LET’S HEAR IT FOR CANADIAN BREEDING
Reasons to cheer these Kentucky Derby horses
• NOWHERE TO HIDE is a late entrant to the Derby but what a pedigree this colt has. Ever heard of WITH APPROVAL? IZVESTIA?
Well this colt is closely related to those Canadian Triple Crown champions. By Vindication, NOWHERE TO HIDE is out of Stirring, an unraced daughter of Canadian stakes winner DAIJIN. DAIJIN (who is the dam of stakes winner HANDPAINTED, the dam of PATENA, once on this year’s Derby trail) is a half-sister to WITH APPROVAL, the 1989 Triple Crown champ.
Their dam is Passing Mood, a daughter of WOODBINE OAKS winner COOL MOOD, one of the first mares ever purchased by Kinghaven Farms.
It was the longest margin of victory in the history of the prestigious race. AVOWAL crushed the field in the 1982 Woodbine Oaks – 13 lengths clear of the 2nd place finisher – and solidified her position as the best filly in the land that year.
She was fast too – very fast. She raced 6 ½ furlongs in track record time of 1:15 2/5 and was a champion sprinter at the Sovereign Awards a year after she was champion 3yo filly.
AVOWAL is the granddam of HOLD ME BACK, who is a longshot chance in the Derby. The mare’s daughter Restraint is the dam of the Gian’t Causeway colt.
Owned by Rick Kennedy and trained by Art Warner, Avowal is a daughter of L’Enjoleur – Well In Hand. She was managed by Reade Baker, who incidentally celebrates his birthday today. Avowal is the dam of Woodbine stakes winner FREEDOM FLEET and stakes winner ADARLING.
Speaking of Woodbine Oaks runners, ASPENELLE is the second dam of MINE THAT BIRD and she was 2nd in the race. She is by Vice Regent out of Little to Do.
And, Mine That Bird’s grandsire is Canadian-bred SMART STRIKE, who is also the sire of Derby starters PAPA CLEM and ATOMIC RAIN.
CHEERING FOR I WANT REVENGE?
IEAH colt has a mix of characters behind him
• Whether you love ’em or hate ’em, the IEAH ownership group that won the Kentucky Derby last year with BIG BROWN, is back again with I WANT REVENGE, the favourite for Saturday’s big race.
Many will cringe at the thought that the controversial trainer Jeff Mullins could win the race, not long after he was seen sauntering through a a barn to give a horse some medicine right before a race (read more in the story).
The field for the Derby can be seen on a post put up yesterday on this site. Who do you like?
THOROUGHBLOG will have a full analysis tomorrow on who can win and who can’t.
Here’s a cool story by Hank Wesch about the good, the bad and the ugly sides of I Want Revenge:
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The good, the bad and the youngly are all wrapped up in I Want Revenge, the favorite for Saturday’s 135th running of the Kentucky Derby.
The good would be I Want Revenge, a son of Stephen Got Even who was sent on two journeys from Hollywood Park in Inglewood to Aqueduct in New York City and produced wins in the Gotham Stakes by 8½ lengths and the Wood Memorial by 1½ lengths while overcoming trouble that would have defeated most other horses.
The bad would be the situation that trainer Jeff Mullins got himself into by administering a syringe of natural ingredients to another horse a few races before the Wood. He did it in full view of New York Racing Association officials and in flagrant violation of a rule of which Mullins pleaded ignorance.
www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/30/1s30derby22444-its-quite-all-right-want-revenge/
FOUR SCORES
Slated Promise wins feature
• PATRICK HUSBANDS may make a shambles of the leading rider standings in 2009. At least that is the way it’s looking after only a handful of racing days to start the meeting.
Husbands, already in front of the others by 7 wins, piled on 4 more scores last night on the first Wednesday card of the season. He has 22 wins at the meet – from 64 starters!
And the interesting thing about last night’s winners, and throughout the early part of the season is that Husbands is getting these wins without too much help from his main barn, that of Mark Casse. Last night, only one of the 4 came for Casse and that stable has only won 4 dashes at the meeting.
Husbands’ winners were SIX PACK SAMMY, the Yonaguska filly who was plunging in class for the Casse stable. The Ontario bred rode the rail to an easy win in 1:12 for 6 furlongs in the $20,00 claimer. SIX PACK SAMMY was claimed by Shyman Farm.
In race 5 Husbands had SPRINGLEDGE, the very tough 8-year-old mare, on the pace all the way and 3 wide in a pace duel, and then the mare shrugged off the other speed in a stunning move to draw off and win the $7,500 claimer. Springledge is owned by Norsemen Racing Stable and trained by Scott Fairlie.
Husbands then picked up the late DOUBLE with TALK FAST, who won the 7th for $12,500 claiming for her 2nd win of the meeting for trainer Mike Pino. That filly was also claimed by Shyman Farms.
