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MANITOBA: ARDELL SAYLER, ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S TOP TRAINERS PASSES AT 66

12 Leading Trainer titles, 1,300 victories for Manitoba legend

From ChrisD.ca Scott Taylor writes: One of the giants of Manitoba thoroughbred racing, owner/trainer Ardell Sayler, has passed away. Sayler died Sunday in Winnipeg of an apparent heart attack. He was 66.

SATURDAY : INVESTEC EPSOM DERBY – TRYING TO TOPPLE AIDAN O’BRIEN’S SEVEN ENTRANTS

Saturday, Epsom, Britain, post time: 4.30 p.m.
INVESTEC DERBY S.-G1, £1,623,900, 3yo, c/f, 12f 6yT
SC PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT

1 10 Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) Galileo (Ire) Heffernan A O’Brien 126
2 8 Bangkok (Ire) Australia (GB) de Sousa Balding 126
3 4 Broome (Ire) Australia (GB) D O’Brien A O’Brien 126
4 9 Circus Maximus (Ire) Galileo (Ire) Dettori A O’Brien 126
5 12 Hiroshima (GB) Nathaniel (Ire) B Doyle J Ryan 126
6 2 Humanitarian K Noble Mission (GB) Havlin Gosden 126
7 11 Japan (GB) Galileo (Ire) Lordan A O’Brien 126
8 13 Line of Duty (Ire) Galileo (Ire) J Doyle C Appleby 126
9 7 Madhmoon (Ire) Dawn Approach (Ire) Hayes K Prendergast 126
10 5 Norway (Ire) Galileo (Ire) J Spencer A O’Brien 126
11 3 Sir Dragonet (Ire) Camelot (GB) Moore A O’Brien 126
12 6 Sovereign (Ire) Galileo (Ire) Beggy A O’Brien 126
13 1 Telecaster (GB) New Approach (Ire) Murphy Morrison 126

A field of 13 is set to go to post for the premier Classic, the £1.625-million G1 Investec Derby, which is staged at Epsom Downs Racecourse at 4.30pm on Saturday, June 1, the highlight of the Investec Derby Festival.

Ireland’s 21-times champion Flat trainer Aidan O’Brien is seeking a record-equalling seventh Investec Derby win as he launches a seven-pronged attack on the 240th running of the Investec Derby over 12 furlongs and six yards.

The master of Ballydoyle’s septet are spearheaded by Sir Dragonet, the mount of Ryan Moore, who was the supplemented for the Classic on Monday at a cost of £85,000. An impressive winner of the Chester Vase on May 8, having captured a Tipperary maiden on debut on April 25, Sir Dragonet is sired by 2012 Investec Derby victor Camelot and is the 11/4 favourite with Unibet, official betting partner of the Investec Derby Festival.

Sir Dragonet was drawn in stall 13 of 13 at this morning’s Investec Derby Draw, which was hosted by Racing TV’s Tom Stanley and featured Derby-winning jockeys Michael Hills and Willie Carson at Epsom Downs.

O’Brien’s other six Investec Derby contenders are headed by Broome (Donnacha O’Brien, 9/2, stall 8), who has captured two G3 Derby trials at Leopardstown so far this season. The three-year-old son of Australia, the 2014 Derby victor, backed up a convincing eight-length win in the Ballysax Stakes in April with a smooth victory in the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial on May 12.

His team are completed by impressive Lingfield Listed Derby Trial victor Anthony Van Dyck (Seamie Heffernan, 15/2, stall 7), Dante Stakes fourth Japan (Wayne Lordan, 10/1, stall 11), Listed Dee stakes scorer Circus Maximus (Frankie Dettori, 20/1, stall 5), Chester Vase second Norway (Jamie Spencer, 40/1, stall 10) and Sovereign(100/1, stall 4), twice placed behind Broome in 2019, the mount of 2017 Investec Derby-winning jockey Padraig Beggy. The Ballydoyle handler’s seven runners in this year’s Investec Derby account for over half of the field and is his largest team since 2007 (eight runners).

