GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING,
MARCH 23!
THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE LAST OF THIS STUFF THIS YEAR! CP PHOTO OF THE 401 THIS MORNING IN TORONTO, no one believed it would snow, it did and cars are all over
canadian press photo
In the midst of quite the storm up in the northern part of Brampton, closer to Caledon actually, time is spent perusing the workout tab at Woodbine, the news and views of the industry and the entries and notes for the big races coming up this weekend.
THOROUGHBLOG also got a chance to chat with some horsepeople in recent days:
WESLEY WARD said that possible 2yo Canadian champion MADMAN DIARIES, now 3, is targeting Woodbine’s WOODSTOCK STAKES at 6 furlongs (with blinkers back on) on APRIL 16.
Ward, who says he wants to be more of a presence at Woodbine this season, is hopeful that his homebred gelding will be named the Sovereign award winner next week.
Ward also said he fully enjoyed his experience in Barbados with his first runners there – Grand Times and Grand Cash. The former got beat right on the wire in the Spa Sprint Stakes while Grand Cash was unplaced in the Gold Cup.
READE BAKER reports that champion FATAL BULLET is on target for the JACQUES CARTIER STAKES at Woodbine next month. And what about BIOFUEL? The 4yo, who figures to be named champio n3yo filly and possibly HORSE OF THE YEAR in Canada next Friday at the Sovereign Awards is back in training in Florida.
Since there is nothing for the gal to race in at Woodbine (it has a very lean older mare category of stakes which got leaner with the dropping of the HILL N DALE), she won’t be seen at Woodbine for a long time, if at all. that’s too bad.
GUESS WHO HAS BEEN RETIRED??
12-year-old COOL SELECTION, a Canadian bred 20-time winner of almost $700K, is finally off the track and at a retirement home in the United States. Here he plays with his friend Donzie.
ELITE ALEX HANDICAPPING STORY
More stuff on Canadian-bred ELITE ALEX as he tackles the LOUISIANA DERBY on Saturday 0 maybe the Ky. Derby, maybe the June 26 Queen’s Plate?
http://www.drf.com/news/kentucky-derby-2011-under-radar-elite-alex
HAY!!?? CONTEST?? Just one entry so far in the SOVEREIGN AWARD CONTEST to guess the winners of the horse awards. Contest closes one week tomorrow. Send entry in through Comment button, guess the most right and win THE HORSE AND THE TIGER, a new book from Muriel Lennox.
DUBAI DREAMING
Big weekend of racing coming up, a perfect entree to the opening of Woodbine next weekend (April 2).
The blockbuster DUBAI WORLD CUP CARD is on Saturday morning, our time, and there are more than a dozen North American cheering interests.
One is the very talented son of Canadian champ Langfuhr – EUROEARS, whom Thoroughblog raved about a couple of years ago when he was tearing up stuff in New Orleans:
Special sprinter brings Baffert back to Dubai
Dubai, UAE, March 22, 2011 – The last time Bob Baffert visited Dubai, he collected his second gold whip as the trainer of a Dubai World Cup winner, leaving an impact on racing’s richest event unparalleled by any conditioner except Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor.
When Baffert returned on Tuesday, he found that so much had changed in Dubai he didn’t recognize the city—and he got lost in the sprawling grandstand at Meydan. But Baffert’s trademark silver hair and his equally silver tongue, in the figurative sense, saved him.
“I was wandering around the grandstand when I heard a security guard say, ‘Excuse me, sir. Can I see some identification?’”Baffert related.
“I said, ‘You’re looking at it. It’s my hair,” he continued, laughing at his own sense of humor.
“This place is just awesome. You see pictures of the grandstand but you can’t actually appreciate it until you’re here. You could fit me whole hometown of Nogales, Arizona, inside that place—all the people of Nogales could live in there—it’s unbelievable,” he
said.
Baffert convinced the security guard to let him pass and eventually he found his way to Meydan’s fifth floor, where he observed a 600m workout by his speedy Group One US$2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen entrant Euroears in :35.26. After the move through a dramatic sun-spiked fog, Baffert proclaimed his charge ready to race on Saturday.
Although Meydan is a light years change from the Dubai World Cup’s previous home at Nad Al Sheba, and it seems impossible that
it has been a full decade since Baffert came to Dubai to saddle a runner, in other ways there was a sense of déjà vu about the scene. Baffert knows how to win in Dubai, having sent out Silver Charm and Captain Steve to capture the Dubai World Cup in 1998 and 2001, respectively, and thus his enthusiasm about Euroears is noteworthy.
