BUILD UP

SOVEREIGN AWARDS/WOODBINE OPENING

The 64th Woodbine Thoroughbred season opens Saturday and from  a walk around the backstretch this weekend one could feel the excitement ready to burst from the dedicated grooms, exercise riders, hotwalkers and trainers who work with our racehorses.

Opening weekend should offer mostly rain-free weather and temperatures in the 12-14 degrees C range. Two stakes races are up: the Grade 3 Whimsical Stakes for fillies and mares sprinting on the Tapeta and Sunday’s Fury Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 6 furlongs (an early preview of these races can be found here.)

New to the local scene, SHAKOPEE TOWN, a contender for the Whimsical, sizzled four furlongs in 46.60 for half a mile on Saturday on the Tapeta.

As is often the case with an Ontario spring, the weather has been a mix of cold and mild temperatures and plenty of rain. But the work tab swelled this past weekend.

About 500 horses had workouts and one of the most exciting was the 58 2/5 move for five furlongs by 2017 Horse of the year PINK LLOYD, set to be named the 2018 Champion Sprinter at this Thursday evening’s Sovereign Awards gala.

The Sovereign Awards celebration, hosted by the Jockey Club of Canada, begins at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Chateau le Jardin on Highway 27 just north of Highway 7. Gus Schickedanz and the late Bill Graham will be awarded with the E.P. Taylor Award of Merit on a night that is always fun as a way to get geared up for the new season.

Check out all the finalists for awards.

‘ESCAPE’ CLAWS HER WAY TO NEAR MISS IN GRADE 1 APPLE BLOSSOM

Just days before she is expected to be named Canada’s Champion Older Mare of 2018, ESCAPE CLAUSE, the marvelous Manitoba-bred, ran the race of her life in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas on Sunday. Leading in the final strides of the 1 1/16 mile race, Escape Clause battled Grade 1 winner Midnight Bisou to the wire, landed on the finish in a head bob and missed the win by inches.

It was a miraculous run by the 5-year-old by Going Commando who left the confines of Assiniboia Downs and Alberta’s Century Downs last fall to tackle California racing. She won the Grade 3 La Canada earlier this year and was coming off a track record setting win in the Harry Henson Stakes at Sunland Park.

Don Schnell owns and trains Escape Clause and had vanned her 22 hours to Oaklawn for the Apple Blossom.

It was easily the toughest field the Cam Ziprick-Barry Arnason bred has ever met. Midnight Bisou, never worse than 3rd in her career with earnings of over $2 million, was 3rd to champion Monomoy Girl in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff last fall. Elate, a multiple Grade 1 winner was also heavily bet and Wonder Gadot, Canada’s probable Horse of the Year of 2018, were also in the field.

But the race came down to Escape Clause and Midnight Bisou who were almost three lengths clear of Elate after their thrilling stretch battle. Wonder Gadot, who set a fast pace, finished last.

Schnell said after the close finish, “I was slightly disappointed when the photo came up, but we said if we could run third in there, I’d be the happiest man in the world, so I’m going to stick with that.”

KENTUCKY DERBY FIELD ALMOST SET

OMAHA BEACH, the fast improving colt owned by Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm fended off the Bob Baffert trained Improbable and won the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby in the slop at Oaklawn on Saturday. The son of War Front from Charming by Seeking the Gold moved early to press for the lead down the backstretch, took the lead and out-battled Improbable to the wire. He ran the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.91 which was slightly faster than Quip ran the distance when winning the Oaklawn Handicap for older horses.

The colt, who is a half brother to Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Take Charge Brandi is a grandson of the amazing mare Take Charge Lady, a Grade 1 winner, is the 20th Grade 1 winner for his sire.

Omaha Beach flew to 2nd in the Derby Points with his 100 points for this victory. Mike Smith rides this guy and Roadster, the Santa Anita Derby winner so the world’s top jock has a tough decision to make for the big race.

The other Derby stakes prep race, the Lexington, a Grade 3 at 1 1/16 miles went to longshot OWENDALE, by Into Mischief, his first stakes win, The 20 point for this colt does not get him on the Derby list.

Canadian owned ANOTHERTWISTAFATE finished second and is just 23rd on the Derby points list. The El Camino Real Derby winner could win a bonus should he won the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, the 2nd jewel of the Triple Crown, so peter Redekop’s colt figures to be pointed to that race.

