LOVE THE HORSES

Today's title means just that - horses everywhere are putting on great shows for all of us bettors, fans, owners etc. Let's remember that when we read about things like jockeys wearing protective gear for the Polytrack and snake venom and ......(read on).

BRASS KNUCKLES

Wednesday night racing

The right decision was made to leave the races on the grass last night despite a small amount of rain. There had not been rain in weeks, the turf was very, very dry and cut too short so a little rain was good for the course.

Despite many calling it a “giving course” (and the course was actually not listed as firm but it sure played that way) there was not much give to the course.

“This is how the grass should be, it’s growing a little bit, a little bit of rain makes it beautiful,” said jockey Emile Ramsammy.

Let’s hope the course is kept that way all season long.

The night started off goofy. BOLDER THAN BRASS, making his 2^nd career start and dropping a bit from an A maiden allowance race for Ontario-sired to a B level open maiden race, was sent hard to the lead by jockey Jack Lauzon as if he was in a quarter horse race and it worked.

He went 22 flat, 45 1/5, turned back a Stronach Stables 4yo and then another one right near the wire.

He was 41 to 1 in the 7 horse field. Owned and bred by Mervyn Kirby.

One race later, the lone speed turned out not to be – Haliburton Eva was joined in a tough duel by Haute Cuisine but then that quit and Eva was leading on the turn

When Asfastasshecannow loomed up and took a short lead, Eva looked done – wrong again! Okay , she lost by a tiny nose to Rice Pudding but what a turnaround in form for a filly (Eva) who has been beaten any number of lengths all year.

“I’m curious to see what the win picture looked like, I wasn’t sure who had won,” said Emma-Jayne Wilson. “She wears an extended cup so she probably couldn’t see that horse coming.”

Garry Cruise, who rode Rice Pudding said the “track appears to get a little tighter with the rain,’”.

Rice Pudding, a handsome mare by Doneraile Court, was dropping in class off a win but still paid $16.40.

Race 3- Congratulations to trainer MIKE KEOGH who took his first win of the season with Wando’s half-sister HALF SISTER (not a typo) who finally broke her maiden with a huge win in her 2nd race on the grass.

The Gus Schickdanz homebred looked super good running 7 furlongs in 1:22 4/5 on the grass last night. She is by More Than Ready.

Confusion reigned before race 3 as a horse (2^nd time starter Valeisha) flipped over before the start, behind the gate and then we saw a view of the horse being led away from the gate without her saddle on and suddenly – they’re off!

The TV hosts were instructing each other what was happening but there was absolutely no delay for people to change their bets.

JU JU BEAST, a half brother to Wanna Runner, is now on a roll with consecutive wins on turf, one for high claiming and then in allowance company yesterday – 7 furlongs in 1:22 3/5 while crushing the field by a half dozen lengths.

The incredibly gorgeous NORTHOLT, by Tethra out of Honoured One, won a maiden allowance for Ontario-sired boys, the 5th race. The colt is owned and bred by Curraghmore and Formal Racing.

“He’s probably the biggest horse I’ve ever trained, he’s huge all over,” said trainer Reade Baker of the colt who was making his 2nd career start.

Race 5 - The Formal racing people – JOHN SCOTT – was not interviewed on TV but he would have been fun to listen too - he won the next race too when GREAT HARRY had a smart ride by Chantal Sutherland to win his first try at 1 1/16 miles. It was his 2^nd consecutive win. The 5yo gelding is by Matter of Honor and was bred by Linda Reinders.

That 5^th race was pretty funny unless you bet the race or had a horse in the race – there were so many bad decisions out of the gate by riders that horses were 6 or 7 wide around the first turn and then some moved their horses way too soon around the last turn leading to a litany of lead changes during the $10,000 claiming race. Trip handicappers had a ball!

PRETTY PRISSY got a well desvered pat by TYLER PIZARRO as she came from the clouds and split fillies to win the 7^th race – his 6^th win in her 20^th start and 2^nd consecutive for $25,000 claiming this year. The Marked Tree chestnut filly was another winner for trainer Robert Tiller.

And the combo of jockey Matt Moore and owner and trainer Ron Sadler won again (Arden Belle in the Sweet Briar Too Stakes last weekend) when CHOIR PRACTICE (a Sadler homebred by Crown Attorney out of Elusive Affair by Bold Revenue) came from nowhere to inhale staggering front runners and win her maiden for $20,000 in her 5^th career start.

Moore and Sadler were in the racing news with Arden Belle last weekend and it was the first stakes win for both but their interview after the race was painful as neither had anything to say.

8^th race trip handicappers could note that EL LACE, making her debut from the one post, broke slowly but was on the lead in a blink and those tactics understandably ruined her for the stretch run.

WARM AND FUZZY (or is that FUNNY?)

At age 7, Funny Cide snaps losing streak
Crowd loves Derby winner

By John Kekis

courtesy AP

FARMINGTON, N.Y. - Funny Cide received a regal reception and responded like a champion.

Four years removed from making a run at a Triple Crown, Funny Cide returned to the winner's circle on Wednesday at a track far removed from the majesty of Churchill Downs.

