FINAL FURLONG

Just 6 weeks left at Woodbine as the meet and season wind down. Two days until Trick or Treats!
The Breeders' Cup dust (slop?) has settled and local horsepeople are heading south or heading until the blankets.
There is sure to be some more good performances this season by Canadian-breds (see the Hot Canadian-bred list) and there was a super one at Churchill Downs yesterday...

TWO-YEAR-OLD FILLY OF THE YEAR UPDATE..

AUTHENICAT JUST MISSES IN GRADE 2

ALLSTAR WINS AGAIN

Fog City and Vinery’s AUTHENICAT (D'Wildcat), bred in Hillburgh,Ontario by Gail Wood, led late
 in yesterday’s Grade 2 Pocohontas Stkes at Churchill Downs but was caught nearing the
 wire by Pure Clan.

Her Beyer Figure was not available yet but she had earned a 90 in her previous race, a win
 in the Victorian Queen Stakes.

It was a super effort from yet another lovely 2yo filly that Woodbine has produced in 2007
and that division for Sovereign Award voters will be confusing.

The championship could go to OFFICER CHERRIE, DANCING ALLSTAR, MRS. BEGAN
or AUTHENICAT, just to name a few.

(Incidentally, Wood’s other runner this year out of the mare Authentic Deed, the dam
 of Authenicat, FUDGETHEBOTTOMLINE was third in the Bunty Lawless Stakes at
Woodbine yesterday.)

Read further to see a report on Dancing Allstar’s 4th stakes win of the season yesterday.

LAYING DOWN THE LAW – WOODBINE SUNDAY
(POLYTRACK SIZZLING FAST, LANDRY WINS BOTH STAKES)

 The Polytrack is still very lively and several horses came oh-so close to setting track
records yesterday.

BALLADO DANCER has to be considered one of the best claims of the year simply because
he was taken for $10K and has won twice for Marko Mesic – yesterday in an
 allowance/opt. claimer in 1:15.54, just 2/100’s off the track record for 6 ½ furlongs.
His Beyer was a 92.

The Outflanker Florida-bred is very fast (43 3/5 half-mile split) and fun to watch. He is
fresh and beat up on season-weary dudes like COOL SELECTION and ARE YOUR SERIOUS etc.

Speaking of fresh horses, LEGAL MOVE blew past some nice ones in the Kennedy Road prep
 yesterday, a 3yo by Bold Executive beating older guys like Main Executive etc. The Mark
 Casse trainee was 15 to 1 and the longshot shot on the board in the small field. He has been
 on a short vacation for Woodbine’s leading trainer.

His 1:08.88 time for 6 furlongs was 4/100’s off the track record. He earned a lifetime
 best Beyer of 96.

First-timer SEBASTIAN’S SONG (Cherokee Run – Noble Strike by Smart Strike) earned
 a 74 Beyer Figure for his career debut win for Centennial Farms Niagara and trainer
Alec Fehr. Looks like a nice prospect for the classics next year..

The stakes recaps follow…(courtesy Woodbine Entertainment)

(Note -Rahy’s Attorney – 96 Beyer, lifetime best)

TORONTO, October 28 - Rahy's Attorney recorded his second stakes score

of 2007 and jockey Robert Landry recorded his second stakes win of the

day in the $125,000 Bunty Lawless at Woodbine.

The son of Crown Attorney rallied along the inside of the 'yielding'

E.P. Taylor Turf Course and collared runner-up Archers Alyancer just

past the eighth pole. Fudgethebottomline finished third. 

Rahy's Attorney traveled one mile in 1:37.66.

Landry, who won the Labeeb with Awesome Action in the program's fourth

race, has been aboard for all five of the gelding's victories this

season.

"I think he's a little bit better on the turf. He's just a nice horse.

He tries so hard," said Landry.

A three-year-old is owned by Ellie Boje Farm, Peters, Read and

McClellan, Rahy's Attorney is trained by Ian Black, who said after that

the Bunty Lawless was probably his last start of the season.

The victory was Rahy's Attorney's fifth win in seven starts. He also

won the Vice Regent Stakes on September 2. He has now earned $307,365.

The Bunty Lawless is for Ontario-sired runners aged three and older.

