ICONIC

WINVIEW FARMS (formerly Gardiner Farms) is owned by Joe Guerrieri. The farm recently welcomed new Ontario stallion SEATTLE SERENADE and has hundreds of racehorses of all ages.Coming up in the next issue of Canadian Thoroughbred magazine – a feature on the expanding racing and breeding business of Joe Guerrieri’s Joey Gee Thoroughbreds and Winview Farms.

 

 

 

 

WILLIAM D. GRAHAM’s WINDHAVEN LEGACY

Horse racing industry members will honour and remember Bill Graham on Monday, Jan. 21 in Brampton. For the near future, his famous fuschia and blue diamond silks will remain prominent.

There will be Windhaven-breds arriving soon at the farm in Caledon, which also houses yearlings, 2-year-olds and older horses. Most race for other people but some still remain in the care of Bill’s trainers Mike Doyle or Roger Attfield.

Right up until recently, his horses sold with flair at American auctions. For instance, an Honor Code colt out of  his top filly Tiz Breathtaking’s dam I’m Breathtaking sold for $400,000 at the Keeneland September sale. The stallion fee was $40,000.

Condolences have come from all over for Bill, who passed away at 81 after a short illness. Many remarked on his gruff exterior, his no-holds-barred approach to discussing business and his hands-on approach to his racing stable. He knew what his stable was going to look like and he was doing it his way.

He is founder and Chairman of the Board of Graham Bros. Construction Limited, one of Ontario’s largest independent, heavy equipment construction contractors.

Born in Goderich in 1937, Bill was an outstanding athlete in Brampton, playing football, hockey and lacrosse. He went on to become a lineman in the CFL for the Toronto Argos, Calgary Stampeders and B.C. Lions before retiring to focus on his construction business.

An avid horseman, Bill with his late wife Valerie, founded racing and breeding operation, Windhaven Farms based in Caledon, Ontario and Lexington, Kentucky. Windhaven has produced many Canadian Champion racehorses including Wavering Girl, Cotton Carnival, and Uncaptured. He was awarded the Sovereign Award for Canada’s Outstanding Breeder in 2012.

Bill is a member of the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame and the Ontario Road Builders Association Hall of Fame. In 1995, he was named Business Person of the Year by the Brampton Board of Trade. He is a member of the Canadian Jockey Club Hall of Fame and a recipient of the 2018 E.P. Taylor Award of Merit for his life long dedication and commitment to Thoroughbred Racing and Breeding in Canada. He served as vice-president of the HBPA, a director of the CTHS, a commissioner of the ORC, a steward of the Jockey Club of Canada and a member of Woodbine’s board of directors.

Bill is survived by his daughters, Jackie and Dianne, his son in law Frank Steblaj, his grandchildren Alexandra and Catherine, Murray, Lorrie, Sarah and Madeline. He will be sadly missed by many nieces and nephews as well as many who worked with Bill.

Bill will be celebrated at the April 18 Sovereign Awards when he will be honoured with the E P Taylor Award of Merit. His 2yo filly Tiz Breathtaking is up for Champion 2-year-old Filly, a trophy that is near and dear to Bill. He has won it twice and bred recent winner Conquest Harlanate.

Funeral Service will be held Monday January 21, 2019 at 11 a.m. at Faith Gospel Tabernacle, 140 Salvation Road Brampton.

STARSHIP JUBILEE, CANADIAN CHAMPION,  RACING SATURDAY

Canada’s Champion Turf Female horse at the 2017 Sovereign Awards and a favourite to win it again this year, STARSHIP JUBILEE, will try to win the Sunshine Millions Mare Turf for the second straight year Saturday.

Recently sold by Soli Mehta and trainer Kevin Attard to Blue Heaven Farm, the 6-year-old mare is 9 to 5 in the 13 horse field at 1 1/16 miles on turf but she drew post 13 which makes the task of getting a good position by the first turn difficult.

She comes off a 4th place finish in a Claiming Crown turf race in which she faded after starting from post 12. Attard, who still trains the mare, told Daily Racing Form, “She had a couple of little excuses for that race. She jumped something in the first turn, and she’d missed some [training] time after going through the sale [at Keeneland] in November. I really like how she’s trained since the Claiming Crown. She’s gotten better in her breezes, and I’m really expecting her to move forward Saturday.”

Another Canadian-bred was in the news on Friday; first time starter DESERT RIDE won big at Fair Grounds for Rick Balaz and the Samuel family’s Sam-Son Farms.

This homebred 3-year-old by Candy Ride (Arg)  is the first foal of the winning mare Fun in the Desert (Distorted Humor) came from miles behind to win her career opener at 1 mile on grass. Trained by Neil Howard, Desert Ride is the first foal of her dam. The second dam is Woodbine Oaks winner Eye of the Sphynx, dam of, among others, Queen’s Plate winner Eye of the Leopard.

PEGASUS WORLD CUP – UPDATE

Last career race for City of Light

Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren Jr.’s City of Light settled in nicely at Gulfstream Park Thursday on the morning after shipping cross country for a scheduled start in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) Jan. 26.