The 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner captured the 31st running of the $100,000 Wadsworth Memorial Handicap at Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack, driving past pace-setting Johnie Bye Night down the stretch and pulling away by three lengths at the finish.

The 7-year-old Funny Cide had not won in six straight outings, but the 1 1/8-mile test for 3-year-olds and up proved to his liking as a near-record crowd of more than 12,000 cheered his every stride. He covered the distance in 1 minute, 51.77 seconds despite an uncharacteristic slow break from the gate.

"I don't think he cared for the surface," assistant trainer Robin Smullen said. "But he still loves it. He's got dapples from ear to tail. They don't look like that if they're not happy. Hopefully, we can use this as a springboard and keep going. He's healthy and he's happy, so let's have at it."

It was the first time a Derby winner had raced at Finger Lakes since the track opened in 1962 and a rarity in this day and age. In the past six decades, only two other Derby winners - Assault (1946) and Tomy Lee (1959) - have raced at age 7. (Most Derby winners waste little time retiring to stud farms after the Triple Crown races; as a gelding, Funny Cide does not have that option.)

With a light drizzle falling, Funny Cide trailed Johnie Bye Night in fifth entering the first turn. Johnie Bye Night, who had won four straight stakes races at this out-of-the-way track just southeast of Rochester, continued to lead as the field of eight sped along the backstretch.

Alan Garcia, who gave up several mounts at Belmont to ride Funny Cide for the first time, gave him the whip a couple of times as they slowly moved up entering the stretch turn.

Garcia swung Funny Cide to the outside at the top of the stretch and they easily sailed past Tiger Speech and Johnie Bye Night for Funny Cide's 11th victory in 38 starts. The win boosted his career earnings past $3.5 million.

"Funny Cide looks the other horse in the eye and says, 'Let's go. I'm the old man. I'll show you how it's done," said Smullen, who admitted she was a bundle of nerves after her mount's slow start. "We'll figure out in discussions with (trainer) Barclay (Tagg) what we think is next."

Funny Cide, running without blinkers for the first time in three starts, had not won since taking the $200,000 Grade 3 Dominion Day Stakes one year ago at Woodbine but was in the money in each of his last two starts. He returned $4.00, $2.60, and $2.20. Johnie Bye Night paid $3.20 and $3, and Tiger Speech paid $4.40 to show.

Funny Cide, who arrived at dawn, looked calm as he pranced around the gazebo at the center of the paddock with hundreds of fans straining their necks to get a glimpse of the workingman's horse who won the first two legs of thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown.

"We just wanted him to put on a good show in front of the hometown crowd," said Jack Knowlton, one of six former high school buddies from Sackets Harbor, N.Y., who purchased Funny Cide for $75,000 five years ago."

As Funny Cide approached the winner's circle, a beaming Garcia gently tapped his mount on the mane, then raised his left arm in triumph as the horse's owners and close friends, who numbered nearly 100, posed nearby for pictures.

"This is what everybody came to see," Knowlton said. "Nobody's going home disappointed, except the owners of the other seven horses."

"We may not still be on top, but it sure feels like it," said J.P. Constance, another member of the Sackatoga Six.

The Finger Lakes attendance record is 13,066, set July 4, 1962.

TODAY AT WOODBINE

The big fields come to an end tomorrow but today is a good card. The 6^th and 8^th races are intriguing allowance/optional claiming races on Poly and turf.

The 6^th is the return of BARRACUDA BOY, a Frank Stronach homebred by Unbridled’s Song who scaled up from $20,000 claiming to a Grade 3 stakes win last year when winning 5 of 6 starts for trainer Nick Gonzalez.

Gonzalez is not the listed trainer as the gelding starts his 6yo campaign, Sean Smullen is.

The Boy will have to get past Steady Growth Stakes winner EXECUTIVE CHOICE, who was pumped up and speedy when winning that stakes race last time with a 101 Beyer Figure, a career best.

Race 8 is about 1 1/8 miles on turf and trainer ROGER ATTFIELD will try and work more magic with a Gary Tanaka runner – this time JADER, who has not placed in a race in North American yet but he was only 4 lengths behind Sky Conqueror in his only route attempt on turf.

Tough old timers PLEASANT HALL and GET DOWN WOLFIE (8 and 9-years-old old respectively) will make things fun.

STARS SPANGLED

Holiday racing across the border does not get better than that STARS N STRIPES STAKES at Arlington when a brave CLOUDY’S KNIGHT tried to lead all the way in the 1 ½ mile turf race, was passed by ALWAYS FIRST into the stretch and then came on again to make it close.

ANY GIVEN SATURDAY was a logical winner of the Dwyer stakes and HIGH FINANCE won the Tom Fool over COMMENATATOR, a freskishly fast dude who apparently simply can’t stand the heat on the front end.

SNAKE BIT

The latest in horse drugs – SNAKE VENOM. Patrick Biacone apparently had some…

http://www.drf.com/news/article/86373.html

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE HORSES?

Jockeys are now wearing protective gear to avoid getting the Polytrack in their throat. That’s nice. But what about the horses? Should there be something out there we should put over the horses nose and mouth too?

The DRF has a handicapping story by Ron Gierkink about the Polytrack and its kickback (you have to be a subscribe to read the story on-line or pick yourself up a copy).