 TAKING ACTION

TORONTO, October 28 - Awesome Action closed furiously down the E.P.

Taylor Turf course to capture Sunday's $100,000 Labeeb Stakes at

Woodbine.

The son of Awesome Again, who also sired Saturday's Breeders' Cup

Distaff winner Ginger Punch, finished a half-length in front of last

year's Labeeb champ Just Rushing. The 2005 Summer Stakes winner Bear's

Kid was a neck further back in third at 25-1.

Awesome Action is owned by Curtis and Nancy Joseph, Don Meehan and Sue

Leslie, who is also his trainer. Now a 10-time winner, he covered one

mile in 1:38.05.

The victory was the seven-year-old gelding's third win in his past five

starts and his second stakes tally of the year.

Jockey Robert Landry said he was worried about the 'yielding' turf

conditions.

"He's the type of horse that would prefer it a little firmer," said

Landry. "He really wasn't comfortable over the surface. He's an old

 guy,

but he's a courageous guy. He gave me everything he had. That's the

thing about horses - when they have a lot of heart and they dig down

deep, sometimes they run through anything."

Awesome Action has enjoyed a tremendous comeback year after he finished

2006 with a 0-for-8 record and just $34,210 in earnings.

With his win in the Labeeb, the Ontario-bred boosts his earnings to

$195,820.

Trainer Sue Leslie said it's hard to explain why he's so much more

productive this season.

"He had a little niggling problem last year," said Leslie. "More than

anything, we got into some traffic jams. It's nobody's fault, the holes

just weren't there. This year, for some reason, the gods have shined

down us and openings have come and he's been able to get his way

through."

Leslie said the Labeeb was Awesome Action's last dance of the year.

"He's earned a rest. He'll probably go to Florida for the winter, but

just to rest, not to run."

Dancing Allstar waltzes past Remarkable Miss

Dennis Feser, Vancouver Sun

Published: Monday, October 29, 2007

There may not be much more travelling in Dancing Allstar's future. But trainer Terry Jordan said he may have mapped a different campaign this season had she proved just a little better in her mid-summer trip to Ontario.

Dancing Allstar trumped four others in Saturday's $109,217 Fantasy for 2-year-old fillies at Hastings Racecourse, crossing 11/16 miles in a solid 1:454/5 to finish two lengths clear of Remarkable Miss.

It was her fourth stakes win of the season, with the first coming in the My Dear at Woodbine in July. Two subsequent runner-up finishes at the Toronto track prompted Jordan to bring her back home.

So when Emerald Downs' three-time stakes-winner Smarty Deb ran fifth in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, the obvious question was whether Jordan had considered that route for Dancing Allstar? "If she had won that second stake in Toronto, when she got beat about 1/8th of an inch, that's where she would have gone," said Jordan, who trains the daughter of Mellennium Allstar for Bob Cheema. "But that kind of changed our thinking. And seeing what happened today [Saturday at Monmouth Park] I think she would have been competitive there."

Jordan denies Dancing Allstar is a speed demon. "We'd just been doing things wrong and since we've corrected them she's won three races," he said. "The other day she went 58 and change easy. Two-year-olds don't do that here."

Leading rider Mario Gutierrez has been aboard for all three of her victories here -- and can expect to partner her again next season. "She will probably be one that will stay here," said Jordan, who also runs horse in Toronto. "There's lots of good races here and there's so much money between here and Alberta now."

Dancing Allstar was the first filly to complete the Sadie Diamond Futurity-Fantasy double since the introduction of the female futurity in 1989. Only Ookashada, last year, and Illusive Force, in 2002, have annexed both Jack Diamond and the middle-distance Ascot Graduation for juvenile colts.

Desert Alf, winner of the Jack D, failed in his bid to complete that double on Sunday, faltering in the final steps by a half-length to Royal Hudson in the $110,994 Ascot Grad at Hastings.

After a fierce pace battle, Desert Alf and Frank Fuentes appeared to take control coming into the stretch, but Richard Hamel guided Royal Hudson from last to first by coming through on the rail. Owned by George Gilbert, Dr. Karl Chan and Glyn Kelly, Royal Hudson was the third Ascot winner for trainer Dave Forster who connected with Torrey Ridge in 1996 and Highland Appeal in 1990.