GRAND ARCH is owned by Canadians Jim and Susan Hill and he is a serious contender in the Woodbine Mile. MICHAEL BURNS PHOTO/WEG PHOTO
MILES OF SMILES
Horse racing fans in Canada are pumped up for a big weekend of racing from coast to coast: Win and You’re In races at Woodbine and a huge BC Derby and BC Oaks card at Hastings Park on Sunday.
Horsepeople are pumped with big fields and lots of chances for their horses to win some nice cash over 22 races on the weekend. Bettors will be pumped and Ontario racing is in the news all week. Things are looking up!
Add to that an ‘End of Summer Party’ in the tent area with BUSLOADS of university students coming to the races and getting a chance to win a $1,000 bursary, a WEGCARES initiative (see below) and so much more on track, this Sunday will a super day in Toronto.
There is also a contest put on by the new TV show TALKIN HORSES (CTV and CTV2, Saturdays at 1 pm and 11:30 a.m.), find our crew wandering the track on Sunday and get a chance to win a dinner for 4 at Favourites restaurant!
JMBETS.CA will have an in-depth analysis of the weekend races so head on over to the Free Woodbine picks site, where history and handicapping is presented on my little site.
WOODBINE MILE day should be nice, a bit cool, breezy but the heavy rain from Wednesday night and the predicted rain on Saturday could make the course a bit on the giving side. The betting opportunities are numerous – including the Jackpot High 5 that continues to carry-over (well, at least it has carried over to today to the tune of $400,00).
27TH WOODBINE MILE*
(*the race was previously called the Molson Export Million and was run on the dirt, it changed to this format in 1997)
The Woodbine Mile (G1) $1,000,000
Post Horse Trainer Jockey Odds
1 River Seven Nick Gonzalez Jesse Campbell 20-1 Loves soft grass, looking to get into the form of last fall
2 Trade Storm David Simcock Jamie Spencer 6-1 3rd in this race last year, in from England
3 Ancil Joan Scott Justin Stein 30-1 Has not been past 6 furlongs in a long time, speedster
4 Silver Freak Brian Lynch John Velazquez 20-1 Loves to run fast on the lead
5 Kaigun Mark Casse Patrick Husbands 5-2 Won the Play the King with a wild stretch run
6 Dorsett Brian Lynch Luis Contreras 15-1 Improving and making his 3rd start off the layoff, class check
7 Lockout Mark Casse Gary Boulanger 10-1 Right behind Kaigun in the Play the King
8 Bobby’s Kitten Chad Brown Joel Rosario 15-1 Three-year-old meets older horses for the first time
9 Jack Milton Todd Pletcher Javier Castellano 7-2 Gary Barber’s dream season in Canada continues
10 His Race to Win Malcolm Pierce Eurico Rosa da Silva 15-1 Sam-Son colt, nuff said
11 Grand Arch Brian Lynch David Moran 4-1 Big win in the King Eddy, has hot rider and good stretch kick
previous Mile winners (after event switched to grass)
2013 Wise Dan 6 John Velazquez Charles Lopresti Morton Fink 1:31.75
2012 Wise Dan 5 John Velazquez Charles Lopresti Morton Fink 1:34.07
2011 Turallure 4 Julien Leparoux Charles Lopresti 4-D Stables 1:34.92
2010 Court Vision 5 Robby Albarado Richard E. Dutrow, Jr. IEAH Stables & Resolute Group Stables 1:34.62
2009 Ventura 5 Garrett Gomez Robert J. Frankel Juddmonte Farms 1:32.04
2008 Rahy’s Attorney 4 Slade Callaghan Ian Black Ellie Boje Farm et al. 1:36.14
2007 Shakespeare 6 Garrett Gomez Kiaran McLaughlin Dell Ridge Farm / W. Schettine 1:33.58
2006 Becrux 4 Patrick Valenzuela Neil D. Drysdale Team Valor, Gary Barber 1:33.99
2005 Leroidesanimaux 5 John R. Velazquez Robert J. Frankel T N T Stud 1:35.08
2004 Soaring Free 5 Todd Kabel Mark Frostad Sam-Son Farm 1:32.72
2003 Touch of the Blues 6 Kent Desormeaux Neil D. Drysdale Gainsborough Farm 1:33.39
2002 Good Journey 6 Pat Day Wallace Dollase Flaxman Holdings & M. Jarvis 1:33.27
2001 Numerous Times 4 Patrick Husbands Sid Attard Committee Stable 1:32.79
2000 Riviera 6 John R. Velazquez Robert J. Frankel Edmund A. Gann 1:33.18
1999 Quiet Resolve † 4 Robert Landry Mark Frostad Sam-Son Farm 1:33.19
1998 Labeeb 6 Kent Desormeaux Neil D. Drysdale Gainsborough Farm 1:33.00
1997 Geri 5 Chris Antley William I. Mott Allen E. Paulson 1:36.20
DOUG SMITH , TORONTO STAR, Thoughts on racing in the blog
WEGCARES – Vote for your favourite charity and Woodbine will donate $10K to winner
From LONGRUN to the Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society, the United Way and CARD, you have a week to vote each day for your favourite charity:
http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/corporate/WEGCares/Pages/default.aspx
WE ARE TALKIN’ HORSES!
New show on CTV IS AIMING TO GET MORE INTEREST IN RACING
Here is episode 1 in case you missed it on TV- DON’T FORGET EPISODE 2 – on CTV2 at 11:30 TOMORROW MORNING and 1p.m. on CTV!