Also supplemented on Monday was the Hughie Morrison-trained Telecaster (Oisin Murphy, 11/2). The three-year-old is a son of 2008 Investec Derby winner New Approach, whilst his dam Shirocco Star was second in the 2012 renewal of the Investec Oaks. Unraced at two, Telecaster landed the G2 Dante Stakes at York on May 16, his third start, having previously captured a 10-furlong maiden at Windsor on April 15. At today’s Investec Derby Draw, he was assigned to stall 2. No horse has ever won the Investec Derby from that berth, since starting stalls were introduced in 1967.

Telecaster chased home fellow Investec Derby entry Bangkok (9/1, stall 12), owned by King Power Racing, in a Doncaster maiden on March 30. Trained by Andrew Balding and ridden by Silvestre de Sousa, Bangkok went on to capture the G3 bet365 Classic Trial at Sandown Park on April 26. He will break from the same stall his Derby-winning sire Australia broke from in the 2014 Investec Derby. Read more.

WOODBINE OAKS – QUEEN’S PLATE UPDATES

Mark Casse ‘3’ work Friday morning for Oaks, Avie’s Flatter powerful Plate pick

The $500,000 WOODBINE OAKS, the most prestigious race for 3-year-old Canadian bred fillies, headlines the June 8 card at Woodbine. The Plate Trial is also that day, no doubt one of the biggest racing afternoons at the Toronto track so far this year.

To this point, the Oaks is a wild handicapping puzzle as there is not a standout among the 10 or so contenders.

However the odds are very low that trainer MARK CASSE will saddle the winner.

Casse’s three Oaks fillies (and the field appears to have only about nine or 10 top contenders)  worked on Friday morning on the Tapeta at Woodbine:

PREFERRED GUEST, owned by Nancy Guest, went in 50 2/5 breezing and she comes off a 2nd in the Grade 3 Selene with a 71 Beyer Figure.

HASTALAVISTABABY, owned by Joey Gee Thoroughbreds and Team Valor and Gary Barber, went in 50 1/5 breezing and she was second in the Fury Stakes.
Joey Gee’s SPEEDY SOUL, who won the Fury with a 79 Beyer Figure and is 3 for 4 in her career but has never raced past 7 furlongs, went in 49 2/5.

Meanwhile WESTERN CURL sizzled in 47 2/5 breezing and she was 3rd in the Fury for Chiefswood Stable with a 75 Beyer.

She is reportedly being pointed to the Bill Graham Stakes and not the Oaks.

Chiefswood’s BOLD SCRIPT, who was an early Oaks favourite, still has that impressive 83 Beyer Figure from her Princess Elizabeth Stakes win last year but she flopped in the Grade 3 Selene when third with a 70 Beyer.

DESERT RIDE, a Candy Ride filly owned and bred by Sam-Son Farms, has never raced on Tapeta but is 2 for 3 in her career in grass races (75 top beyer Figure) and she had a workout on May 28 at Churchill Downs on dirt in 1:01 for 5 furlongs. She is trained by Neil Howard.

Another top 2-year-old from last year, TIZ BREATHTAKING, has not recorded a workout since mid April.

The WOODBINE OAKS looks a bit like this on a very preliminary Thoroughblog Top 10 list:

HASTALAVISTABABY – 2nd Fury Stakes – Mark Casse for team Valor, Gary Barber, Joey Gee
DESERT RIDE – turf winner – Sam-Son Farms
PREFERRED GUEST – 2nd Selene – Nancy Guest, tr- Mark Casse
BOLD SCRIPT – 3rd Selene – Stuart Simon for Chiefswood
SPEEDY SOUL – Fury Stakes – Mark Casse, Joey Gee
LADY AZALEA – 3rd allowance race Tr- Roger Attfield
NOTICE ME- winner this season Tr- Catherine Day Phillips
CIURI – sprint winner Tr Robert Tiller

Conversely, the PLATE TRIAL field will have the very heavily favoured AVIE’S FLATTER, the champion 2-year-old of 2018 and already a graded stakes winner in the US in 2019.

