded status for 2011; the two year old filly race, the Mazarine Stakes at Woodbine
and the three and up BC Premiers Stakes at Hastings .
The Canadian Graded Stakes Committee evaluates and reviews the Graded Stakes annually and determines whether races should
be upgraded, downgraded or remain the same based on a number of criteria including the performance of the races based on the
NARC and BRIS ratings for the previous years . Also, to be eligible for consideration of Graded status in Canada , races must
carry the following minimum purses: $250,000 for Grade 1; $150,000 for Grade 2 and $100,000 for Grade 3 .
Thoroughbred industry and to promote improvements to Thoroughbred racing and breeding, both in Canada and internationally .
The Jockey Club of Canada also operates as a field office of The Jockey Club ( New York ); organizes the Sovereign Awards;
administers the Canadian Graded Stakes program; liaises with foreign Jockey Clubs; promotes Thoroughbred ownership; and
represents Canada at international racing conferences .
CANADIAN STAKES PROGRAM–2011
GRADE 1
Race Dist Track Age
Canadian International (Pattison) 12fT Wo 3/up
Woodbine Mile 8fT Wo 3/up
E.P. Taylor S. 10fT Wo 3/up, f/m
Northern Dancer Turf S. 12T Wo 3/up
Nearctic S. 6fT Wo 3/up
GRADE 2
Sky Classic 11fT Wo 3/up
Autumn S. 8.5f (AW) Wo 3/up
Nijinsky S. 10fT Wo 3/up
Play The King S. 7fT Wo 3/up
King Edward S. 8fT Wo 3/up
Nassau S. 8fT Wo 3/up, f/m
Dance Smartly S. 9fT Wo 3/up, f/m
Canadian S. 9fT Wo 3/up, f/m
Highlander S. 6fT Wo 3/up
Connaught Cup S. 7fT Wo 4/up
GRADE 3
Grey S. 8.5f *(AW) Wo 2yo
Summer S. 8fT Wo 2yo
Natalma S. 8fT Wo 2yo, f
Seagram Cup S. 8.5 Wo 3/up
Singspiel S. 12fT Wo 3/up
Dominion Day H. 10f (AW) Wo 3/up
Kennedy Road S. 6f (AW) Wo 3/up
Eclipse S. 8.5f (AW) Wo 3/up
Durham Cup S. 9f (AW) Wo 3/up
Valedictory S. 14 f (AW) Wo 3/up
Ballerina S. 9f Hst 3/up, f/m
Seaway S. 7f (AW) Wo 3/up, f/m
Bessarabian S. 7f (AW) Wo 3/up, f/m
Royal North S. 6fT Wo 3/up, f/m
Hendrie St. 6.5f (AW) Wo 3/up, f/m
Ontario Matron S. 8.5f (AW) Wo 3/up, f/m
Ontario Fashion S. 6f (AW) Wo 3/up, f/m
British Columbia Derby 9f Hst 3yo
Canadian Derby 11f NP 3yo
Selene S. 8.5f (AW) Wo 3yo, f
Vigil S. 7f (AW) Wo 4/up
Whimsical S. 6f (AW) Wo 4/up, f/m
-30-
BARBADOS NEWS – BIG RACE TOMORROW, PREP FOR GOLD CUP!
NINE TO START IN COOLMORE “HOME OF CHAMPIONS” STAKES
By Charlie Heath | Advocate | January 28th, 2011
Nine horses are entered to compete tomorrow in the feature Coolmore “Home Of Champions” Stakes & Trophy, which is for 3-year-olds and older rated 0-140, going 1800 metres.
Thanks to the generosity of Coolmore Stud, the race carries a purse of $40,000 and a Trophy.
The Coolmore “Home Of Champion” Stakes, is a prep race leading up to the Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup, which is scheduled to be run on Saturday, March 5.
Not only does it give punters a little insight into the form of the horses leading up to the Gold Cup, but it is also a good indicator as to what horses will represent Barbados.
