OH CANADA!

The first racing day of a long stretch of days is this afternoon and the heat and smog and has moved out and wow, it's a bit chilly out there this morning!

Canada's Birthday is Sunday.. love those Cancerians!

JONES ON BEAR’S KID IN ‘EDDY

6 stakes at Woodbine in next 3 days!

Jono Jones, who has been working champion SKY CONQUEROR is not slated to ride the supplemented Bear’s Kid in Monday’s King Edward Breeder Cup, Grade 2. Todd Kabel has also ridden and worked Sky Conqueror and appears to be the colt’s rider again.

Grade 1 winning rival JAMBALAYA will be ridden by Javiar Castellano.

The King Eddy is a championship-type turf race at 1 1/8 miles. Also on the holiday Monday card is the My Dear for 2yo fillies.

SATURDAY is the ACHIEVEMENT STAKES for ONtario-foaled 3yo's.

Sunday has the SWEET BRIAR TOO overnight stake, the BISON CITY (moved from Fort Erie to here, drew just 5 horses) and the DOMINION DAY, the match between champions TRUE METROPOLITAN and PALLADIO.

Monday is the King Eddy and My Dear.

CHRISTIE AND ROGER ARE BOILING

Canadian-bred CHRISTIES TREASURE, 4th in the Woodbine Oaks earlier this month, will meet up with the locally trained RED BIRKIN, trained by Roger Attfield, in Saturday’s Boiling Springs Stakes – Grade 3 at Monmouth…

Here’s the preview from THE BLOOD-HORSE…

Trainer Roger Attfield is a known quantity at Monmouth Park, and when the Woodbine-based conditioner ships a horse in for a stakes race at the New Jersey shore, that one rates a close look.

Attfield sends Red Birkin for her first graded stakes attempt in Saturday's $150,000 Boiling Springs Stakes (gr. IIIT), and the 1 1/16-mile turf event for 3-year-old fillies is just the first step on an ambitious plan for the Florida-bred filly by Belong to Me.

"She'll be on the road a lot this summer if all goes well," Attfield said from his Toronto base June 27. "As a non-Canadian-bred grass filly, there aren't many races here for her, so she'll be in the U.S. more than here."

Red Birkin is coming off an allowance win on the Woodbine grass. She broke her maiden on the turf at Gulfstream in February, and in April was beaten just two necks in the Appalachian at Keeneland, her first stakes try.

Now it's a graded stakes attempt for the filly, a homebred from Haras Santa Maria de Araras stable.

"She just breezed this morning here, and she gets on a van at 6 a.m. Thursday for New Jersey. I look for her to run well at Monmouth," Attfield said. "Then, if everything goes right, she'll go next in the Virginia Oaks (at Colonial Downs on July 21)."

Among her rivals Saturday is Virginia Kraft Payson's Rutherienne, dead-heat victor with Bit of Whimsy of Belmont's Sands Point (gr. IIIT) June 2 as the favorite for trainer Christophe Clement.

$150,000 Boiling Springs Stakes (gr. IIIT, Race 9, 4:53 p.m.), 3-Year-Old Fillies, 1 1/16 Miles (Turf)

PP. Horse, Weight, Jockey

1. Rutherienne (KY), 118, Joe Bravo

2. Red Birkin (FL), 116, Jose Lezcano

3. More Than a Feelin (KY), 116, Christopher P. DeCarlo

4. Dinner Break (KY), 120, Rajiv Maragh

5. Full of Ideas (KY), 116, Pablo Morales

6. Sharp Susan (KY), 120, Eddie Castro

7. Christies Treasure (ON), 116, Jose A. Velez, Jr.

FROM B.C…

Tom Wolski reports on the Riches of Emma and Racing

GIRL POWER ARRIVES NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON

Belmont and Queen's Plate wins welcome for sport

Tom Wolski, The Province

Published: Friday, June 29, 2007

After decades of taking a back seat to what has long been considered a male-dominated sport, the public finally got a chance to see girl power at its best in horse racing.

Two weeks ago, Rags to Riches -- the only female in the prestigious Belmont Stakes -- defeated a big strapping colt called Curlin in one of the greatest stretch drives in thoroughbred racing history.

Last Sunday, jockey Emma Jayne Wilson kept girl power going, beating the boys at their own game of winning major races, by out-riding and out-thinking top jockeys from Canada and the U.S.

Wilson and Rags to Riches' victories could not have come soon enough.

With the current trend of retiring equine stars after only four or five top races, the public craves and deserves a chance to see those horses remain in the game at least through their four-year-old season of racing.

When Michael Tabor, co-owner of Rags to Riches, spoke of wanting to race Rags to Riches against the boys and keep her racing next year, it was a breath of fresh air for horse racing. It's a concept many other successful owners have forgotten.

Wilson visited Hastings last season and rode the $250,000 B.C. Derby. Her Queen's Plate victory attracted more attention for horse racing in Canada than had been witnessed for years.

"We have been doing loads of TV, radio and media, it has been really exciting," said Wilson by phone from Toronto.

"The jockeys room after the race was great with all the jocks giving me high-fives. Here we are riders competing against each other at the highest level and all of them were happy for me.

"It sure put a grin on my face."

No matter what you call it, girl power or battle of the sexes, horse racing needs to jump on that marketing tool and not a day too late.

Sex in sports does sell.

LOCAL GIRL POWER (MONASHEE TO WOODBINE??)

Chances are after Canmor Farm's Monashee's easy victory in Saturday's $50,000 Strawberry Morn, local fans may have seen the last of the reigning queen of Hastings until the $125,000 Ballerina in October.

"Now we have to look at our other options," said owner Ole Nielsen.

"Possibly the $125,000 Ontario Matron Stakes at Woodbine on July 22."

With seven straight stakes victories, Nielsen understands the dilemma facing rival owners along with Lorne Mitchell, racing secretary at Hastings.

"I can appreciate other owners not wanting to run against her forever," said Nielsen.

"I do understand the reason she will have to carry as they say in horse racing the weight of the grandstand. One thing for sure, it truly is great fun having a horse like Monashee."

Today, Princeton hosts one-day horse racing. Among local trainers supporting this historic day, Jim Brown, Tom Longstaff and Dave Milburn ... Sunday top older horses including Spaghetti Mouse and Forceful Intention compete in the $100,000 Lt. Governor's ... Sunday, Bob Cheema's, True Metropolitan gets an acid test in the $200,000 Dominion Day Stakes at Woodbine ... 2006 horse of the year Invasor retired from a cracked sesamoid bone in his right hind leg ... Brazilian champ Jorge Ricardo has regained the lead over Vancouver-born Russell Baze for world's leading jockey.

Courtesy Tom Wolski

DANCE SMARTLY PREP TODAY

SHES INDY MONEY preps for the Grade 3 DANCE SMARTLY HANDICAP ($3000 on July 22) today for trainer Malcolm Pierce and Live Oak Stud.

What a move she made to win her latest on the grass when winning by 6 at seven furlongs in 1:21. Whew.

How about 1 1/16 miles? Should be okay since she’s by A. P. Indy. She has won 4 of 10 and was trained by Bill Mott in the U.S. up until this spring.

Flashy filly MURANI is going to be tough on the pace today it seems. The course could be speed condusive and it is just her 2^nd race of the year. The Distorted Humor mare won the 1 ½ mile Flaming Page last fall with a 95 Beyer.