FAMILY

WINX IS BACK IN ACTION- GOING FOR 30 STRAIGHT

Aussie star tries to perk up troubled industry down under
(Race is late Friday night here in Ontario)

Stay up this Friday night as Winx breaks from the gate at Royal Randwick at 11:50 p.m. EST.

The great mare looks to brighten Australian racing with her return to action.

More on the Apollo Stakes:

ESCAPE CLAUSE GOES FOR GRADE 2 SANTA MONICA

Manitoba-bred sensation ESCAPE CLAUSE, fresh off a win in the Grade 3 la Canada, meets her toughest field of her career in Saturday’s Santa Monica at 7 furlongs.

The daughter of Going Commando, now 5, has been busy since the beginning of 2018 when she tore through stakes races at Assininboia Downs and other tracks in the west. Owner/trainer Don Schnell brought her to California and she has been racing on turf and dirt and doing well.

On Saturday she meets Grade 1 winner Marley’s Freedom from the Bob Baffert stable, Paradise Woods and others in a very tough event. Escape Clause is nominated for a Sovereign Award for Champion Older Mare.

The Santa Monica goes off at 7:09 p.m. EST.

KENTUCKY DERBY TRAIL CONTINUES – NEW ORLEANS

Mark Casse, Gary Barber hoping for WOW factor

Kentucky-bred WAR OF WILL (nicknamed WOW) is going to try and win the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds on Saturday from post 14 in a large, competitive group of 3-year-olds chasing the Derby dream.

The son of  War Front, who was 2nd in the Summer Stakes (G1) at Woodbine last year, was brilliant winning the Lecomte Stakes in his last start and has speed and stamina.

Casse, who recently celebrated his birthday on Feb. 14 seeks his first Derby win.

Feature on Mark Casse’s brother Justin who bought War of Will, the favourite for Saturday’s Risen Star Stakes (G2):

For the past seven years, longtime bloodstock agent Justin Casse has traveled nearly every corner of the globe in search of quality Thoroughbreds to import to North America. Little did he know that a recent journey (May 2018) to Deauville, France, for the Arqana Breeze Up Sale would yield a potential Triple Crown contender.

Nine months later, his nearly $300,000 purchase for owner Gary Barber is in a good position for a chance to smell the roses on the First Saturday in May as War of Will (WOW) appears to be the one to beat in Saturday’s Grade II $400,000 Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford.

Perhaps the most intriguing trait of the sophomore son of War Front is the fact that he boasts such a prestigious turf pedigree yet excels on the main track. He is out of the Sadler’s Wells broodmare Visions of Clarity (Ire.) who is a half-sister to 1997 Grade I Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Spinning World. Visions of Clarity also produced 2010 Group 1 Vincent O’Brien National Stakes victor Pathfork. Other members of his family include North American Grade I turf winners Good Journey and Denon.

War of Will is trained by Justin’s older brother Mark Casse.

“I always call Gary when I find something that I like,” Casse said. “I didn’t really run it by Mark because he trusts me so I called Gary because one of the first horses I bought for him was Jack Milton, who also was by War Front. I bought him two other stakes horses by War Front so he knew that the sire worked. I called him only 30 minutes before he went through the ring. Told him he’d be reasonably priced. He breezed well at the sale, he was a good mover, had a good turn of foot and speed for his size. The rest is history, Gary got him.”

Casse recalls eyeing War of Will for the first time at the sale and stated that there wasn’t anything about his presence that suggested he would favor one surface over the other.

“He didn’t look like a dirt horse but he didn’t strike you as one that’s all turf either,” Casse said. “He was just a real good looking horse but I didn’t really classify him as one or the other. In pedigree he’s instantly classified as turf because of who a lot of his relatives are but if you look deeper into his pedigree he’s related to horses like (two-time dirt stakes winner) Tacticus and (multiple Grade I winner on dirt) Aldebaran.”

When the elder Casse saw War of Will breeze for the first time on dirt, he could not have been more impressed, but the heavy turf pedigree naturally swayed him in the direction of running the horse on grass in his first four starts. Although he did not win any of the four races, he still made good showings in each start, which included a close second in the Grade I Summer Stakes at Woodbine. It was not until late November when War of Will finally ran on dirt and when he did, he did so in stunning fashion when breaking his maiden by five lengths before another impressive victory in the Grade III Lecomte Stakes by four lengths last month.

SKYWIRE’ JOURNEY TO THE QUEEN’S PLATE

And Gadot’s little sis debuts

Bred by the late Bill Graham, SKYWIRE is the latest Queen’s Plate contender for owner Gary Barber and trainer Mark Casse.

The bay colt, a son of Afleet Alex – Meandering Storm by Gone West won a 1 1/16 mile allowance race in the slop at Gulfstream Park in this week to stay unbeaten after 2 races.

His Beyer Figure of 71 bested his debut win Beyer of 65 earned at Woodbine.