KENTUCKY DERBY POINTS

Rank Horse Points Owner(s) Trainer Non-Restricted Stakes Earnings

1. Tacitus                150 Juddmonte Farms Inc. (Prince Khalid Abdullah) Bill Mott $610,000
2. Omaha Beach   137.5 Fox Hill Farm (Rick Porter) Richard Mandella $1,050,000
3. Vekoma              110 R. A. Hill Stable (Randy Hill) & Gatsas Stables (Mike Gatsas) George Weaver $747,600
4. Plus Que Parfait 104 Imperial Racing LLC (Michael Foley) Brendan Walsh $1,540,400
5. Roadster              100 Speedway Stable LLC (Peter Fluor & K.C. Weiner) Bob Baffert $636,000
6. By My Standards 100 Allied Racing Stable LLC (Chester Thomas) Bret Calhoun $600,000
7. Maximum Security 100 Gary L. & Mary E. West Jason Servis $582,800
8. Game Winner      85 Gary L. & Mary E. West Bob Baffert $1,810,000
9. Code of Honor     74 William S. Farish Shug McGaughey III $432,070
10. Haikal                 70 Shadwell Stable (Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum) Kiaran McLaughlin $322,500
11. Improbable         65 WinStar Farm LLC (Kenny Troutt), China Horse Club International Ltd. (Ah Khing Teo) & Starlight     Racing (Jack Wolf et al) Bob Baffert $589,520
12. War of Will        60 Gary Barber Mark Casse $450,840
13. Long Range Toddy 53.5 Willis Horton Racing LLC Steve Asmussen $833,334
14. Tax                         52 R. A. Hill Stable (Randy Hill), Reeves Thoroughbred Racing (Dean & Patti Reeves), Hugh Lynch &       Corms Racing Stable (Lucas Stritsman) Danny Gargan $307,500
15. Cutting Humor 50 Starlight Racing (Jack Wolf) Todd Pletcher $462,467
16. Win Win Win       50 Live Oak Plantation (Charlotte C. Weber) Mike Trombetta $316,000
17. Country House    50 Mrs. J.V. Shields, E.J.M. McFadden Jr. & LNJ Foxwoods (Larry, Nanci & Jaime Roth) Bill Mott $220,000
18. Gray Magician     41 Wachtel Stable (Adam Wachtel), Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners (Aron Wellman) & Gary Barber Peter Miller $526,000
19. Spinoff                 40 Wertheimer et Frere (Alain & Gerard Wertheimer) Todd Pletcher $224,000
20. Master Fencer (JPN) Japan RTKD Katsumi & Yasuyo Yoshizawa Koichi Tsunoda $234,392
21. Bodexpress          40 Top Racing LLC, Global Thoroughbred & GDS Racing Stable Gustavo Delgado $188,000
22. Signalman           38 Tommie M. Lewis, Steve Crabtree, Dean Demaree, David Bernsen, Jim Chambers, & Magdalena       Racing (Sherri McPeek) Kenny McPeek $496,840
23. Anothertwistafate 38 Peter Redekop B. C. Ltd. Blaine Wright $268,960
24. Sueno                      32 Silverton Hill LLC (Bonnie & Tommy Hamilton) Keith Desormeaux $285,000
25. Bourbon War        31 Bourbon Lane Stable (Jamie Hill & Michael J. McMahon) & Lake Star Stable Mark Hennig $137,200

AMERICAN PHAROAH’S FIRST FOALS TO THE RACES

Triple Crown winner’s first runner is a winner

Wednesday afternoon’s opening race at Aqueduct Racetrack will mark the year’s first 2-year-old maiden race at the Big A, featuring the debut of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah’s first two starters in North America when Lady Delaware and Tesorina are unveiled.

American Pharoah, standing at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud division in Versailles, Ky. for a private stud fee, saw his first starter win on debut when the Aidan O’Brien-trained Monarch of Egypt won at Naas Racecourse in Ireland on Saturday.

Both runners in Wednesday’s $100,000 opener are fillies conditioned by Wesley Ward, who is well-regarded for developing young horses. The former rider turned trainer said he has high hopes for the Triple Crown champion’s two daughters.

“I’m excited,” Ward said. “Coolmore has always been good to me. American Pharoah was a tremendous race horse and hopefully a tremendous sire as well. They both are very precocious in their breezes and there was no reason to not move early with them.

“They both are very smart and show a lot of talent,” continued Ward. “To get to Royal Ascot with them would be fantastic, not just for me but the team as well. American Pharoah was a great two-year-old himself and they both look like they’ll run early.”Purchased for $100,000 from the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Hat Creek Racing’s Lady Delaware is out of the Hennessy broodmare More Hennessy and is a half-sister to Grade 1-winner Hootenanny.

