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Saturday, March 31, 2007

HELLOOOOOOO WOODBINE!


HELLO HALEY wins yesterday's first race at Woodbine to launch the 2007 racing season. Donver Stable owns the daughter of Wised up , Josie Carroll trains and David Clark rode (click on image to make it BIGGER!)
A jammed grandstand on all floors (the Finish Line bar reached capacity and had to be closed off to any more people), happy handicappers and horsepeople and a general feeling of 'great to be back'-ness (eeks, a made up word) swept through Woodbine yesterday as the seaosn got underway with the 1st of 167 dates.
It was not all that warm but the sky brightened by 3:30 p.m. and a mixture of favourites and longshots won on the card.
Trainer JOSIE CARROLL notched two of the first 6 races on the card including the Jacques Cartier prep worth $79,900 with Jim and Alice Sapara's VIBANK, who outdeulled Quick in Deed to win in 1:06 1/5 for 5 1/2 furlongs. Are You Serious powered up the rail to be 2nd over Quick in Deed.
Carroll also won the first race of the new season (see photo above).
Speed ruled the majority of the first 6 dashes as a very loose Polytrack was causing big-time kickback for the trailing horses. The times were very slow, with one 5 furlong dash registering a :48 4/5 half-mile fraction.
INVASOR, HORSE OF THE WORLD
In a gritty show of strength and courage, INVASOR, America's Horse of the Year in 2006, edged away from a stubborn and game PREMIUM TAP to win the Dubai World Cup ($6 million) Saturday morning, establishing himself as one of the greatest horses in the last several decades.
The World Cup card was a showcase for some stunning performances including ASIATIC BOY, who completed the UAE Triple Crown with a long reaching, lopsided score in the UAE Derby.
Americans SPRING AT LAST and sprinters KELLYS LANDING, FRIENDLY ISLAND and BISHOP COURT HILL has big success with the former winning the Godolphin Mile and the other three finishing 1-2-3 in the Shaheen.
Flops on the day - LAVA MAN, who plummeted to last place in the Sheema Classic, English Channel, Miesque's Approval and Discreet Cat.

posted by Jen Morrison @ 12:31 PM  

6 Comments:

  • At 4:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    The track is a $10 million dollar joke . The promises last year of an "unbiased" synthetic surface is now absolutely hilarious as it is so far from the truth . It is virtually impossible to come off the pace . The kick-back was absolutely brutal , so bad they are going to have to hire somebody to sweep the wax and rubber that is now sitting on the inner rail . If I was a trainer I would be screaming bloody murder. I can't wait for the cable "jelly" - I'm sure that will solve all the problems.

     

  • At 5:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    There is no such thing as an "All Weather Track". It might be a step in the right direction, but by the exceedingly slow times (Vibank in 1:06.1 ??) and rail bias today, there needs to be a lot of tinkering done to get it right.

     

  • At 5:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Clearly Polytrack was designed for the English winter weather, but has proven to not be tough enough for the much colder North American version. Turfway was experiencing many of the same problems as well. It worked well last year when it was installed but as temperatures dropped, problems started. It still is a huge improvement over traditional dirt in that the track never gets sloppy or muddy, it's always fast even when wet.

     

  • At 6:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    RE: David Wilmot comments on "Cheaters". It was only in 2003 when the "employee" of his standardbred trainer Jimmy Takter, was found to have a syringe in a vehicle parked outside of the retention barn. Trainer Takter recieved a 5 day suspension (very light...usually min 30 days) and a $10,000 fine. The horse, Southwind Allaire was allowed to compete. Is that how you get really really tough on cheaters? Or is it just certain cheaters.....

     

  • At 2:03 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    You can view photos from the Dubai World Cup card here:

    Dubai World Cup http://www.horse-races.net/library/dubai07-results.htm

    Dubai Duty Free http://www.horse-races.net/library/dubai07-resultsdf.htm

    Dubai Sheema Classic http://www.horse-races.net/library/dubai07-resultssc.htm

    Dubai Golden Shaheen http://www.horse-races.net/library/dubai07-resultsgs.htm

    UAE Derby http://www.horse-races.net/library/dubai07-resultseu.htm

    Godolphin Mile http://www.horse-races.net/library/dubai07-resultsgm.htm

     

  • At 1:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Have to be FAIR in the observations of opening day. Must state that it is entirely wrong to base observations about the track playing "fair" or not on a single day filled with abbreviated distances.

    That is akin to suggesting that the present diet of 4-furlong events on the cards at Stampede should be used to assess the surface and product as a whole.

    Now I admit that every single first-call leader at the rest of the meeting (on Poly) might win, BUT it just isn't right to summarize the surface for the big picture after day one.

    Try to be objective, will you people?

     

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