TO ALL THE DADS

99 BEARS ON THE WALL..

Pairing up the 99 Beyer Speed Figure she earned in the Selene Stakes, BEAR NOW crushed older mares in the $100,000 Hill ‘n’ Dale Stakes at Woodbine yesterday, putting herself at the top of the list of 3yo fillies in Canada. She wouldn’t look too bad in the Queen’s Plate if she was Canadian-bred either.

The Tiznow –Controlled, IN Excess miss, owned by the Bear Stable and trained by Reade Baker, won by more than 9 lengths geared down in a raced she was supplemented to. Baker had an option to race the filly in a stake at Delaware but elected to keep her at home.

The Delaware gals were lucky.

It was Baker day at Woodbine as the trainer won 3 races, the other two with the nice maiden colt KUMA, who won his maiden race by 6 lengths. The other winner was Falcon Lake in the finale for maidens.

Mark Casse also had a good day with debut winning 2yo WILDCAT NITE (FIRST WINNER FOR D’WILDCAT) and the 3yo turf filly Sprung.

INDIAN VALE TAKES FLEUR DE LIS

Canadian-bred INDIAN VALE won the Fleur de Lis (Gr 2) at Churchill Downs yesterday over Asi Siempre. The Eugene Melnyk owned and trained daughter of A.P. Indy ran a 100 Beyer Figure in the win.

PLATE NOTES

SEALY HILL, the Oaks winner, is not racing in the Plate as the Eugene Melnyk,Casse juggernaut have MARCHFIELD in the field and that colt has a big chance to win…The Plate barbeque, where at least of the horses considered for next Sunday's race will parade, will be held in the walking ring at Woodbine tomorrow for the media and horsemen.

BEAR NOW’S HILL ‘N’ DALE PRESS RELEASE

Bear Stables' Bear Now notched her second consecutive stakes score, this time in Saturday's featured $100,000 Hill 'N' Dale 

at Woodbine.

With Emile Ramsammy at the controls, Bear Now wrestled the early lead 

from Femmina after an opening quarter-mile in :23.65, taking the 

seven-horse field (Blonde Wisdom was scratched) through opening fractions of 

:23.65 and :47.03 in the mile and one-sixteenth contest.

Down the lane, the dark bay, who came into race off a sparkling 

eight-length triumph in the Grade 3 Selene, easily widened her advantage with 

every stride, to win in a sharp time of 1:43.78. 

Like a Gem, who took the 2006 Wonder Where Stakes, finished second, 9 

¾-lengths back of Bear Now. Top Notch Lady, who won the 2006 Bourbonette 

Breeders' Cup, was another 3 ¾-lengths in back for third.

"She broke well," said Ramsammy. "She was aggressive. She was training 

very forwardly. She relaxed really nicely on the lead and she went all 

the way." 

Trained by Reade Baker, Bear Now, who was supplemented into the Hill 

'N' Dale, now has four wins from nine career starts.

"She wants to go around two turns," noted Baker. "She had a lot of bad 

luck in her earlier races. It just happened to work this way. Let's 

hope the (Grade 2) Delaware Oaks (July 14) is as easy."

A Kentucky-bred daughter of Tiznow, Bear Now posted two victories, both 

coming at the Toronto oval, and a third from five starts in her 

two-year-old campaign

In addition to the winner's share of $60,000, the connections of Bear 

Now also get to select a breeding season from among Hill 'N' Dale's 

Kentucky sires El Corredor ($30,000) Roman Ruler ($30,000) and Grand Reward ($12,500)
. The owners of Like a Gem will choose next, with Top Notch Lady's owners
receiving the remaining stallion session.

Bear Now paid $3.10, $2.50 and $2.60, combining with Like a Gem ($8.60, 

$5.50) for a $39.60 exactor. Top Notch Lady ($5) capped a $288.80 

triactor.

By tomorrow morning, THOROUGHBLOG will have a more in-dept recap of this weekend's
 racing and some more Plate news.