Eight of the nine horses entered have been nominated for this year’s Gold Cup, and all are likely to face the starter tomorrow.
Heading the list is the Amanda Marshall-Way & Helen Spencer owned 4-year-old bay colt, Mingun Temple, the winner of the Victor Chandler Stakes & Trophy, run on December 27, 2010 over 1570 metres. He has won four of his last five races, and seems to run his best races on ground that is good to soft, or soft. On December 4, on good to firm going he finished eight of eleven over tomorrows distance. With all the rain we have been having he could well get the ground he likes, and in that case he could be very difficult to beat.
NO APPRENTICE ALLOWANCE
THE COOLMORE “HOME OF CHAMPIONS” STAKES & TROPHY (GR.1. – BAR)
3-YEAR-OLDS AND OLDER RATED 0 – 140 (WFA)
EX, Tri
403
1
JOHN BRIAN(USA) (T)
2
REWARD ME(USA) (T)
3
BOUNCEBAK (T)
4
CHARGE IT(USA) (T)
5
PURE TEMPTATION(USA)(BT)
6
SPICEY TIGER(USA) (VT)
7
DUC D FER(USA)
8
MINGUN TEMPLE(USA)
9
BIRD WATCH(USA)
The Sir David Seale owned 6-year-old horse John Brian, is also entered. He finished third in the Victor Chandler Stakes, which was his second run after a nine month lay off, and with those two races under his girth, he should be a better horses tomorrow.
The 2008 winner of this race, Duc D Fer, owned by the Aysha Syndicate, is another that should improve after having a run on December 4, 2010 after a nine month layoff. Also entered is the Lord Michael Taylor owned Pure Temptation, a winner of the 2008 Gold Cup, but he has not been showing anything of the form he had then, and will certainly have to come with all his cylinders firing to have a chance here.
Bird Watch, also owned by the Aysha Syndicate, is also entered. He won the Scobie Breasley Memorial, on the first day of this season. The others entered are Reward Me, Bouncebak, and Spicey Tiger.
CLAIRE NOVAK WRITES ABOUT LIFE AT TEN…
Life after the Breeders’ Cup
By Claire Novak
Special to ESPN.com
PALM MEADOWS, FL — She will go down in history not for races won, but for the one she lost.
Life At Ten, the Todd Pletcher trainee who ran eleventh, and last, in the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Churchill Downs,
has returned from a layoff and is gearing up for a 2011 campaign. Expected to start sometime this March with the April 15 Apple
Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park serving as a potential goal, she remains at the center of a lengthy investigation by the
Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. And although the organization next meets Feb. 9, no timetable has been announced for when
the industry can expect a report on the post-race controversy surrounding the now 6-year-old mare.
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/news/story?id=6058574
AUSSIE VET STUDY ON WHIP USE
An Investigation of Racing Performance and Whip Use by Jockeys in Thoroughbred Races
Concerns have been expressed concerning animal-welfare issues associated with whip use during Thoroughbred races. However, there have been no studies of relationships between performance and use of whips in Thoroughbred racing. Our aim was to describe whip use and the horses’ performance during races, and to investigate associations between whip use and racing performance. Under the Australian Racing Board (ARB) rules, only horses that are in contention can be whipped, so we expected that whippings would be associated with superior performance, and those superior performances would be explained by an effect of whipping on horse velocities in the final 400 m of the race. We were also interested to determine whether performance in the latter sections of a race was associated with performance in the earlier sections of a race. Measurements of whip strikes and sectional times during each of the final three 200 metre (m) sections of five races were analysed. Jockeys in more advanced placings at the final 400 and 200 m positions in the races whipped their horses more frequently. Horses, on average, achieved highest speeds in the 600 to 400 m section when there was no whip use, and the increased whip use was most frequent in the final two 200 m sections when horses were fatigued. This increased whip use was not associated with significant variation in velocity as a predictor of superior placing at the finish.
Scroll down on the link to read full report of whip use…
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0015622