In the 8th and final race, Husbands had MAMBO LAKE in a stalking position in the $16,000 claiming race for maiden fillies and then angled her out for her move to the lead. Mambo Lake is a Kentucky bred for Rolph Davis, trained by Robert Tiller.
The feature of the night was an allowance race for Ontario sired 3yos. SLATED PROMISE, a Where’s the Ring colt, had every right to blow the race after he ran off rank early in the 5 ½ furlong race, tugging hard on jockey Anthony Stephen. The large colt, owned, bred and trained by Mike Wright, was very hard to handle but on the turn he lengthened his stride as he was asked to go on and off the turn, his front legs reached out for more and he held the field at bay to the wire. The colt is out of the mare You’ll be True by Is It True. Hat Trick and Double Eagle’s JET SET EXEC was a closing second under Corey Fraser.
Some other notes from last night…BEAROAK was an upset winner of race 6 for $10,00 claiming and the furious battle between this gelding and HURRY MURRAY was an interesting view of opposites. BEAR OAK had been in a chasing mode all the way under Emile Ramsammy and led late in the 5 ½ furlong race while HURRY MURRAY, who broke slowly, had rallied up the rail under Justin Stein. The two engaged in mid stretch and the former was eventually ridden only with hands and ultimately won the head bob while the other was under furious whipping….Former Woodbine runner TWISTED WIT won another $8,000 claiming race recently at Philadelphia Park. The gelding, a stakes winner, was claimed away from Woodbine more than a year ago….
The Woodbine Polytrack surface may have seemed slower last night but the quality of horses was among the lowest available. The fastest race of the night was the 1:04 3/5 for 5 ½ furlongs by Talk Fast…. Betting last night on the 8-race card was just $1.1 million… There will be 11 races on the Saturday card at Woodbine to go hand in hand with the Kentucky Derby card that will be simulcast.
WOODBINE JOCKEYS
as of today
Name Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings
Patrick Husbands 64 22 10 5 $843,879
Emile Ramsammy 58 13 4 7 $510,686
Eurico Rosa Da Silva 56 9 9 5 $456,999
Tyler Pizarro 44 8 5 8 $298,775
James McAleney 47 7 8 6 $446,800
Emma-Jayne Wilson 62 6 9 6 $450,632
Justin Stein 63 5 13 4 $311,517
Chantal Sutherland 62 5 11 15 $355,401
Chad Beckon 37 4 5 3 $127,964
David Clark 27 4 3 3 $152,095
Constant Montpellier 27 3 3 4 $115,632
David Garcia 36 3 3 3 $100,211
Steven Ronald Bahen 44 3 2 3 $89,162
Todd Kabel 19 3 2 1 $102,479
Beth Wyard 21 3 0 4 $75,266
Anthony Stephen 13 3 0 0 $65,822
WOODBINE TRAINERS
as of today
Nicholas Gonzalez 25 7 3 1 $249,979
Scott H. Fairlie 28 6 5 1 $260,982
Reade Baker 25 6 4 6 $332,100
David Cotey 18 5 2 2 $94,008
Mark E. Casse 20 4 4 2 $221,401
Malcolm Pierce 13 4 2 0 $285,187
Steven M. Asmussen 22 3 8 2 $220,311
Sid C. Attard 15 3 3 1 $133,476
Audre Cappuccitti 28 3 2 5 $87,088
Julia Carey 6 3 1 0 $188,898
Donald C. MacRae 7 3 1 0 $78,186
Terry Jordan 7 3 0 3 $189,006
Tony Mattine 8 3 0 2 $96,517
QUEEN’S PLATE TRAIL BEGINS
Saturday’s Queenston kicks things off
• EL BRUJO will be odds-on to win the Queenston Stakes on Saturday (7th race) at Woodbine as he meets a small field of 6 rivals in the 7 furlong race.
The event is still a sprint and the Plate is 10 furlongs but to this point EL BRUJO is the leader of the local 3yos for the Plate (Square Eddie is favoured but has had physical issues on his attempt to make the Kentucky Derby).
EL BRUJO ran an 88 Beyer Figure when he crushed his rivals in the Achievement Stakes. He looks too strong for his rivals on Saturday.
PARABOLA is making his season debut for Janet Jeanpierre and he will get better as the distances get longer. SHUT IT DOWN will be the tough pace runner as he comes off the layoff for K K Sengara.
ACTIVE DUTY is an enigma wrapped in a riddle – the Coronation Futurity winner wants more distance but has some back class although he had a drab winter stint in California.
7th (4:03)
Queenston S.
7 Furlongs (All Weather Track) | Open | 3 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $150,000
Post # Horse Jockey Weight Claim Price Equip. Med.
1 Parabola Stein J 119 L
2 Me the Sea and G T Ramsammy E 117 L
3 Keino West Olguin G L 115 L
4 Active Duty Fraser C 119 L
5 Shut It Down McAleney J S 119 L
6 Bucephalus Pizarro T 119 L
7 El Brujo Husbands P 119 L
