todays news – the forgotten Canadian that won at the Breeders’ Cup…..
CANADIAN OWNED AND PURCHASED DANCING IN SILKS (green silks and cap) wins in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
A CANADIAN DID WIN AT BREEDERS’ CUP!
(and the horse was bought at B.C mixed sale!)
DANCING IN SILKS (Black Minnaloushe – Lemhi Love- Royal and Regal) won the 26th BREEDERS’ CUP SPRINT in an upset and the happiest guy around was a Canadian.
Langley British Columbia’s KEN KINAKIN owns the 4yo sprinter, a Cal-bred that he bought as a weanling at the B.C Mixed sale four years ago.
KEN KINIKEN (left) with CARLA GAINES.
www.horse-races.net photo
His interview after the race:
(with files from www.horse-races.net)
FROM THE NTRA:
* Born: June 17, 1961 in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
* Residence: Langley, British Columbia, Canada
* Professional Background: Owner of Sun Force International Products, which manufactures Herbal Respiratory Products for help with asthma and related breathing issues
* Racing Background: Always loved horses and when he was around nine, his grandfather bought him a pony. He would ride with neighbors, who had horses. “I have a sixth sense around horses,” Kinakin says. “Horses are very intelligent, and just like you can tell when someone has a good soul and are drawn to them, I’m very receptive to horses. Two things come naturally to me — herbs and animals.” …. Competed with Quarter Horses in cutting and team penning and was Canadian Reserve Champion … Was approached by connections of the Canadian Standardbred champion Some Beach Somewhere and told that his product helped that horse. From there, he became interested in seeing how his product would work with Thoroughbreds, and purchased his first yearling in 2000. He raced at Hastings Park, and went to the British Columbia Derby in 2003 … Around this time, Kinakin thought he might want to upgrade his stock
* Breeding/Racing Operation: Currently has a one-horse stable with Carla Gaines, Dancing in Silks, with whom he is hoping to cap a stellar 2009 with a run in the in Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint
Purchased Dancing in Silks as a weanling for $21,401 at the 2006 Canadian Sept. mixed sale and kept him with a friend in Canada to break … Because he’s a California-bred he wanted to find a California trainer and met Gaines while at Santa Anita to interview other trainers. A Canadian working for her knew him and so he met her, and decided to have her train Dancing in Silks. … Came to every race but two — when Dancing in Silks won the Pirate’s Bounty Handicap (he was hunting) and the Cal Cup Sprint (he was away on business). “There is such a fantastic feeling when your horse is doing well,” Kinakin says. “More important than winning is the horse’s health, to me, so I gave him a rest last year and it’s paid off ten-fold.” … Has been offered a lot of money for Dancing in Silks but feels a higher spirit had bigger plans for him and he didn’t care about the money. “Now here I am at the Breeders’ Cup. I’ts a dream come true.”…. Kinakin also campaigned now retired Luhuk’s Dancer, whom he sent to Gaines in October 2007, and between that horse and Dancing and Silks, won 11 races and was named “Rookie of the Year” by the Thoroughbred Owners of California for 2008.
ZEN MASTER
BREEDERS’ CUP wrap
Following a wild Friday with super racing, bad luck for Canadians but some great performances on the 6-race Cup card, SATURDAY came on with e venageaance and after 8 races and a dizzying array of faves, longshots and close finishes and bad trips, fans had to be more than satisified with the 2 day extravaganza.
And for the super mare ZENYATTA to prove a lot of the scribes wrong – many tossed the undefeated mare from any betting consideration in her first try against the boys – to past every single one of those boys after trailing and looking like she was never going to get involved was, well, startling and thrilling.
As a RACHEL ALEXANDRA lover in this year of the dominant girls, it was hard to admit after the race that ZENYATTA should be HORSE OF THE YEAR hands down.
Never beaten in 13 races, trounced the boys under somewhat tough circumstances…never beaten.
And the Classic was unsettled from the start as a wacky QUALITY ROAD refused to race and finally freaked out in the gate when forced to load with the blindfold on. That caused a delay that could have unsettled any horse.
The flop of Euro champ RIP VAN WINKLE was not surprising even if the overseas journlaists made the colt a Classic winner before the rae. The colt was racing on synthetic dirt and ending a long season with so many foot problems plaguing him from the strat of the year.
The flop of RICHARD’S KID (ouch, my pick) wrapped up a brutal day for BOB BAFFERT, who watched ZENSATIONAL nad LOOKING FOR LUCKY get horrendous trips – the former was not even on the lead and then was shuffled back and in tight on the rail in the sprint and the latter had a very non-GARRETT GOMEZ ride – very wide all the way and was easily the best horse in the Juvenile colts.
