CIVIC DUTY

Not a lot of press today for the BREEDERS' STAKES but it is expected to gather speed by the time the race is run on Sunday. The long Civic Holiday weekend essentially starts today.
It is hard not to laugh at some of the comments from readers discussing the merits of televising racing - at least everyone is passionate about the game.

$500,000 BREEDERS STAKES ON SUNDAY

(see field box in yesterday's post)

(from the TORONTO STAR)

There may not be the chance of a Canadian Triple Crown winner this year but champion 3-year-old colt honours could be at stake Sunday in the $500,000 Breeders’ Stakes at Woodbine.

A field of 10 drew for posts yesterday to contest the third jewel of the Triple Crown, the longest event of the series at a testing 1 ½ miles and the only race of the three that is contested on grass.

Mike Fox, the Queen’s Plate winner on Woodbine’s Polytrack surface, is looking to re-claim his crown after being dusted over Fort Erie’s traditional dirt by Alezzandro in the Prince of Wales Stakes.

And there are upset possibilities in the field including Marchfield, the colt with the best grass breeding in the field and from the red-hot Eugene Melnyk stable which won both stakes races at Woodbine last weekend.

Mike Fox drew post two for the Breeders’ with Alezzandro starting in post eight and Marchfield drawing the farthest outside with post 10.

The turf will not be a question for Mike Fox, who possesses a rich, European-flavoured pedigree and was third in last year’s Cup and Saucer Stakes in his only other grass attempt.

“He has no problem with the turf,” said trainer Ian Black. “It’s the 1 ½ mile distance – can he go that far? Well, I just don’t know.”

Indeed, the colt’s dam, Alexis, was a graded stakes winner on the grass but had her distance limitations – 1 1/8 miles was as far as his dam could stretch her stamina.

Mike Fox’s sire, Giant’s Causeway, is the leading turf sire in North America this year but was at his best at distances shorter than 1 ¼ miles.

As for Alezzandro, trainer Kevin Attard is not worried about the distance of the race for his speedy colt or the fact that Sam-Son Farms has entered a ‘rabbit’, Storm the Castle, to ensure a fast pace for a stablemate, the maiden Walk With Kings.

“If they want to go a ridiculous pace up front, that’s fine,” said Attard. “He doesn’t need the lead to win.”

Attard was also pleased that Alezzandro, who has the big, round and flat hooves that tend to handle grass racing, worked with verve on the turf earlier this week.

But it is the rapid rise to stardom that has Attard somewhat questioning the colt’s chances on Sunday.

“"He's had a tight schedule," said Attard. "He's progressed each time he's run. Hopefully, the streak continues and he keeps taking those steps forward and we haven't seen the best of him yet."

Marchfield was a flop in both the Plate and Prince of Wales but the son of world-class sire A.P. Indy was produced from the multiple stakes winning mare Pico Teneriffe, who won $500,000 on the grass for Melnyk.

WOODBINE ON A STEAMY FRIDAY

Not a lot of relief weather-wise so the horses and humans will have it tough today for the nine-race card – which kicks off 4 days of racing on the Civic Holiday weekend.

The feature is a modest group of Ontario sired non-winners of 3 at 1 1/16 miles in race 2.

Stakes placed RED RAFFLES by Bold N’ Flashy attempts the distance for the first time while tackling GONE TRAJECTORY, an impressive winner of his season debut.

Races 7 and 8 that start the last Pick 3 are intriguing maiden events on the grass for fillies and mares – one is at one mile for Ontario-sired gals, the other at 7 furlongs for ‘open’ company.

Half-sisters BAYWOODS (Archers Bay – Palmetto Bay) and MARTIN’S BAY (Graeme Hall-Palmetto Bay) have a chance to win the 7^th and 8^th respectively for the Melnyk Stable and trainer Mark Casse.

MANITOBA DERBY on Monday

Busy ‘Angel’ sent west

The field for the 56th running of the $100,000 Manitoba Lotteries Derby was announced yesterday at Assiniboia Downs and Toronto invader Angel of the House is the 5-2 favourite in the 12-horse field for the race on Monday afternoon.

Trained by David Cotey at Woodbine, Angel of the House is followed closely in the odds by Derby Trial winner Rage Till Dawn at 3-1 and Chicago invader Great Discovery at 7-2.

It will be strictly a business trip for Angel of the House, who is expected to arrive in Winnipeg sometime today.

QUICK GALLOP

"I'll talk to the trainer and discuss how the horse has been running, what he likes, what he doesn't like and then we'll go from there," said jockey Rohan Singh, who will take Angel of the House out for a quick gallop tomorrow as his only prep run for the race.

Rage Till Dawn stormed into Winnipeg last month after being claimed at Hollywood Park for $32,000 to edge favourites Country Humor and Western Deed in the Derby Trial.

Owners Robert and Rob Nokes believe he's the horse they've been searching for all summer.

"The real big kicker is when you look at his form there was a horse he ran against called Amazing Blue," Rob explained. "Amazing Blue won the Alberta Derby. Rage till Dawn doesn't like the turf. He got beat by Amazing Blue by three lengths on turf ... so he gets beat on a track he doesn't really care for by the Alberta Derby winner. I am sitting there going this is too good to be true.

"We watched all the replays, made sure this was a dirt horse that could run a mile and a eighth, a mile and a quarter. Then (trainer) Clay (Brinson) did his homework, checking to make sure he was sound.

"We wouldn't have got a horse unless we got a horse that we believed would at least be respectful in the race."

Shyman Farms and trainer Martin Drexler have brought Great Discovery, Weather Warning and Big Chief in from Arlington Park in Chicago specifically for the Derby.

"The nice thing about these three is that they are fast," Drexler said. "Whether they are going to get close, it's a huge question mark.

"They are the real deal these horses, except for some distance limitations we have to deal with. We're going to try not to use up too much (energy) early."

Lurking behind the invaders is trainer Emile Corbel's Western Deed, who finished third in the Derby Trial and second in the Golden Boy Stakes earlier this summer at the Downs.

"I like the hole Western Deed got," Corbel said of his horse drawing the first and inside position at the post.

"I had him too close the other day (in the Derby Trial). It was my own fault. I told the rider to get him up there close to Country Humor, but he won't be up there this time. I am going to take him back. There's going to be lots of speed. I hope to be sitting fifth or sixth along the rail.

"If you go wide on the first turn, you're dead. It's tough to come back on the spread."

It truly is Derby Weekend this August long at the Downs with five stakes races taking place Sunday and Monday, including the Winnipeg Sun Stakes, which will be the feature race Sunday afternoon.