THREE H'S

It may be September 7 but it's smokin' hot, smoggy, steamy and it sure will be windy later today too. (Bet speed horses in the sprints!).

Yesterday's re-cap and some notes and stories from around the tracks....Ontario's BOLD EXECUTIVE the leading Synthetic Sire in 2007!! (Read on)

LA GRAN ______ (just add name)

Woodbine Thursday

The Fieldstone runners/homebreds are still cleaning up but behold! LA GRAN EMMA (who was ridden by Emma-Jayne Wilson) won her maiden yesterday but is not by the farm’s stallion Compadre. The filly is a daughter of Porto Foricos and was losing the blinkers (after one race with them) yesterday in the $15,000 maiden claimer. She ran down Chariots N Cavalry in the late stages as the latter was hooked up in a pace duel most of the way.

Race 3 was the 7th career win in 30 starts for the Gulch gelding REGAL VALLEY, a $20,000 claim by Sam DiPasquale and Mike Kowalski last April, The gelding has won 6 races in 12 starts for that partnership (!!). He was claimed yesterday by Steve Organ.

Allowance races on Thursday’s card went to some cool runners. RYE ON THE ROCKS, 4yo by Whiskey Wisdom bred by Laurie Silver and Clive Brooks’ Silverbrook Farms, won his 3rd career race in his 20th start and added a bunch more money to his $220,000 bankroll.

The gelding swept around runners late on the turn under Tyler Pizarro, seemed to drift in a bit off the turn (No Dilettante steadied but appeared to be tiring) and drew off to a convincing win.

The 2yo filly allowance, race 4, was a walk in the park for second favourite, 5 to 2, AUTHENICAT, bred by Gail Wood. The D’Wildcat filly, out of Authentic Deed, led from start to finish in 1:17 for 6 ½ furlongs and barely had to be ridden hard by Patrick Husbands.

The filly had finished 7th in the Nandi Stakes to Executrix.

A $150,000 yearling purchase, the Ontario-bred is owned by Vinery and Fog City Stables and trained by Josie Carroll.

Another D’Wildcat, D’Wild Lady, was 2^nd.

AUBURN SPEEDSTER, dropping big time in class (MSW to $25K claiming) won her maiden for trainer Jody Hammet and owner Herb Chambers in race 5. The speedy Slew City Slew – Pride of Maple Ontario bred was pounded down to 4 to 5.

It was Hammet’s 6th win of the season.

The 6th was a $25,000 maiden claiming race - the rail horse,Kintyre broke inward and sluggishly to trail early while Bear Griz streaked to a long lead in 22 3/5. On the turn, the Bear runner was under the gun and under the whip while being surrounded and it was one slow stretch run as everyone started to tire after chasing that one.

From nowhere came BUCKIN FOR GOLD, Gaylin Farms’ Ontario-bred by Gold Case from the Roy mare Roy’s Dreamgirl. Making his 2nd career start, the gelding was first time Lasix for trainer John Charalambous. He was 11th beaten just 5 ¾ lengths in his debut on June 2.

SPREAD THE NEWS won his 3^rd in his last 4 starts for Frank Di Giulio and Robert Tiller in race 7 for $25,000 claiming 3yo’s. The stakes winner won 6 of 13 for the team, which bought him for $65,403 as a yearling. His earnings were about $300,000 – he is now owned by Veronica Attard,who claimed him yesterday.

The turf was in use for a maiden allowance for 2yo fillies and the super mare PAPOOSE, already the dam of multiple winner Shawanaga this year, had a her 2yo daughter SHILLA win her maiden in her 2^nd career start in the 6 furlong dash. A Brian Cullen homebred, Shilla is by Marquetry and is an Ontario-bred.

And trainer TINO ATTARD picked up a win in the finale with Bru-Mel Stables’ SWEET AND CLEAR, a Kentucky bred by Yonaguska, who won for $12,500 claiming with a strong rally.

TWO HORSE DEATHS WEDNESDAY NIGHT

Notes from DAILY RACING FORM

BY BILL TALLON

There were two deaths connected to the fifth race here Wednesday.

Kayla's Comet, a 3-year-old filly owned by Winter Road Racing Corp. and trained by Desmond Maynard, flipped in the paddock and suffered head injuries, leading to her being euthanized.

"We got her out of the paddock, and over to the backstretch, where we treated her," said Greg Taylor, one of the Ontario Racing Commission veterinarians on duty. "We tried to save her, but she showed signs of neurological damage, and after the races we had to put her down."

Leagueofherown, a 3-year-old filly owned and trained by Don Schnell, had a fatal heart attack and fell during the race. Her jockey, Gerry Olguin, was uninjured.

There were three $10,000 claims in for Leagueofherown, and the filly became the property of Stronach Stable and trainer Brian Lynch.