CANADIANS BACK
Jocks ROB LANDRY and EURICO ROSA DA SILVA are back home after tough Breeders’ Cup experiences.
Landry had a great moment when he had a sizable lead on EUGENE MELNYK’S Florida bred colt BRIDGETOWN in the stretch run of the Juvenile Turf.
Only the flashy liver chestnut POUNCED, a Euro-colt, was better than Bridgetown.
But of course Landry’s tough luck with the hard-headed, too sharp wild horse CARELESS JEWEL in the Ladie’s Classic was tremendously disappointing for all involved and the bettors, who piled their money onto the grey Grade 1 winner.
DA SILVA was very upset after former Woodbine runner NEGLIGEE veered out sharply in late stretch just as Biofuel was turning on the jets, crashing into the Reade Baker trainee and stopping her in mid stride.
Brereton Jones’ filly did well to be 4th, should have been 2nd for sure.
She went to KENTUCKY with some swelling in her legs after the races.
As for HORSE OF THE YEAR FATAL BULLET, he was showing on his rag-sheet numbers that he might be a bit behind last year’s torrid record and he ran like it.
He too went to Kentucky to get freshened and he will aim for a 2010 campaign.
(There is a curious story that appeared in the media about Fatal Bullet and before the Cup, you can read below)
FROM NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:
Zenyatta’s appearance, victory in Breeders’ Cup earns her votes for Horse of the Year
Vic Ziegel
ARCADIA, Calif. – A day later, a day after the screams that followed Zenyatta to the wire, the backstretch crowd was talking about nothing else. Did you see it? Did you hear it? Did you believe it?
The Breeders’ Cup people give away $25 million during these too-long two days of racing, and the last pot, the Classic, is worth $5 million.
They have never gotten this kind of bang for their bucks.
The 5-year-old Zenyatta was undefeated in all 13 of her races, every one of them against her own sex. This race, the starting gate was all boys to men, a bunch of Grade I winners. And the toughest horse to beat, the brilliant filly Rachel Alexandra, 3000 miles away, munching oats. This was the race to decide Horse of the Year and Rachel had her head in front.
At 3:59 p.m. local time Saturday, Zenyatta flashed across the finish line, a winner. If Horse of the Year was decided at that moment, the crowd would have made sure the other horse was Rachel Who.
“I’m a big fan of Rachel’s,” trainer Bob Baffert was saying, “and Zenyatta had to do something like what she did to snatch it away from her. It’s a tough call.”
GLOBE & MAIL REPORTS ON STRANGE GOINGS ON WITH FATAL BULLET
Beverley Smith
Fatal Bullet, Canada’s horse of the year last season, will head to Lexington, Ky. on Sunday for a checkup after finishing sixth in the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on Saturday.
The 4-year-old gelding, owned by Danny Dion’s Bear Stables, was a close third choice at 9 to 2 in the nine-horse field.
Dancing in Silks, overlooked at 25 to 1, won a close four-way finish by a nose over Crown of Thorns, a 15 to 1 shot. Cost of Freedom was third.
Favoured Zensational was only fifth.
Originally Dion reported the gelding may have injured a leg and required x-rays, but trainer Reade Baker said that wasn’t so.
Fatal Bullet had been “lackadaisical” since early in the week and did not want to eat, Baker said. Although he had been getting better every day, Baker thought he did not handle the heat well in California.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/fatal-bullet-status-uncertain/article1355617/
MEANWHILE, AT WOODBINE…
NORM FILES’ study of HOLLINGER
BOB HARVEY over the Moon
“I can’t wait” as his 2yo colt stays unbeaten
HOLLINGER earned an 80 BEYER SPEED FIGURE for his Coronation Futurity win last Sunday and wrapped up champion 2yo colt honours incanada as hestayed unebaten in 4 races.
The steel grey son of the obscure stallion BLACK MINNALOUSHE (sired a Breeders’ Cup winner on the weekend too) had a dreadful stretch run as he was hemmed in by rivals but he barged his way through and got up to win anyway while jockey Tyler Pizarro stood up before the wire.
Hollinger travelled 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.55.
Winning jockey Tyler Pizarro said he wasn’t surprised he was hemmed in on the inside for most of the race.
“Obviously I was the horse to beat,” said Pizarro. “At the three-eighths pole, they were boxing me in. I got one little crack and I said, ‘Let’s go,’ and he was there and he wasn’t hesitant. He loves to run. This horse overcame everything.”
The Coronation Futurity was Attfield’s 13th stakes triumph of the season.
