PUBLIC ENEMIES – THOROUGHBLOG’S trip to beautiful WINDHAVEN in Caledon was a great experience. Cold, mind you, but fun to see some of the stars at Bill Graham’s lavish spot.
**CLARIFICATION – One news item about my trip to WINDHAVEN (not any other farm) was that instead of them foalin40-50 mares this year, the farm will foal about 15 as some of its previous clients from the US such as Charles Fipke and Spendthrift did not come to Windhaven this year, in part…thanks to the wonderful moves of our government in Ontario and some of these lovely folks below:
Paul Godfrey for one…read below
Liberal Leadership Candidates Asked to Commit to Future of Ontario Horse Racing
The President of the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association has sent a letter to each Ontario Liberal Party leadership candidate, asking them to support specific measures to protect the horse racing and breeding industry’s future in Ontario.
The current government has less than thirty days in office before a new Premier is selected. The horse racing and breeding industry is under extraordinary pressure and need to know who among the candidates for Premier supports the 55,000 jobs and more than $2 billion dollars in annual investment horse racing and breeding bring to Ontario going forward.
With less than ninety days until the Slots at Racetracks Program is scheduled to end and no long term strategy in place to ensure the survival of the horse racing and breeding industry in Ontario, OHRIA warned each candidate of the crisis they will inherit if they do not act swiftly to ensure the industry’s survival.
In her letter, Sue Leslie specifically asked candidates to support two initiatives key to the industry’s long term survival.
Deferring the implementation of the OLG Modernization Strategy until it can be amended in a way that ensures that the horse racing industry may continue to provide meaningful employment and substantial revenue for the province.
Extending the Slots at Racetracks Program from its intended expiration of March 31, 2013, to avoid further devastation to the breeders as they approach the upcoming breeding season. This will allow Ontario’s new Premier and government to integrate horse racing into the province’s gaming strategy. Doing so will also ensure that slots at racetracks continue to provide economic benefit throughout the 2013 racing season.
Additional Comments from Sue Leslie:
“The Ontario Liberal leadership race needs to be about the renewal of our province, not just their party. 55,000 men and women in all corners of Ontario stand to lose their jobs if the Slots at Racetracks Program ends and horse racing isn’t an integrated part of the OLG modernization strategy. We need action from everyone serious about being Premier now.”
RACING FUTURE REPORTS ON OTTAWA LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE ARTICLE..
Ottawa Life Magazine Exclusive: Five Ontario Liberal Leadership Candidates Suggest Possible Change of Course for the Slots-at-Racetracks Decision
BINGO/SLOTS – THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE OR IS IT?
Trot Magazine editor Darryl Kaplan offers his take on the truth behind the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s Modernization strategy and bingo expansion plan.
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The largest gaming expansion in the history of Ontario is taking place as we speak, and one of the most controversial components to it, the bingo expansion, is not being covered adequately by our major media outlets.
While debate rages over urban casinos that will likely arrive into our cities, full fledged gaming centres are set to pop up under the noses of millions of Ontarians – they are called bingo halls.
While the lack of coverage by the National Post, whose CEO is Paul Godfrey, head of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, is understandable, the other major news outlets are dropping the bingo ball. Rather than cover the story, they continue to publish taxpayer funded OLG advertorials touting the program as a “win-win” for Ontarians.
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/1-3-13/exclusive-ugly-truth-behind-olg-bingo-expansion.html
PURSE CUT AT WOODBINE STANDARDBREDS
On Thursday, January 3, the Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) and the Central Ontario Standardbred Association (COSA) issued a joint press release announcing that there will be a reduction in purses offered on WEG’s standardbred circuit effective January 10.
Standardbred purses on the WEG circuit will be reduced by an overall average of 10 per cent.
“It is crucial during this ongoing period of uncertainty that purse money be conserved, so we view this as an absolute necessity,” said Bruce Murray, WEG’s vice-president of Standardbred Racing. “When answers concerning future funding for purses emerge, this measure will be further reviewed.”
OLMODAVOR IN MANITOBA!
