WILL THE CHROME GO ON?
A fun story from the New Jersey Star-Ledger..
By Jerry Izenberg/Columnist Emeritus
BALTIMORE — As the legendary Barbara Fritchie, a Maryland Civil War heroine, might have said if she had lived a lot longer and taken a fancy to a colt named California Chrome:
‘‘Shoot if you must this old gray head. But one damned musket ball or anything else ain’t gonna stop this Preakness.’’
It’s the same message strongly repeated by a corporal’s guard of state police to a 23-year-old drunk named Lee Chang Ferrell, during a preliminary race one Preakness day.
He had hurdled a restraining fence and taken a position facing an onrushing army of thoroughbreds. He took a half-step left and swung a wild haymaker at the race’s leader, Artex.
He missed…
read more:
http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/izenbergcol/index.ssf/2014/05/preakness_2014_the_race_always.html
SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE …THE CHROME IS 2 TO 5!
1 – 25-1 Dynamic Impact
2 – 16-1 general A Rod
3 – 2-5 CC
4 – 25-1 Ring Weekend
5 – 11-1 Bayern
6 – 17-1 Ria
7 – 17-1 Kid
8 – 10-1 Social
9 – 60-1 Pablo
10 – 13-1 Ride On
go to http://jmbets.ca and check out the picks!
Chrome in the Fog: CALIFORNIA CHROME seeking his 6th straight win in the Preakness. CINDY PIERSON DULAY/HORSE-RACES.NET
PREAKNESS – How to beat Chrome, Home
Mark Casse was sitting in his Ocala office on Thursday morning conducting one of several interviews with media writing about the 139th PREAKNESS STAKES at Pimlico. The race is at 6:18 tomorrow and the 10 horse field includes Kentucky Derby winner – folk hero CALIFORNIA CHROMEm 2 that he trounced in the Derby and 7 new shooters.
Casse, Woodbine’s leading trainer for seven straight years, Luis Contreras, Woodbine’s leading rider and Canada’s champion 2yo filly RIA ANTONIA give Ontario fans something to cheer about should the Chrome not shine.
Casse and his wife Tina are now in Pimlico, hoping that TEPIN wins the Black Eyed Susan Stakes today and then DYNAMIC IMPACT can upset the Preakness.
Sunday, Casse will be at Woodbine to saddle his Grade 1 winning filly MY CONQUESTADORY in the Grade 3 Selene Stakes
“I spend a lot of my time in Ocala,” said Casse, who trains horses at the Ocala Training Centre, an all weather surface, and Eugene Melnyk’s Winding Oaks Farm, a dirt surface. “When we send them up to Woodbine to run, they are ready.”
The stable has horses in Ontario, Kentucky as well as Florida and recently led all barns at the Keeneland Spring Meeting by wins.
“That was very gratifying to us,” said Casse about taking the Keeneland title.
The Casse team has almost 20 runners today through Sunday at various tracks with the initial focus being on Pimlico.
Dynamic Impact, a son of Tiznow from Featherbed (from the family of Woodbine stakes star In My Cap) won the Illinois Derby with a 102 Beyer Figure, a career best and bettering California Chrome’s 97 Beyer in the derby. The slow Derby time has been of some question to many handicappers but was likely a product of the 10 furlong distance.
The Preakness is 1 3/16 miles, slightly shorter than the Derby, but the race set-up is sure to be very different with a quicker pace.
A Preakness victory by John Oxley’s colt would certainly brighten the spirits of Casse and his team after it lost a favoured member of its stable last weekend. DELEGATION broke a hind leg out of the gate in the Vigil Stakes (Grade 3) and was put down.
“It was sickening,” said Casse, who watched from Ocala. “It was a freak thing but still, it takes some time over get over something like that.”
Casse is in his 35th year training horses and he still loves the action. “If you spend a day with me, you would see all the things that get thrown at me. It’s all day and every day and there are a lot of ups and downs.