“It was a tight race,” said the Hall of Fame conditioner. “He showed a lot of heart. He overcame it and that’s what good horses do. He’s been perfect so far.”
Attfield said he kept it simple with Hollinger since his first stakes victory on October 18 in the Cup & Saucer Stakes, which was his second consecutive score at a route distance.
“I didn’t have to do very much with him. It was basically keeping him happy and healthy. I did my normal blow-out yesterday,” said Attfield. “He was bright and sharp this morning.”
Harvey, who is also co-breeder of Hollinger, has high hopes in 2010 for the gelding, who is 4-for-4 with earnings of $389,100.
“This is wonderful,” he said. “He’s got a lot of guts. We’re praying for him next year because I’ve never been in the Queen’s Plate. This baby’s my opportunity and I can’t wait. He’s going to Florida. We’ll lay him up for six weeks and start our road back.”
HOLLINGER splits 2yo’s in the late stages to win a hairy CORONATION FUTURITY. It has been since 1976 that a Coronation winner won the Plate the next year.
NORM FILES photo
WOODBINE SCOREBOARD
And then there was four weeks left….
TRAINERS
Mark E. Casse 381 60 58 59 $4,297,931
Sid C. Attard 247 49 32 31 $2,620,255
Roger Attfield 169 48 22 21 $3,398,877
StevenAsmussen 241 46 34 31 $1,746,586
Robert. Tiller 306 43 54 50 $2,214,234
Terry Jordan 88 40 9 13 $1,555,888
Reade Baker 271 39 37 41 $2,422,624
Scott Fairlie 267 38 37 40 $2,121,417
Malcolm Pierce 184 38 22 23 $2,922,959
Nicho Gonzalez 244 37 32 28 $1,807,235
Josie Carroll 167 28 27 35 $2,038,781
Brian A. Lynch 112 26 19 12 $1,456,525
Ian Black 203 24 37 25 $2,279,794
DanielJ. Vella 176 20 18 29 $1,585,447
Steve Attard 152 20 16 8 $947,908
WOODBINE SCOREBOARD – JOCKEYS
PatrKHusbands 855 160 143 132 $9,619,380
Cha Sutherland 855 120 117 128 $6,793,098
Emile Ramsammy 771 110 95 86 $4,973,190
James McAleney 580 108 75 79 $5,693,501
E RosaDa Silva 614 100 98 73 $6,420,098
Emma-JayneWilson 798 93 118 103 $5,279,096
Tyler Pizarro 621 89 94 80 $4,909,050
Luis Contreras 327 60 45 41 $2,529,245
Justin Stein 609 59 70 54 $2,621,123
Todd Kabel 405 59 41 40 $3,139,798
Robert Landry 361 42 34 45 $2,587,118
Corey Fraser 359 39 50 42 $2,096,723
Jono C. Jones 437 35 43 64 $2,875,041
Gerry Olguin 405 34 42 46 $2,042,857
S. Callaghan 381 30 28 31 $1,752,611
RichaDos Ramos 263 30 26 36 $1,767,665
WOODBINE SCOREBOARD – HORSES
*BOGUE CHITTO will have 5 wins soon when HOLLYWOOD HIT is disqualified from a stakes win in which he tested positive
*GOLDEN SUNSET has won 5 races in Ontario this year – 1 at Woodbine – and she races Thursday.
Name Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings
Six Pack Sammy 10 5 2 0 $100,938
Spider Rock 8 5 1 0 $82,140
*Bogue Chitto 8 4 4 0 $276,040
Indian AppleIs 8 4 3 1 $204,630
Step On Up 9 4 2 1 $128,428
B. B. Jazz 8 4 2 1 $82,269
Phor Philippe 10 4 1 2 $72,158
Jungle Wave 7 4 1 1 $395,800
La Gran Leslie 8 4 1 1 $82,953
Eagle Poise 5 4 1 0 $216,540
Shawanaga 7 4 1 0 $167,160
Air Wolf 9 4 1 0 $107,078
Free to Fly 12 4 0 5 $58,100
Garzon 10 4 0 2 $137,003
Tribal Belle 5 4 0 1 $270,703
Almostoutoftheblue 6 4 0 1 $50,144
Hollinger 4 4 0 0 $389,100
Lady Shakespeare 4 4 0 0 $228,300
Poetic Fan 5 4 0 0 $44,740
MUSEEB TO SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
Trainer ROGER ATTFIELD claimed MUSEEB from Shadwell and Mike Pino on the weekend in a deal that will see the 7 yearling old son of Danzig head to Argentina to stud duty.
The multiple stakes placed fellow is out of a daughter of the blue hen mare FALL ASPEN. He won over $241K in his career.