The A. P. Indy graded stakes winner Olmodavor will stand the 2013 season at Rivard Stables in St. Eustache, Manitoba, Canada.Olmodavor was a multiple graded stakes winner on dirt and Grade 1-placed while racing in the colors of famed breeders Wertheimer et Frere. He began his stallion career at Adena Springs Farm in Kentucky and stood at Magali Farms in California for the past 2 years. He has been represented by 11 black type runners, including three new stakes winners in 2012. With his move to Manitoba, Olmodavor is ranked 12th on the leading list of Canadian sires with 2012 progeny earnings of $1,007,894.
His 3 2012 stakes winners were:
NUMB LIPS 6 yo, h, SW Unbridled Primal S. (7/21/2012, $55,000, 1 1/16 miles, 1:45.32, Calder Race Course) Replay
2nd Miami Mile H. (4/21/2012, $125,000, 1 mile, 1:39.86, Calder Race Course)
IDLE TALK 7 yo, m, SW Vigors Dahlia S. (4/21/2012, $50,000, 1 mile, 1:37.25, Pimlico) R
SHP (8/7/2012, $30,000, Parx Racing)
ALMIGHTY O 6 yo, g, SW Badger Land Honey Jay S. (8/18/2012, $50,000, 6 furlongs, 1:10.00, Thistledown)
AOC (7/21/2012, $5,940, River Downs)
Adena Springs is extremely pleased to partner with the Manitoba Breeders Syndicate to stand Olmodavor in Manitoba next year,” said Adena Springs General Manager Eric Hamelback. “It’s a win-win situation and a stallion like Olmodavor should be very well received by breeders in the region.”
“Olmodavor will provide Manitoba breeders the opportunity to breed to a stallion that will produce versatile progeny that can compete not only in Manitoba but at a North American level,” added Syndicate Stallion Manager Dean Melnic. “Bringing a stallion of this caliber will stimulate and attract breeders to the Manitoba Incentive program.”
Inquiries can be made to Dean Melnic (dsmelnic@mccain.ca, 204-856-6918).
FOLLOW-UP ON TU ENDIE WEI
Vaness Ng photo
The Blood Horse has followed up on our report that champion TU ENDIE WEI has died. Phone calls to Airdrie Stud were not returned but the report is that she passed away on Dec. 24 in Kentucky while undergoing an operation for fibrous adhesions.
By Johar , Tu Endie Wei was a half sister to the Canadian Horse of the Year Biofuel, out of the Indian Charlie mare Ms. Cornstalk. Both champions were bred and owned by Brereton Jones and trained by Reade Baker.
CANADIANS ELSEWHERE
GARLAND WILLIAMSON’S TOP 2YO FILLY FROM 2 YEARS AGO, HARD NOT TO LIKE, is back in action:
Saturday, Gulfstream Park, post time: 5:05 p.m. EST
MARSHUA’S RIVER S.-GIII, $100,000, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER ML
1 Leading Astray Belong to Me Lezcano Block 3-1
2 Chokurei (Ire) Bertolini Bravo Frostad 6-1
3 Frolic’s Revenge Vindication Saez Wolfson 12-1
4 Affair Dabbler K Star Dabbler Santana Kassen 12-1
5 Heavenly Landing K Pulpit Lanerie Kenneally 4-1
6 Channel Lady K English Channel Castellano Pletcher 8-1
7 Frontside K War Front Rosario Caramori 8-1
8 Filare L’oro K Hard Spun Garcia Pino 20-1
9 Hard Not to Like Hard Spun Rocco Jr Matz 8-1
10 Fantasy of Flight K Tiznow Velazquez Dutrow Jr 8-1
SEEING STRAIGHT: Sam-Son filly wins big at Fair Grounds – chart from Thoroughbred Daily News
5th-FGX, $39,000, Msw, 3yo, f, 1m70y, 1:44 2/5, ft. DECEPTIVE VISION (f, 3, A.P. Indy–Eye of the Sphynx
{Ch. 3yo Filly-Can, GSW, $688,340}, by Smart Strike), a late-running second on debut going seven panels at
Woodbine Dec. 2, was backed down to 3-5 for this two-turn and dirt bow. The regally bred Canadian
invader was hung widest of all from mid-pack throughout, but she edged up into contention at the
head of the lane and scurried clear to a three-length graduation on the wire. Blue Violet (Curlin) was 3 1/4
lengths back in second. “We=ll regroup and see what we have down the road,” winning trainer Malcolm Pierce
said when asked what might be next for the full-sister to Eye of the Leopard, Ch. 3yo Colt-Can, MSW & GSP,
$918,267; and Hotep, MSW & MGSP, $668,302. “It looks like she handles the dirt just fine and she=ll get a
lot out of this race today.” Deceptive Vision was produced by 2004 Woodbine Oaks winner Eye of the
Sphynx, a half-sister to the MSW dam of Canadian Horse of the Year and Champion Turf Horse Quiet
Resolve (Affirmed). Deceptive Union has a 2-year-old half-sister by Distorted Humor named Fun in the Desert.