BLOODHORSENOW.com

New daily news publication is big and bold

Today’s edition of the new BloodHorseNow.com newsletter has a list of top Synthetic Sire of 2007 through Sept. 5.

Since Woodbine’s synthetic meeting is the longest, it is not a surprise that an Ontario sire is tops on the list.

BOLD EXECUTIVE has sire the earners of $1.8 million on synthetic surfaces this year with 58 winners and 3 stakes winners.

GIANT’S CAUSEWAY is 2^nd at $1.01 million (most thanks to Mike Fox), followed by EL CORREDOR, A.P. INDY and TIZNOW.

To sign up for BloodHorsenow.com, well, go to that link!

BIAMONTE WINS AT PRESQUE ISLE

Ontario horsemen have already been frequenting the newly opened PRESQUE ISLE DOWNS in Erie, Penn. and its Tapeta footing.

Trainer RALPH BIAMONTE won a race on Wednesday with WHISPER LOUDLY, a Kentucky bred by Real Quiet, an allowance race with a purse of $73,500 (!!).

In all Biamonte raced three on the card.

Yesterday, JOHNNY HOLLYWOOD was 4^th for Biamonte (old gelding is co-owned by Jody Hammett) in a starter allowance for $10,000, the purse was $53,200.

MONKEY BUSINESS

From ABCNEWS.COM (which had a feature on The Green Monkey last night)

Me and the Green Monkey

September 06, 2007 7:37 PM

Associate producer Catherine Cole blogs:

We arrived at Belmont Park early Wednesday morning. Crowing roosters welcomed us to the stables, where dozens of horses live.

In a dark stall, at the end of the hallway, lives The Green Monkey, the $16 million dollar horse. His owners named him after an exclusive golf course in Barbados. His face is very distinctive -- he has a wide white stripe that runs from his eyes to his mouth. As we trained the camera on him, he couldn't stop looking back at us. He has a reputation around the barn as being curious. Cameraman Tom Budai found out that he was. The Green Monkey lifted his head and pricked his ears as if to say, "I'm here and ready for my close-up".

People around the barn take his personality with good humor. Anna Seitz, the barn manager for Todd Pletcher Racing Stables, told correspondent Ryan Owens, "He's very smart and he likes to have fun. He's not a mean horse. He just has a lot of personality, and he's real feisty all the time." Seitz was raised on a farm in Versailles, Kentucky -- real horse country - -and she's been around horses all her life. But never a horse with such a high price tag.

"Whenever anybody wants to come to the barn and see what I do it’s fun to bring them by and show [a] very, very valuable horse," she said.

Anna led us to the track to watch The Green Monkey train. From my own untrained eye, he looked impressive as he sped past the camera. But this was only practice for him. He has never run in a real race; they're waiting for the perfect race.

No one has ever paid this much for a two-year-old. The Green Monkey was caught up in the battle between a sheikh from Dubai and an Irish tycoon who both bid on him. He caught their eye when he set a new record during one of his test runs. Jeremy Plonk, editor of Horseplayer Magazine, tells ABC News, "These two superpowers in the thoroughbred auction market have been at it for years now. And they're always trying to top one another. They want the best stock on the race track which in turn then will give them the best breeding stock down the line." And that is the chance that owners of The Green Monkey are betting on. I think they'd love him to be a racing champion, but if he never enters the winner's circle he wouldn't be a waste of money. They could put him out to stud, where he might sire future champions.

All of this may weigh heavy on the minds of men, but not for The Green Monkey. As he returned to the stables at the end of his work-out, he moved with confidence and with the gait of a champion. Only time will tell if he becomes one.

GET IN THE GAME!

Okay, so this is a Quarter Horse story….

Still, nice yarn from Orange County Register

A racehorse named Bikers Bono

15 horse lovers buy equal shares in a promising young gelding.

By SCOTT MARTINDALE

The Orange County Register

First of two parts

LOS ALAMITOS - Fifteen pairs of eyes lock on a racehorse named Bikers Bono.

Bikers stands restless in his stall, waiting for the starting gate to open. The annual Governor’s Cup Futurity race will pit Bikers against some of the fastest 2-year-olds in the world, and $400,000 is at stake.

For 15 horse enthusiasts who collectively own Bikers, the night represents more than just money – it is the culmination of months of watching their gelding unexpectedly edge out the racing competition to become a star.

Bikers is no ordinary horse, and there is little ordinary about his 15 “parents” either.

The black-and-brown quarter horse is owned by a group of mostly women from rural Orange Park Acres in eastern Orange. They are neighbors, friends and lifelong horse lovers, and they each own one of 15 equal shares of Bikers – an unusual arrangement that has helped them grow closer to one another and share in the joys of horse racing together, they say.

“If this horse doesn’t win tonight, you’re going to see about 15 women faint,” says one of Bikers’ male owners, Arthur Gordon, 65, of Orange Park Acres. “This is really the ladies’ horse.”