ONE-EYED WONDER IS EASY TO LOVE

Courtesy of Thoroughbred Daily News

Wonder Gadot’s younger half sister HARD NOT TO LOVE is 2 for 2 in her career thanks to an allowance win on the weekend.

The fillies’ dam Loving Vindication is up for Outstanding Broodmare at the Sovereign Awards.

7th-Santa Anita, $59,403, Alw (NW1$X)/Opt. Clm ($40,000),
4-13, 3yo/up, f/m, 6 1/2f, 1:17.53, ft.

HARD NOT TO LOVE (f, 3, Hard Spun–Loving Vindication, by Vindication) made good on her ‘TDN Rising Star’-worthy debut
victory in Arcadia Feb. 16 with a solid defeat of her elders Saturday. A half-sister to Canadian champion and Queen’s Plate victress Wonder Gadot (Medaglia d’Oro) (MGSW & MGISP, $1,509,861), the one-eyed filly was on the outside of a four-horse duel for control through a swift first quarter in :21.83. Taking control as the half went in :45.12, the $400,000 KEESEP grad cruised clear of the field and looked home free with Tiago Pereira motionless in the saddle. Lady Ninja (Majesticperfection) came flying late in the stretch, looking a threat to the winner, but Pereira never moved and Lady Ninja was still a half-length behind at the line.

In addition to last term’s GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up and two-time graded winner Wonder Gadot, the winner is a half to Solemn Tribute (Medaglia d’Oro), SW & GSP, $181,234. Dave Anderson of Anderson Farms purchased Loving Vindication for $180,000 at the 2011 Keeneland January Sale and sold her first foal, the aforementioned Solemn Tribute for $385,000 at KEESEP.

She produced a Bodemeister colt in 2017, who summoned $300,000 from trainer Catherine Day-Phillips at last year’s Fasig-Tipton October Sale, and a Nyquist filly in 2018. The 14-year-old mare, who is a daughter of GSW & GISP Chimichurri (Elusive Quality), RNA’d for $1.45 million carrying a foal by Curlin at last term’s Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $67,200.  O-Mercedes Stables LLC, West Point Thoroughbreds, Scott Dilworth, Dorothy & David Ingordo & Steve Mooney; B-Anderson Farms Ont. Inc. (ON); T-John A. Shirreffs.

HORSEPEOPLE VOICE CONCERNS ABOUT RACE-DAY MEDICATION BAN

Nearly 100 participants in the Ontario Thoroughbred industry attended an information session held by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission at Woodbine on Saturday morning. However, there was still not a lot of information available to trainers and horsepeople about what is and what is not going to be allowed with the new race-day medication ban.

Horsepeople were generally unhappy about the directive issued by the AGCO in late March, a race-day medication ban which goes into effect 24 hours before post time of the first race, the day the horse is racing. Most owners and trainers agree that the race-day medication ban is good for racing and needed. It is important for the future of horse racing to continue to put strict rules in place for the very few who might want to take advantage of the rules of racing.

A lot of horsepeople also want to be able to prepare their horse on race-day with non-medication type therapies to aid in calming a horse or simple things such as water from a syringe to clean out a horse’s mouth. When asked about the common procedure of applying Vicks in a horse’s nostril (done to help with clear breathing or to distract a colt from smelling a pony or filly) or how horses shipping in from other locations will be dealt with, the response from the AGCO was unclear.

What made horsepeople upset is that the directive does not address any specifics with regards to what is allowed and what is not. The AGCO directive states that no additives are allowed (including vitamins, electrolytes given any way other than in the horse’s drinking water) 24 hours out (which could be up to 30 hours out if your horse is in a late race).

The directive also originally stated that vets were not allowed in the barn of a horse on race day (as in 24 hours from first race post) but as the HBPA of Ontario was successful in getting that rule modified. As a result, a trainer’s vet can examine or evaluate a horse out of the stall in the shedrow or on the road in this time frame.

The HBPA board, which had Saturday’s meeting moved up from a much later date that had been set by the AGCO, will continue talks with them in an effort to modify and clarify the details of what horsepeople need to know.

The AGCO is the legislator of racing in Ontario and racing and this province is one of the last jurisdictions to put a race-day medication ban in place. Horse racing everywhere is moving towards eliminating drugs and perhaps even whips and it has to, to make racing better.

However, implementing such a ban surely needs time and thoughtfulness plus input from the people who care for the wonderful horses we are all  trying to protect and care for.