More on the Preakness and Dynamic Impact at www.thestar.com
DYNAMIC IMPACT, the ‘now horse’? CINDY PIERSON DULAY/WWW.HORSE-RACES.NET
Post Horse Trainer Dosage Jockey M/L Odds
1 Dynamic Impact Mark Casse 3.00 Miguel Mena 12-1
2 General A Rod Michael Maker 2.00 Javier Castellano 15-1
3 California Chrome Art Sherman 3.40 Victor Espinoza 3-5
4 Ring Weekend Graham Motion 3.36 Alan Garcia 20-1
5 Bayern Bob Baffert 3.36 Rosie Napravnik 10-1
6 Ria Antonia Tom Amoss 4.14 Calvin Borel 30-1
7 Kid Cruz Linda Rice 1.50 Julian Pimentel 20-1
8 Social Inclusion Manny Azpurua 2.56 Luis Contreras 5-1
9 Pablo Del Monte Wesley Ward 1.29 Jeffrey Sanchez 20-1
10 Ride On Curlin Billy Gowan 3.44 Joel Rosario 10-1
BALTIMORE SUN FEATURE – RON SANCHEZ, OWNER OF SOCIAL INCLUSION
By Don Markus, The Baltimore Sun
Ron Sanchez’s roots in horse racing go deep into his childhood in Caracas, Venezuela, where his maternal grandmother took him to the races every weekend at La Rinconada, the country’s largest and oldest track.
“I was five years old and we’d walk all the way to the track, it’s like two miles,” Sanchez recalled Monday at Pimlico. “I fall in love [with horse racing]. Once you get here [to the race track], it’s impossible to get out.”
REMEMBER THIS PREAKNESS ?
Genuine Risk and Codex..Jim McKay and Howard Cosell
It’s the entire show, you can scroll forward, but it’s fun to let play if you are working away on something –
What is cool: the interview with Jack Kulgman on his grey colt Jaklin Kulgman and Leroy Jolley, talking about Genuine Risk’s somewhat soft trip in the Derby (like California Chrome perhaps?) and how much tougher this race will be, pace-wise, etc.
Plus, the race fixing controversy…
Very revealing stuff and great to watch if you are a racing fan
WOODBINE THIS WEEKEND – Hail to the Queen
Beginning today and through until VICTORIA DAY, Monday, Woodbine will host a 4 pack of super racing where we will see Queen’s Plate contenders, Woodbine Oaks contenders and Grade 1 winners in graded stakes races.
PENDER HARBOUR, a champion 3yo two years ago and still as tough as nails, goes for his 2nd straight win today at Woodbine.
Tomorrow, the QUEENSTON STAKES, at 7 furlongs, is the first major Queen’s Plate prep race and is a super betting event and a tough race to decipher. Sunday, just 4 gals entered the Grade 3 Selene Stakes worth $150,000 but it marks the return of MY CONQUESTADORY, a Grade 1 winner as a 2yo who ran well in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly turf. She will meet Oaks contenders COOL FAITH and PALADIN BAY.
Monday – Canadian Triple Crown winner NEW PROVIDENCE will be honoured with the Ontario sired stakes races named for him.
TRIP TO WOODLANDS
A recent visit to Gail Wood’s WOODLANDS training centre and breeding farm was a nice change to the daily typing regimen.
Woodlands has bred, raised, broken and sold dozens of top racehorses, champions and graded stakes winners. Many of its trainees over the tough winter of 2014 have already won at Woodbine this spring.
Here are some images of the action at Woodlands:
TRAINING a set of youngsters on the outdoor track at Woodlands in Hillsburgh, ON
GAIL WOOD trains a set at her farm and she is riding her racehorse CANDY BULL, a Candy Ride winner who is enjoying his new career.
Just a few days old, this colt by Old Forester – Psychedelia, Wild Zone was full of antics for our Woodlands visit.
Gail’s operation is one of the best in North America with a great staff who care for happy horses. The original home of Queen’s Plate winner EDENWOLD
and now for…WOODBINE – THE HORSE!
This accomplished colt from Australia is WOODBINE, trained by Gai Waterhouse. He is a 4yo by Hussonet.
