WINTER HAS ARRIVED IN THE THOROUGHBLOG SURROUNDINGS – brrrr…the hustle and bustle of the holidays getting close, race-watching limited but some good things to report in recent days…

 

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(above – the folks at horse-races.net saw a wild rally from virtually last place by the 3yo filly SNOW FAIRY (by the Red Ransom stallion Intikhab) in the Hong Kong Cup

 

FAIRY IS GOD-LIKE!

Filly takes Epsom Oaks, Irish Oaks, Hong Kong Cup

RACE REPLAY – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqYgbVRr26I

PHOTOS, WOODBINE PRICES, NEWS – http://www.horse-races.net/library/hkcup10-results.htm

 

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GODOLPHIN’S MASTERY streaks to victory in the Hong Kong Vase over Northern Dancer Stakes winner Redwood – Condy Pierson Dulay photo

 

 

POSITIVE RESPONSE – FROM WOODBINE TO A GOLD RUSH

David and Kelly Callaghan won a $50K maiden race with their Pomeroy colt POSITIVE RESPONSE at Woodbine before selling him to American interests. He had been a $21,000 June 2yo purchase  in Florida.

The colt has gone on to big things:

Positive Response wins Gold Rush Stakes

Larry Stumes, Special to The Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle December 12, 2010

Sunday, December 12, 2010

When trainer William E. Morey was directed to a horse named Positive Response running in maiden-claiming events at Woodbine Race Course near Toronto, he liked what he saw.

After Positive Response won the $75,900 Gold Rush Stakes for 2-year-olds by 6 lengths Saturday at Golden Gate Fields, Morey likes him even more.

“I have a friend and client, Don Brauer, who helps us spot horses,” Morey said. “We look at the form, the breeding and replays of the races. We do the normal vetting, of course. I’ve got to like the horse, too, and then I’ve got to contact my owners and get the money together. This horse looked like he had the right style for this track.”

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/12/SPC21GPBCL.DTL#ixzz17zs3BDBI

CANADIAN STUFF

EURICO ROSA DA SILVA, riding his first winter at Aqueduct in New York, reportedly did not start riding at the track until Friday and won with his first mount – the odds on ECONOMIC SWOON for trainer Rick Violette. Equibase reports that the rider rode on Thursday and was last in his first mount but this has been reported as erroneous information.

Later Da Silva just missed winning on Pewter, a Canadian bred for trainer Jim Bond. Da Silva starts off the meeting at 4-1-0-0

TRAINER MALCOLM PIERCE is 2 for 3 at the Fair Grounds meeting already while JOSIE CARROLL is 1 for 6.

EMMA-JAYNE WILSON rides her first race at Philly (Parx) tomorrow on SCOTT FAIRLIE trainee Deacons Farm…

SPEIGHTFUL AFFAIR is 2 for 9 in her career now having won an allowance race at Aqueduct on Sunday in the slop. The 3yo by  Speightstown–Santerra, by Tejabo is a Canadian-bred owned by Turtle Bird Stable. She was bred by Josham Farms. She won her debut last year T Woodbine and was 2nd in a stakes race in New York in April (Grade 3 Comely).

Lifetime Record: GSP, 9-2-4-2, $119,682.

BIG TIZ, owned in part by Albertan Cory Wagner, finished 2nd in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet to the unbeaten TURBULENT DESCENT (Congrats). Big Tiz is by Tiznow.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT –

Intimidation and the track

COLUMN BY BILL CHRISTINE:

http://www.horseraceinsider.com/lines-in-the-sand/12122010-biting-the-hand/

Biting the Hand. . .

You have to be prepared at all times for what might happen in the desert. Field Marshal Rommel and Lawrence of Arabia knew this, in spades. But anything can still happen–in “Road to Morocco,” Dorothy Lamour even fell in love with Bob Hope while Bing Crosby was around. No amount of preparation could have girded us, however, for what David Israel recently said in the desert, at the University of Arizona’s annual industry brain-pick. Several cacti, not to mention some superannuated horseplayers, were aghast. “The average age of our on-track customer is deceased,” said Israel, vice chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, and then he went on to say, “And the average age of our satellite customer is decomposed.”

Click on link above to read the rest