“I remember telling His Highness Sheikh Mohammed [bin Rashid Al Maktoum] I was coming here to take home his money,” Baffert joked, recalling the Arabian Nights party prior to Captain Steve’s victory at which he and Dubai’s ruler chatted about what it takes to win the Group One Kentucky Derby and the Dubai World Cup.
Enshrined in the American Racing Hall of Fame, Baffert has saddled three Kentucky Derby winners and amassed six other classic wins in the U.S., and he currently is preparing strong 2011 Derby candidates The Factor and Jaycito.
In past years, he has decided to stay in America with his classic hopefuls but after winning the Group Two Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas on March 19 with The Factor, he flew back to California and then jumped on a plane to Dubai. Since fun is never far from his mind, he said that, in addition to trying to win the Golden Shaheen, he plans to go to Ski Dubai and the Wild Wadi water theme park.
But the primary reason Baffert is back in Dubai for the first time since Captain Steve’s victory is the talent of Euroears. The robust chestnut son of Langfuhr, previously trained by Bret Calhoun, has only raced one time for Baffert, winning the Group Two Palos Verdes Stakes in an electrifying 1:07.23 for 1200m (six furlongs). That performance convinced Baffert that Euroears is something special at sprint distances.
“I was debating on whether to come or not, but I decided I was going to go because this is a really nice horse,” Baffert said. “And it’s good to be back.”
EUROEARS, by Vanessa Ng
MORE DUBAI STUFF – J. PAUL REDDAM, who recently announced the retirement of SQUARE EDDIE, has a couple of runners on the card. The forrmer Canadian based owner, from Windsor, Ontario has CROWDED HOUSE in the Gidiolphin Mile and MANTOBA in the UAE Derby.
**POST POSITIONS FOR WORLD CUP ARE DRAWN THIS MORNING…
Saturday, Meydan Racecourse, Dubai, post time:
10:25 a.m. EDT
UAE DERBY-G2, $2,000,000, 3yo, 1900m (AWT)
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Reem (Aus) Galileo (Ire) Shea de Kock 127
2 Alexander Pope (Ire) Danehill Dancer (Ire) Spencer O’Brien 120
3 Splash Point K Street Cry (Ire) Murtagh Al Zarooni 120
4 Ahlaain K Bernstein Lemaire Simcock 120
5 Mahbooba (Aus) Galileo (Ire) Soumillon de Kock 127
6 Sweet Ducky K Pulpit Queally Brown 120
7 Introvert (Ire) Iffraaj (GB) Ajtebi Al Zarooni 120
8 Zanzamar (SAf) Fort Wood Hills de Kock 131
9 Master of Hounds Kingmambo Moore O’Brien 120
10 Laser Bullet (Jpn) Brian’s Time Fujita Hagiwara 120
11 Khawlah (Ire) Cape Cross (Ire) Barzalona bin Suroor 116
12 Utley Smart Strike Buick Gosden 120
13 Xin Xu Lin (Brz) Wondertross Dettori Al Zarooni 131
14 Mantoba (GB) Noverre Dwyer Meehan 120
Saturday, Meydan Racecourse, Dubai, post time:
11:05 a.m. EDT
DUBAI GOLDEN SHAHEEN-G1, $2,000,000, 3yo/up,
1200m (AWT)
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER
1 Kinsale King K Yankee Victor Bejarano O’Callaghan
2 Dim Sum (GB) Kyllachy (GB) Beadman Moore
3 Charlie’s Moment K Indian Charlie Dettori bin Suroor
4 Force Freeze K Forest Camp Fallon Watson
5 Dynamic Blitz (Aus) Elusive Quality Doleuze Yiu
6 Sunny King (Ire) Desert Sun (GB) Mosse Moore
7 Euroears Langfuhr M Smith Baffert
8 Escape Route K Elusive Quality Mullen Seemar
9 Rocket Man (Aus) Viscount (Aus) Coetzee Shaw
10 Green Birdie (NZ) Catbird (Aus) Prebble Fownes
All carry 126 pounds.
SEE ALL ENTRIES FOR DUBAI NIGHT HERE: http://www.emiratesracing.com/node/3?id=2437
CANADIAN HORSEPEOPLE IN 2011
TRAINERS
13 Robertino Diodoro 117 32 19 12 $270,801 27% 63 54%
179 Mark E. Casse 65 10 3 8 $267,606 15% 21 32%
186 Scott H. Fairlie 43 8 4 8 $208,466 19% 20 47%
197 Josie Carroll 27 5 5 2 $201,380 19% 12 44%
200 Malcolm Pierce 42 4 7 4 $195,190 10% 15 36%
263 Roger L. Attfield 26 3 3 5 $151,046 12% 11 42%
JOCK
139 Eurico Rosa Da Silva 83 9 22 10 $354,567 11% 41 49%