“He got here in good order; he traveled in good order. This is his fourth ship in a year. He’s got this down pat. He doesn’t need to take his racetrack, his environment with him,” said trainer Michael McCarthy, whose multiple Grade 1-stakes winner stretched his legs over the Gulfstream track before returning to his stall in Barn 16. “He seemed like he enjoyed it out there today.”

The Pegasus World Cup, the richest race in North America, provides City of Light one last opportunity to add another Grade 1 stakes victory to his resume and millions of dollars to his bankroll before retiring to stud.

“He goes to Lane’s End right after this – right after this. It’s a little bittersweet, but he deserves it,” McCarthy said.

City of Light will make his last career start and his first start since concluding his 2018 campaign with a sensational 2 ¾-length score in front-running fashion in the $1 million Breeder’s Cup Dirt Mile (G1) Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs.

“On the calendar year, it’s nice that for some of these horses, it gives them one more chance to go ahead and show the fans,” McCarthy said.

With a whopping $9 million purse at stake.

“It’s quite a number. It’s wonderful of the Stronach Group to put something on like this at a venue like this with the supporting cast – Snoop Dogg and the entertainment – and the spectacle that goes along with it,” McCarthy said. “At the end of the day for me, it’s still a horse race. There’s lots to prepare for.”

McCarthy is planning to give the 5-year-old son of Quality Road one final tune-up for the Pegasus.

“He’ll have a little work here. I’ll watch the weather and decide what day it will be – maybe Saturday,” McCarthy said. “It’ll probably be a little half-mile just to get him used to his surroundings.”

City of Light debuted with a second-place finish at Los Alamitos July 6, 2017 before graduating in his next start at Del Mar. He finished second in back-to-back optional claiming allowances at Santa Anita and Del Mar before stepping up to capture the Malibu (G1) at Santa Anita to conclude his 3-year-old campaign.

“He’s a lot like his sire. He was kind of slow to come to hand,” McCarthy said. “He obviously showed ability in the mornings. It took him a while to put it all together. Once he had, he’s been…very good.”

City of Light followed up his Malibu win with triumphs in the seven-furlong Triple Bend (G1) at Santa Anita and the 1 1/8-mile Oaklawn Park Handicap (G2). He tasted defeat in his next two starts, a third-place finish in the 1 ¼-mile Santa Anita Gold Cup (G1) and a second in the seven-furlong Forego (G1) at Saratoga, before making a big splash in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

“The Breeders’ Cup was great. It’s something we had in the back of our minds for quite a while. I think the luster had come off him a little bit. He had two unfortunate losses in the spring and the summer in the Santa Anita Gold Cup and the Forego,” McCarthy said. “We were looking for a little bit of redemption. I thought Churchill Downs would be a racetrack he would really, really relish.”

City of Light is on course to clash with Horse of the Year finalist Accelerate for a third time in the Pegasus World Cup.

“We’ve met twice. It’s a tie ballgame so far,” said McCarthy, whose trainee defeated Accelerate by a neck in the Oaklawn Park Handicap before finishing third, beaten by 5 ½ lengths, behind the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner in the Santa Anita Gold Cup.

COLTIMUS PRIME ENTERS STUD AT CURRAGHMORE FARM

The 2014 Prince of Wales Stakes winner COLTIMUS PRIME has been retired and will stand at stud at Vera Simpson and Michael Dube’s CURRAGHMORE FARM in Waterdown, ON.

The son of Milwaukee Brew – Certainly Special (Distorted Humor) will not have a fee for approved mares.

Coltimus Prime was recently on track to try and win his second straight Copa Invitational Importados on a special Caribbean day at Gulfstream Park but he did not make the race. The career earner of $644,125 had been racing on a lease-basis for Rene Douglas but has now returned to owner and breeder Jayson Horner.

Horner has recently brought his mares back to Ontario to foal in what is another exciting move for racing and breeding fans of Canadian racing.

“I am not a big commercial breeder but I will do what I can to support the local industry and there will be more support to come,” said Horner.

Previously, Horner’s mares had produced foals in Florida after beginning their breeding career with the owner in Ontario.

HISTORICAL – WHEN THE VANCOUVER SUN SLAMMED HORSE RACING

Horse racing has been around Vancouver since the pioneer days.

On Oct. 29, 1888, a race between steeds like Coquitlam Jim, Slow Dick and Bryan O’Lynn attracted so many local politicians that a city council meeting was cancelled for lack of a quorum.

In 1889 and 1890, the masses thronged the sidewalks along Howe Street to watch Dominion Day horse races downtown. Racing fans and owners then began to agitate for a civic racecourse, and on Sept. 15, 1892, one opened at Hastings Park.

It’s still in operation 127 years later.

But horse racing’s popularity also brought controversy, because people gambled on the outcomes…

This Week in History: 1922: The Sun denounces the menace of horse racing

 

HAD TO BE IVORY NAMED AQHA CANADIAN-BRED OF THE YEAR

The brilliant 3-year-old (now 4) HAD TO BE IVORY bred and raced by the family of Bryn and Carol Robterson and son Mike, daughter in law Jaime, was named the Canadian bred of the Year at the 2018 AQHA Awards in Oklahoma on Thursday night.

The homebred son of Ivory James won 3 of 4 starts in 2018 including the Picov Derby. His only career loss in 9 races was a close finish to the mighty Country Boy 123 in an allowance race.