It was co-owner Lou Tucci of Toronto and trainer Sid Attard who got this fellow going in his career, however.

Skywire was a $47,000 ‘short yearling’ in January 2017 and then sold for $45,000 last year as a 2-year-old in training, to Hidden Brook, agent. He won his debut on Dec. 9 for Tucci and Attard at 6 furlongs.

The colt is from the well-bred mare Meandering Storm, whose first three foals were modest runners.

The 3rd dam is blue hen mare No Class, the great Sam-Son Farms broodmare.

*Another Casse-trained Plate hopeful, Awesome Wok N Roll, goes for his maiden win on Saturday at Fair Grounds. The son of champion Canadian sprinter El Prado Essence is owned by Live Oak Stud and he has a second in two career starts. He tries 1 1/16 miles on the dirt on Saturday. The colt was bred by Cappuccitti family in Ontario.

*Casse also sends out Dynamic Force for John Oxley, a Josham Farms-bred son of Medaglia D’Oro making his second career start and first on the grass.Dynamic Force is a half brother (out of Murani)_ to Plate Trial winner Dynamic Sky who is at stud in Ontario.

*At Santa Anita on Saturday in race 1, HARD NOT TO LOVE, a half sister to probable Canadian Horse of the Year WONDER GADOT, makes her debut for Mercedes Stable et al and trainer John Shirreffs.The Hard Spun filly is a 3-year-old from the mare Loving Vindication.

*FLAMEAWAY, at one time a Queen’s Plate hopeful early in 2018, returns from a long layoff to race in the Grade 3 Mineshaft Stakes on Saturday. The Scat Daddy fellow bred by Deb Holmes went on the Kentucky Derby traile last year and then was off form in the summer.

*Canadian-bred stakes stars TIZ A SLAM and SIR DUDLEY DIGGES are in posts 1 and 2 for the Fair Grounds Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on the grass on Saturday. The former, nominated for Champion Turf and Older Male in Canada for 2018, is making his first start for the year off roaring workout times for trainer Roger Attfield and the Chiefswood Stables. The latter, winner of the Barbados Gold Cup last year, has been in steady form this winter.

*Over at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday, the El Camino Real Derby, a Derby prep but one run on a synthetic surface, has lured a competitive field including Canadian owned ANOTHERTWISTAFATE. The Scat Daddy colt is owned by Peter Redekop (check out a super feature of Redekop in the latest issue of Canadian Thoroughbred magazine! – March)

 

MCKNIGHT WINNING RACES FOR OWNER MIKE SISK

Stakes winner Touch of Disney claimed by Asmussen

Woodbine’s leading trainer Norm McKnight sent out MONASTRELL to win in a dead-heatat Oaklawn Park on Friday, a third recent winner for McKnight’s new client M and M Stable, owned by Mike Sisk. Sisk, who won his first Oaklawn owner’s title in 2017, has had horses trained by Cody Autry and most recently Robertino Diodoro. He races horses in New York and Florida and has Karl Broberg training horses for him at Oaklawn as well.

Other winners for McKnight and Sisk were Neil’s Diamond and Giant Pulpit.

Monastrell, a Manitoba born fellow bred by Ross McKague, was claimed from the $16,000 claiming event.

McKnight and Sisk also raced stakes winner Keen Gizmo on Thursday in a $10,000 claiming race and the 8-year-old finished third. Another one, Where’s the Widget, finished last for $45,000 claiming.

Touch of Disney, a Bruno Schickedanz stakes winner for McKnight, was 2nd for $16,000 claiming in a race on Thursday and  the 9-year-old was taken from the race by Steve Asmussen.

 

FORT ERIE BUILDING FOR  THE FUTURE

Fort Erie Racing Consortium has big plans for Fort Erie with upgrades to the track and more.

 

 

AWARDS NIGHT! QUARTER HORSE OWNERS OF ONTARIO CELEBRATE

Saturday night in Ajax, the Quarter Horse racing community in Ontario will gather for the annual Awards Banquet, celebrating the leading horses and horse people of the 2018 season.

The Quarter Horse community is also a mixture of a diverse group of horse racing lovers, including many who are involved in both Thoroughbreds and the speedy Quarter Horses.

COUNTRY BOY 123, owned by Ruth Barbour, who also owns and breeds Thoroughbreds, is to be named the HORSE OF THE YEAR for the 3rd straight season following a 7 for 7 record at Ajax plus a near miss in the Indiana Championships in his final start as a 5-year-old.

The large dark bay gelding by Country Chicks Man was a draw for fans at Ajax Downs last season and fans will get a chance to see him again in 2019.

The attraction to Quarter Horse racing with its good purses continues to grow and one of the newest, biggest stables wil be collecting hardware Saturday.

Milena Kwiecien, 38, is only a few years into her career as racing Quarter Horse owner and her horses Spy for the Senate, Stripper Dust and Carneros are among those who will receive awards. Kwiecien is from Burlington, ON.