Ivan Dalos’ homebred colt, trained by Josie Carroll, is seeking to become the first horse to win the Plate after winning the Coronation Futurity as a juvenile since Norcliffe did it in 1975-76.

The colt, who is ridden by Luis Contreras, will be odds on for the Trial which will weed out the Plate contenders.

Plate Trial noms who could compete in the 1 1/8 mile race:

(Skywire is unlikely to race since he just won the Marine Stakes. There are few other nominees including two well bred maidens at Fair Hill with trainer Arnand Delacour.

AVIE’S FLATTER – b.c.3 by Flatter(A.P. Indy) – Avie’s Empire(Empire Maker) – Ivan Dalos Josie Carroll
DUN DRUM – dk b/.g.3 by Bold n’ Flashy(Bold Ruckus) – Lea’s Moon(Perigee Moon) – Joan H. Addison, Janet Black and Barbara Brown Ian Black
FEDERAL LAW – b.g.3 by Scat Daddy(Johannesburg) – Gravelly Bay(Strong Hope) – Qatar Racing Limited Mark E. Casse
FLAWLESS BOURBON – ch.c.3 by Not Bourbon(Not Impossible (IRE)) – Internallyflawless(Giant’s Causeway) – Charles E. Fipke Roger L. Attfield
HE’S A MACHO MAN – ch.c.3 by Mucho Macho Man(Macho Uno) – Amelia Go Home(Lemon Drop Kid) – Di Scola Boys Stable Josie Carroll
JAMMIN STILL – dk b/.c.3 by Take Charge Indy(A.P. Indy) – Cat’s Garden(Tale of the Cat) – Derek A. Chin Kevin Attard
KRACHENWAGEN – ch.g.3 by Head Chopper(Mutakddim) – Plantana(Trajectory) – Greenoaks Farm Racing Stable (Angus Buntain) Angus Buntain
SEGUIMI – b.g.3 by Victor’s Cry(Street Cry (IRE)) – Vulcan Rose(Fusaichi Pegasus) – Anne & William Scott Stuart C. Simon
SKYWIRE – b.c.3 by Afleet Alex(Northern Afleet) – Meandering Stream(Gone West) – Gary Barber and Lou Tucci Mark E. Casse
TONE BROKE – dk b/.c.3 by Broken Vow(Unbridled) – Mendocino Beano(Smart Strike) – L & N Racing LLC Steven M. Asmussen

DON’T FORGET…

BELMONT STAKES – JUNE 8

Preakness winner War of Will to gallop into race

From NYRA MEDIA – Trainer Mark Casse has War of Will where he wants him, and he wants the son of War Front to stay that way.

After initially planning to breeze the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes winner this week in preparation for the G1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, Casse said Tuesday that he will instead have the bay colt gallop into the 1 ½-mile classic, centerpiece of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival on June 8.

“He’s not going to breeze. We kind of feel like he’s in a very happy place and relaxed right now and we want him to be that way going 1 ½ miles so I don’t really see any reason to,” Casse said. “We know his Preakness was good and I didn’t breeze him into that. We are going to do it our way. So he is not going to breeze.”

War of Will has been stabled at Keeneland under the watch of assistant trainer David Carroll since arriving from Baltimore following his 1 ¼-length victory over Everfast in the middle leg of the Triple Crown. Gary Barber’s colt is expected to arrive in New York on Monday, June 3, for his Belmont Stakes run, where he is slated to be the only horse this year to compete in all three legs of the Triple Crown.

Probables

Horse Trainer Dosage Jockey M/L Odds

Everfast – Dale Romans 3.67 Joel Rosario
Global Campaign – Stanley Hough 3.31 Luis Saez
Intrepid Heart – Todd Pletcher 2.50 John Velazquez
Master Fencer – Koichi Tsunoda 2.50 Julien Leparoux
Sir Winston – Mark Casse 2.71 Joel Rosario
Spinoff – Todd Pletcher 2.78 Manny Franco
Tacitus – Bill Mott 3.31 Jose Ortiz
Tax – Danny Gargan 1.56 Junior Alvarado
War of Will –  Mark Casse 1.72 Tyler Gaffalione