ESSENCE HIT MAN wins the Woodstock, Dave Landry photo
HIT MAN HAS DEAD AIM IN DEBUT
D’s Wando has super 3yo opener
ESSENCE HIT MAN was primed and ready for the Woodstock Stakes Sunday at Woodbine, coming off the winter layoff to lead all the way through 6 furlongs and win the $150,000 race with a 94 Beyer Figure – 6 furlongs in a rapid 1:08.66.
The chestbut son of top sprinter Speightstown was bred and is owned by Gord and Audre Cappuccitti who wintered the gelding in Florida at Classic MIle.
While the Hit Man is likely going to prove to be a better sprinter – he’s not eligible to the Queen’s Plate currentrly – the second place charge of D’S WANDO certainly made the Riviera Racing, D’s Stable and York Tech team happy as they cheered their colt hard as he rallied up the rail and just missed catching the winner by a long neck.
Trainer Ian Black was pleased with the colt’s run and will now send him to the Queenston Stakes on May 15.
D’s Wando is from the first crop of Triple Crown champ Wando and out of Silver Taler. The colt was bred by Gus Schickedanz.
D’S WANDO kicked off his trek to the Queen’s Plate with a big rally for 2nd.
Dave Landry photo
Also from Sunday…
The first 2yo race of the meeting started out a bit messy and delayed the races by 18 monutes. It was the first race of the day and trainer Wesley Ward, who had stalls at Woodbine but has reportedly given them up, sent out heavily favoured filly Aroyalsweet (Chapel Royal), who was 2nd in her debut at Keeneland. But the race was delayed when the saddle on Golden County broke and that colt had to reteurn to the paddock. Then, another entrant, Ascending Son, got loose before the race and had to be scratched.
Once underway, Aroyalsweet broke a bit slowly and rushed to the lead and held off a charging Mimi’s Missy, a Forest Wildcat filly.
Race 2 was the first win of the season for William and Ron Gierkink and trainer John Leblanc as Flashy Yankee rallied form last to win the 5 1/2 furlong race for $40,000 claiming.
Vito Armata also won his first race of the season when 7 to 1 shot MOLINARO COMPARO won his season debut, leading all the way through 7 furlongs under apprentice Caroline Duquet. The Compadre gelding is owned and was bred by Molinaro Stables.
Trainer ROGER ATTFIELD, on a roll down south with stakes wins every which way, won his first Woodbine race with Charles Fipke’s IMPOSSIBLE TIME, a Not Impossible mare who skipped away at 4 to 5 to win the first level allowance for her 4th win in her 9th race.
Trainer LAURIE SILVERA won 2 more races on the card and is sizzling right now, His first time starter TARA MILTARY (Military) won for owner Richard Schultz on the pace, lost the lead and then came back to beat favoured Myth Busting by a head in the $20,000 maiden dash.
HAILSTONE, a half brother to graded stakes winners COURT VISION and SMART SURPRISE among others won his 2nd career race with ease for Woodford Racing and Westrock Stable. The gorgeous 3yo colt by City Zip had a replacement rider in Emile Ramsammy as Rob Landry had booked off on the weekend.
BLACK BIKINI came back from a scary incident in October when she fell to win her season debut for owner/trainer Nick Nosowenko (and Mike Nosowenko). The mare had a great trip covered up under a red-hot Tyler Pizarro in the $19,000 claiming race.
After the Silver team’s BOB’S RING doubled up with his 2nd win of the meeting in race 9 for Ontario sired allowance guys, BONNIE’S VIEW also scored for the 2nd time this season when he won the finale for $10,000 claiming for William Sorokolit.
AFTER 15 RACING DAYS….
WOODBINE’S LEADING TRAINER
Mark E. Casse 37 6 7 3 $322,735
Steven M. Asmussen 26 6 3 4 $218,667
Laurie Silvera 21 5 3 5 $220,424
Gregory de Gannes 14 5 2 3 $133,001
Robert P. Tiller 20 5 1 6 $249,724
Sid C. Attard 20 4 6 1 $221,589
Michael J. Doyle 24 4 4 4 $192,770
Sam Di Pasquale 14 4 3 1 $82,425
WOODBINE’S LEADING JOCKEYS
Emile Ramsammy 80 20 12 8 $753,498
Eurico Rosa Da Silva 69 18 5 14 $736,512
Patrick Husbands 67 12 15 7 $620,979
Omar Moreno 71 9 12 17 $364,472
Tyler Pizarro 37 7 5 5 $241,269
Luis Contreras 26 6 2 4 $210,687
Chantal Sutherland 41 5 3 7 $406,406
David Clark 24 5 3 2 $133,909
Emma-Jayne Wilson 53 4 10 3 $321,517
Justin Stein 40 4 7 3 $200,596
KENTUCKY DERBY SHOCK
Eskendereya is out, would have been heavily favoured
More than 20 horses have been on the list ready to go for next weekend’s KENTUCKY DERBY and only one suffered an injury on the weekend and it just happened to be the big favourite – the dominating ESKENDEREYA.
While rumours swirled for weeks – pulled up weird in the Wood Memorial after cruising to victory, large front
bandages and then the missed workout on Saturday – it was yesterday morning when the Daily Racing Form broke the news.
Trainer Todd Pletcher noted a slight filling in a foreleg of the colt Saturday and could not tell media until
after his owner Ahmed Zayat was told following sabbath. He said it was a call he did not want to make.
And now, with the big Giant’s Causeway colt out, the race is a little bit more wide open and Pletcher, who
comes into the Derby at 0 for 24 in the race, will have 5 or 6 in the race and his lowest priced horse will be
8 to 10 to 1 and that will be….the filly DEVIL MAY CARE.