Lifetime Record: 2-1-1-0, $36,896. O/B-Sam-Son Farm (ON). T-Malcolm Pierce.
TOMMY GOSTLIN won with WINETTIE yesterday at Charles Town, to the tune of 25 to 1. The Fort Erie horseman sent the Philanthropist 4yo out for an $8K claiming race at 7 furlongs and watched her win by 1 1/4 lengths. She is out of Wickenheiser and bred by Hope Stock Farm.
ESPN FEATURE – JAY CRONLEY
RESOLVING TO DO BETTER (BETTOR?)
This site will repeatedly focus on two elements of horse racing in 2013.
1. Avoiding losses
2. Winning
Here are the ten most costly mistakes made in horse race handicapping:
SPEEDING
Who hasn’t thought this a thousand times: I should have seen that.
And “that” usually pays $40 to win. “That” is a cheap race that should have been thrown out, an over-valued successful effort that should have been ignored.
There’s a lot transpiring on all the horse race screens. But the more you focus on a single race, the better chance to have to solve it. What’s the rush? There’s always another puzzle. Slow down.
read more at:
http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/story/_/id/8797730/resolving-do-better
ITSMYLUCKYDAY stirs early Kentucky Derby talk
Itsmyluckyday recorded a dominating win in the Gulfstream Park Derby, prompting talk of a potential entry in the Kentucky Derby in May.
By Jim Freer
Special to The Miami Herald
After catching a leader who set a fast pace, Itsmyluckyday pulled away to a 6 1/4-length win in Tuesday’s $100,000 Gulfstream Park Derby and stirred early talk about some bigger derbies later this year.
Itsmyluckyday won the one-mile dirt stakes, which was billed as the “first Derby of the year’’ for 3-year-olds in the fast time of 1:34.39.
Sr. Quisqueyano came in second, with Undrafted another 5 1/2 lengths behind in third.
Itsmyluckyday’s dominating victory led to a winner’s circle question about whether his trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. has Derby fever — meaning the Kentucky Derby on May 4.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/02/3163997/itsmyluckyday-stirs-early-kentucky.html#storylink=cpy
WAYNE WHELAN
Winston doesn’t realize it yet, but he just lost his best friend.
The four-year-old dog had been rescued by Wayne Whalen while the Fort Erie man was in New Orleans last spring.
Whalen was a groom in the horse racing industry and fell in love with the Boxer mix while he was in Louisiana for work.
The cliché of a dog being man’s best friend was certainly true for Whalen and Winston.
When Whalen dropped his dog off at his aunt and uncle’s house in Fort Erie in November, neither could have known it would be the last time they’d see each other.
Whalen, a well-known face on the backstretch at Fort Erie Race Track, died Monday morning in a training accident involving a horse in Charles Town, West Virginia.
As many grooms do during the Canadian winters, the 27-year-old had been working for a Niagara-based trainer in the U.S. since November.
Http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2013/01/01/fort-erie-horseman-killed-in-west-virginia
