SOLSTICE

 

SAY NO MORE, RIVER SEVEN, among Canadian horses in action this weekend

 

Saturday, Fair Grounds, post time: 4:54 p.m. EDT
BONAPAW S., $75,000, 3yo/up, 5 1/2fT
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER ML
1 Expecting Cash Littleexpectations Albarado Gibson 8-1
2 Sum of the Parts Speightstown Napravnik Amoss 4-1
3 Decisive Move Awesome Again Mena Good 15-1
4 Billy Two Hats Aragorn (Ire) Landeros Margolis 20-1
5 Great Mills War Front Flores Asmussen 7-2
6 Artest Hard Spun Eramia Stall 12-1
7 Say No More Langfuhr Graham Keogh 15-1
8 Strong Impact A.P. Jet Solis Brown 6-1
9 Hamiltonian Bellamy Road Clark Jones 10-1
10 Tour Guide Broken Vow Goncalves Lukas 20-1
11 Mico Margarita Run Away and Hide Santana Asmussen 6-1
12 Channel Marker Purim Bridgmohan Stall 10-1

Saturday, Gulfstream Park, post time: 4:33 p.m. EST
DANIA BEACH S.-GIII, $100,000, 2yo, 1mT
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER ML

1 Imaginethatmom Imperialism Jaen Yates 20-1
2 Pleuven (Fr) Turtle Bowl (Ire) Garcia Brown 5-2
3 Request K Dynaformer Castellano Brown 8-1
4 Cabo Cat Kitten’s Joy Bravo Hennig 15-1
5 Yes I’m Lucky K Yes It’s True Lopez Plesa Jr 4-1
6 Bon Accord K Showing Up Rosario Sano 3-1
7 Mr Speaker Pulpit Lezcano McGghey 8-1
8 Here’s Johnny K Colonel John Desormeaux Ward 6-1
9 Hesinfront War Front Castanon Romans 12-1

 

TOMORROW – RIVER SEVEN

Harlan’s Holiday S.
Purse $100,000. For Three Year Olds And Upward. ($15,000 bonus for FTBOA Registered Florida-Bred by an FTBOA Registered Florida Sire). $1,000 to pass the entry box and $500 additional to start, with $100,000 Guaranteed. All fees shall be paid prior to the start of the race. The owner of the winner to receive $60,000, $20,000 to second, $10,000 to third, $5,000 to fourth, $3,000 to fifth and $2,000 to sixth. Weight: Three year olds: 120 lbs Older: 123 lbs: Non-winners of a sweepstakes since October 1, allowed 2 Lbs.; $30,000 twice since April 1, 4 lbs; a race other than maiden or claiming since November 1, 6 Lbs.; Closed Saturday, December 7, 2013 with 24 Nominations. Trophy to the winning owner. One And One Sixteenth Miles.
P#     PP     Horse     Virtual
Stable     A/S     Med     Jockey     Wgt     Trainer     M/L
1     1     Neck ‘n Neck (KY)         4/C     L     B J Hernandez, Jr.     117     I R Wilkes     3/1
2     2     Csaba (KY)         4/C     L     L Saez     123     P A Gleaves     5/2
3     3     Bourbon Courage (KY)         4/C     L     J Castellano     117     K Gorder     4/1
4     4     Purple Egg (KY)         3/G     L     P Lopez     120     J Cibelli     10/1
5     5     Sr. Quisqueyano (FL)         3/C     L     C Olivero     120     L Olivares     6/1
6     6     River Seven (ON)         3/G     L     J Rocco, Jr.     120     N Gonzalez     5/1
7     7     Reveron (KY)         4/C         J Rosario     117     A C Bezara     8/1
8     8     Joshua’s Comprise (FL)         3/C     L     L Panici     114     B R Rose     20/1

 

SOVEREIGN AWARD VOTING TO OPEN IN EARLY JANUARY

The top horses and horsepeople of 2013 (racing in Canada) will be honoured in April but first things first. The votes must be taken and tabulated – who is it going to be?

THOROUGHBLOG has done one division in this space (3yo colt) with that division looking like UP WITH THE BIRDS’s for the taking.

Here are some other thoughts:

2yo colt – Not a strong group at first blush, or, maybe a good group that just traded wins? ASSERTING BEAR won the Coronation Futurity and was 2nd and 3rd in good events, JOSE SEA VIEW won a stake sprinting in Erie Pa. and at 2 turns at Woodbine. GO GREELEY was a multiple stakes star but only in sprints. ZDENO, a 2yo by Milwaukee Brew that never lost in 4 races.

2yo filly – PALADIN BAY – no question.

3yo filly – Tough call, some nice ones in this category including the late NIPISSING, the Oaks winner. However, you can’t vote for Nipissing on the single win, this award goes to American bred LEIGH COURT, 3 stakes wins at 3 different distances, 2 different surfaces at Woodbine and a close 4th in a Grade 1.

Older mare – no deserving winner, perhaps SISTERLY LOVE, graded SW, did okay in US

Older male – HERBIE D, 3 stakes wins, Grade 3 Longacres Mile, big Beyers, or ALPHA BETTOR, 3 stakes wins at Woodbine

FEMALE sprinter – PART THE SEAS

Male Sprinter – PHIL’S DREAM

Turf Female – SOLID APPEAL

TURF MALE – FORTE DEI MARMI

**HORSE OF THE YEAR! – well, I did not vote for Uncaptured last year, who won because he had a great record and dominated his 2yo colt division. Who dominated their division this year?

PHIL’S DREAM won 7 races for heaven’s sake he was a monster, he ran fast. His story is remarkable albeit very hard to believe almost.

He had a HORSE OF THE YEAR campaign, so did FORTE DEI MARMI, but the latter blew his big chance in the International. Other than that, Grade 1 winner UP WITH THE BIRDS deserves a long look.

 

FANTICOLA, 84 Beyer and daughter of Canada’s 2013 leading sire

Anthony Fanticola and partner’s FANTICOLA has won 3 straight races in California on the grass and is an exciting prospect and a Canadian-bred.

The daughter of SILENT NAME (Jpn), currently the leading sire in the country (not including recent addition BADGE OF SILVER) is out of Catalina Cat and was bred by Hedgestone Management and Frank Mermenstein. She cost $21,000 at the 2012  Ontario CTHS sale and was sold by Gail Wood.