John Greathouse, owned of Glencrest Farm, will race his star filly in the Derby instead of Friday’s Oaks if
the post position she gets on Wednesday is acceptable.
Jockey JOHN VELAZQUEZ, who was riding Eskenderaya, will ride DEVIL MAY CARE.
COURIER-JOURNAL
always great Derby coverage
Today’s Courier -Journal item posted on Thoroughblog is Mike Battaglia’s morning line odds for the Derby –
Lookin at Lucky is now the favourite:
With Eskendereya declared out of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, the mantel of favorite now transfers to 2-year-old champion Lookin At Lucky, who finished third in the Santa Anita Derby, said odds-maker Mike Battaglia.
“I think he’s going to be a pretty solid favorite,” Battaglia said by phone. “He was going to be a solid second
choice. I mean, he won’t be 2-1 like Eskendereya would have been. But I think he might be 3-1 or (7-2), which is still a pretty solid favorite when you’re talking 20 horses.”
He anticipates Santa Anita Derby winner Sidney’s Candy as the new second choice, with Awesome Act possibly
third. Awesome Act came over from England to win Aqueduct’s Gotham Stakes, then was third in the Wood Memorial.
Battaglia says he’s assuming that the filly Devil May Care now will run in the Derby instead of the Kentucky
Oaks as part of trainer Todd Pletcher’s arsenal that remains deep even without Eskendereya.
“I think she’d be the shortest (price) of the Pletcher runners,” he said. “I don’t know who I would put over
her. People look at those Beyer (speed figure) numbers. She got a 100 in the Bonnie Miss…
10+Kentucky+Derby+favorite
EARNINGS LIST FOR DERBY – 20 get in
1. Lookin at Lucky … $1,480,000
2. Noble’s Promise … $738,000
OUT – 3. Rule … $645,000
4. Sidney’s Candy … $630,000
5. Line of David … $600,000
6. Mission Impazible … $485,934
7. Ice Box … $457,500
8. Stately Victor … $450,000
9. Endorsement … $400,000
10. Conveyance … $386,000
11. American Lion … $378,000
12. Dublin … $373,208
13. Super Saver … $363,832
14. Devil May Care … $363,000 (filly)
15. Discreetly Mine … $340,000
16. Dean’s Kitten … $326,475
17. Interactif … $307,950
18. Awesome Act … $285,000
19. Paddy O’Prado … $250,950
20. Homeboykris … $250,000
21. Jackson Bend … $230,000
22. Backtalk … $225,916
23. Make Music for Me … $218,750
24. Pleasant Prince … $189,278
25. A Little Warm … $180,000
26. Setsuko … $180,000
HASTINGS PARK IN VANCOUVER OPENS
Feature goes to Finality horse ALMOST TIME
FEATURE – THE PROVINCE NEWSPAPER
Ahhh, horses, cheeseburgers and a winning ticket
By Kent Gilchrist, The ProvinceApril 26, 2010
There are few better places to be than the apron at Hastings Racecourse right at the finish line on a warm, sunny afternoon. Unfortunately, Saturday’s opening day wasn’t either of those.
Hastings general manager Raj Mutti was checking the Saturday forecast more often than Mark Madryga.
“I was checking five or six times a day for the last week,” said Mutti standing and glowering at the sky and thinking bad thoughts about Mother Nature. “Everything else we can do something about. Unfortunately weather is the one thing we can’t control.”
Despite the 10 degrees and intermittent rain, a pretty good crowd gathered at the old thoroughbred stand for the nine-race card that was spiced by a 10-race $50,000 optional claimer in which nine of the entrants were former stakes winners including Hastings all-time purse winner and great campaigner Spaghetti Mouse who started ninth and finished eighth.
http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Ahhh+horses+cheeseburgers+winning+ticket/2951327/story.html
Raising the stakes for survival
Weekend Extra; With horse racing in decline, one local track may be on its last legs
By Bruce Constantineau, Vancouver SunApril 24, 2010
Magnificent thoroughbreds will thunder down the stretch today as live racing returns to Hastings Racecourse.
But could this be one of the final years of racing at the iconic East Vancouver venue?
Opening day always brings a mix of hope, elation, frustration and concern among bettors and horse racing
officials, but 2010 promises to be an extraordinarily emotional year for the B.C. industry.
With race track attendance and wagering down significantly throughout North America, the major stakeholders in
B.C. horse racing’s industry management committee are actively pursuing several options to stabilize the
business in B.C.
The most controversial cost-cutting move would see the consolidation of the two Lower Mainland racetracks —
Hastings Racecourse and Fraser Downs — into one dual track for thoroughbred and standardbred racing.
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Raising+stakes+survival/2946611/story.html
SOMETHING A BIT DIFFERENT – – world’s smallest horse?
Puny pony creating a buzz on N.H. farm
Mane Attraction
By Laurel J. Sweet
The biggest news in the equine industry isn’t the Kentucky Derby field, but the birth in bucolic Barnstead,
.H., of what appears to be the tiniest horse in the world.
At just over 14 inches high and six pounds – weighing little more than a bag of sugar – Einstein, a
pocket-sized pinto colt, has to strain just to reach his dam’s teat.
“He stands 4 inches below her tummy,” said Judy Smith, owner of Tiz A Miniature Horse Farm. “We’ve been at this for 20 years and I’ve never seen one this small – never.”
Smith said the average miniature horse foal stands 21 inches tall at birth and weighs 18 pounds.
Thumbelina, a 17 -inch-tall, 60-pound dwarf mare at Goose Creek Farms in St. Louis, holds the current bragging rights as the tiniest horse in the Guinness Book of World Records.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/northeast/view.bg?articleid=1250052&srvc=rss