Although most of Bikers’ owners live in or near Orange County, some hail from as far away as Orland, about 100 miles north of Sacramento, and Canyon Lake near Lake Elsinore. They all are here July 28 with friends and family to be part of Bikers’ big night at Los Alamitos Race Course.

The undefeated Bikers has the fastest qualifying time of the nine horses in the 350-yard race. Still, the owners are nervous.

“Go, Bikers, go!” they shout as the starting gate opens at about 11:30 p.m.

Hooves pound against the dirt track. The crowd in the grandstand goes wild. It is the final and biggest race of the night.

In about 15 seconds, it will be over.


They call themselves the Track Pack or the Track Rats.

The 15 owners range in age from their 20s to their 60s and hold jobs such as real estate investor, day spa owner and clothing company CEO. Among them are Bikers’ trainer Charles Treece, 49, and interior designer Kelli Ellis, 37, who has been featured on cable TV shows like HGTV’s “Takeover My Makeover.”

Within their group, they’ve designated an unofficial social secretary (Linda Cannon, who hosts regular get-togethers for the owners at her Orange Park Acres home), a treasurer (Cindy Davidson, who handles all of Bikers’ bills and winnings), and an unofficial historian (Michael Hanna, who can recall racing stats instantly).

They all know how lucky they are to have come this far with Bikers.



“It’s never about buying the most expensive horse and expecting it to win,” said Los Alamitos Race Course spokesman Orlando Gutierrez. “A lot of it is just luck. Everybody is trying to develop a star.”

Bikers has defied the odds to become a darling of the winners circle. His first race, an entry-level dash known as an “allowance” race on May 20 in Los Alamitos, won him first place and a prize of about $7,000. In a second allowance race June 21 at Los Alamitos, he again crossed the finish line first and collected another $7,000.

Then, on July 13, Bikers ran in the qualifying trials for Los Alamitos’ $400,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity race, a race in which owners start paying entry fees several months in advance in anticipation they will race a future star. Again, Bikers came in first place, securing his spot in the biggest race of his owners’ lives.

“People have racehorses for years that don’t win,” said part-owner Kathy Tovatt, 58, of Orange Park Acres. “It is such a fluke to have a racehorse that wins every time.”


Maintaining a racing horse is a costly endeavor. A healthy horse costs about $2,000 a month in food, lodging, veterinary and jockey fees. Bikers’ price when he was purchased by Treece at a Los Alamitos track auction in October was $15,000. Although the group was fully prepared to foot all the bills, Bikers began paying his own way when he began winning.


The group first got the idea to buy a racing horse while at an annual dance and silent auction to raise money to maintain Orange Park Acres’ 26 miles of horse trails. As a core group of would-be owners sat around a table at the Denim and Diamonds fundraiser at the Orange Hill Restaurant, the idea of collectively owning a racehorse began to evolve.

“By the end of the night – with no alcohol involved – we decided it would be fun to buy a racing horse,” Cannon said. “We needed a very special trainer, someone who was going to be able to deal with 15 people and 15 different personalities.”

Jane Rosenberg, 50, one of the owners, suggested her friend, Treece, a trainer from Rossmoor who worked at Los Alamitos.

Treece agreed, and at an Oct. 6 race and horse auction at Los Alamitos, Treece found a 1-year-old, brown-and-black gelding named Bikers Bono, named after his mother, Biker Babe, and his father, Bono Jazz. Treece saw potential in this horse that wasn’t even old enough to begin training.

The day after Bikers was purchased, some of the new owners drove out to Los Alamitos Race Course to meet their $15,000 gelding. When they arrived, they noticed a trailer pulling away from the track grounds. Bikers, they would soon discover, was on board.


Bikers, as it turned out, was on his way back to the ranch in Fresno where he was born. The only way to see him before he began spring training with Treece in Los Alamitos was to make the trek up to Northern California.

So they did. They stayed together at a Comfort Suites in nearby Clovis on a Saturday night and drove the next morning to the ranch of legendary horse breeder Spencer Childers.

Bikers was small and lean, they recalled of first seeing him. His brown hair was so dark that it blended seamlessly with the black hair on his mane, tail and lower legs. And he had no markings, no small patches of light-colored hair.

It may have been love at first sight, but never did they imagine this horse would put them in the winner’s circle – not just once, but three times.

His breeder, on the other hand, says he knew it all along.

“When I saw him run the first time, I knew he’d get this far,” Childers, 95, says on race night. “I had no doubt.”

On July 28, when an undefeated Bikers steps onto the track for the $400,000 Governor’s Cup, the owners know the defining race of Bikers’ career has come.

They walk to their “sweet spots” – locations in the grandstand where they always stood for good luck – and wait.

Bikers has never let them down before.

(Part 2, click link..)

http://www.ocregister.com/life/bikers-race-owners-1840667-racing-special