SNOW BUNNIES

(KINGARVIE, one of the all-time great Canadian-breds. Courtesy Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame)

Kingarvie – Hall of Famer honoured today

(with files from the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame)

The 33^rd Kingarvie Stakes will be run at Woodbine today, an Ontario sired race for 2yo’s for $125,000.

The race is named for an incredible racehorse, a Canadian bred, who was an iron horse (169 starts, 30 wins).

Here’s a short bio of the lanky chestnut:

Kingarvie, an implacable individual who certainly would not have won an equine beauty contest, was a stringy chestnut gelding with a long, skinny neck and a heart as big as a cannon ball. He toiled for ten years, competing in stakes races from Canada to Florida. He ended his career in 1953 in a $2,000 claiming race in Detroit with earnings of $97,700, a record for a Canadian-bred. His remarkable career showed 169 starts, with 30 wins, 21 seconds and 27 thirds.

Owned by R.S. (Sam) McLaughlin’s Parkwood Stable of Oshawa, he won the King’s Plate in 1946 with such facility that not one of his sleek red hairs was ruffled when he tiptoed back to the winner’s circle. Sent off at odds of 1-to-2 he splashed home over a rain-drenched Woodbine track before a crowd of 30,000. Kingarvie was trained by Arthur Brent and lost his first two races at age two, but then ran together a string of ten consecutive wins, including the Coronation Futurity, Mrs. Orpen’s Cup and Saucer and the Clarendon Plate, followed by wins at age three in the Plate Trial and the King’s Plate.

Later in 1946 he placed second to Windfields in the Breeders’ Stakes before capturing the Canadian International Championship at Long Branch. At age four he won the Hallandale Handicap at Gulfstream, was second in the Tropical Park Handicap and third in Bougainvillea at Hialeah. At Woodbine that year he won the King Edward Gold Cup and finished in the money in that prestigious race for two more years. Kingarvie’s final stakes triumph came in 1950 in Montreal when he equalled the track record in capturing the Cattarinich Memorial Handicap at Blue Bonnets.

Today’s Kingarvie is a big test for STUCK IN TRAFFIC, one of the year’s top 2yo’s and a very fast runner who will try and stretch out his speed around 2 turns. If he does well, the Nick Gonzalez team will take him to Florida to get ready for the Queen’s Plate. If not, he stays home. But the Kiridashi fellow has sure done well to this point with 3 wins in 7 races and $250,900. He was bred by Minshall Farms.

If David Clark cannot help him win at the trip, then many could upset. Maidens BOLD SUSPECT and DANCEINGALL THEWAY and LADY’S FIRST CAT could be the spoilers but Stuck in Traffic sure would have to flop for that to happen.

YESTERDAY AT WOODBINE

HUSBANDS STILL ROLLING, POLYTRACK “PERFECT”

The Polytrack got race reviews from all kinds of horsemen yesterday and it sure did look fluffy and nice during the afternoon (and during intermittent snow flurries).

How happy is GREAT ADDICTION when the Mike Doyle team has him in its care? He was claimed back by Doyle and Bill Duffy’s Dura Racing 2 starts ago and he won yesterday for $19,000 with a rail rally. He looked great in pre-race and then was trying to runaway after the race too. Emma Jayne Wilson rides him well.

Claimed from the race was ST REGS, the 3^rd consecutive time the fellow changed barns. He was 3^rd in another good effort and he now goes to the barn of Arthur Silvera.

Heavily favoured CHAPLAIN seemed to be playing around when he edged away to win the 2^nd race for $40,000. The Touch Gold Ontario bred was one of 4 wins for leading jockey Patrick Husbands.

Race 3 went to a well prepared first timer, ANGEL’S LUCKY DAY, who was allowed to find her stride early in the 7 furlong maiden race for $32,000 and then the light grey filly roared down the stretch and was up to win by a snout over Laurel Byrne’s 2^nd time starter Dunraven.

The winner is a full sister to debut winner Chicago W.S. and is by Trajectory – Bold Ever More by Bold Executive. She was bred by Grinsteins Stable and is trained by John Charalambous.

The first leg of the Pick 4 went to favoured MIZ YA BEAUX for Rochard Englander. She was winning for the 4^th time in her last 5 races and was taking an edge in the $10,000 starter allowance.

The 2yo Raj Waki colt MONEY SPITTER won his 2^nd career start in a maiden allowance for Ontario sired fellows in race 5 for owner Laurie Silvera. He was a $5,300 (US) purchase locally and was bred by Robert and Linda Fawns. Cool Hand Duke rallied inside in a good effort in his debut and he’s by the solid sire Trajectory.

Five-year-old CIRCLE BOUND won his maiden for $15,000 with a wide rally in race 6 at 7 to 2 for Audre Cappuccitti and the last leg of the Pick 4 went to ANDALUSIAN, who came back on in deep stretch to win after High Table had passed him. The big grey won for $20,000 and it was his 2^nd race since adding Lasix.

Jockey Rob Landry picked up the mount on WILD PISTOLA in race 8 and she was up to win the $12,500 claimer. The tough Florida bred by Wild Wonder was winning for the 3^rd time in 9 starts this year.

The 2yo R Cooper filly MIMI COOPER is now 2 for 2 in her career as she was up to win the 9^th race for $32,000 at 5 1/2 furlongs. The Geoff Roy filly is trained by Wray Lawrence .She was 13 to 1 and beat favoured Brahms Beauty, who was claimed by Dindyal Persaud.

The finale went to heavily favoured PRIZED CONQUEST (as mentioned here yesterday, these Bill Sorokolit droppers are winning frequently right now) who beat longshot Highland Connor to win his maiden for $10,000.

DERBY DREAMING??

Story on NOTGIVINMYLOVEAWAY

from phillyBurbs.com

Reade Baker came to Philadelphia Park with Notgivinmyloveaway thinking he had a promising 2-year-old colt.

After the Woodbine invader recorded a 5-length win in the $75,000 Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes last Saturday, Baker plans to take Notgivinmyloveaway from his home-base in Toronto to Gulfstream Park this winter and put him on the road for a possible run in the Kentucky Derby.

“We can dream as big as we can dream,” Baker said.

Because Smarty Jones, winner of the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and Hard Spun, one of the top horses in North America this year, went on to meteoric careers after winning the Nursery, the race has generated more attention than your regular $75,000, 7-furlong stakes race restricted to statebred horses.

And since Notgivenmyloveaway was so dominant in his win, it’s hard not to keep an eye on him a little bit this winter.

Baker said that he will see how Notgivinmyloveaway handles a two-turn race next. The Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream, in South Florida, could be the horse’s next start.

Gulfstream might be the toughest place to be in the winter with a promising 3-year-old. It always seems that’s where so many of the top contenders bang heads for the first four months of the year.

But Baker doesn’t appear to have any inclination of looking for an alternative route and seems to be looking forward to matching up against the heavy hitters.

“Who knows,” Baker said. “He won pretty easy [in the Nursery].”

He sure did. Double Down Vinman, the much ballyhooed 6-5 favorite, got hooked up in a wild early speed duel with 33-1 outsider Pennsylvaniaexpress, going the opening half mile in a blistering 44.99 seconds on a chilly late Saturday afternoon.

When local rider Jorge Duarte, Jr. decided to make his move with Notgivinmyloveaway at the top of the stretch, Double Down Vinman had nothing in the tank to ward off a challenge. Instead, the stretch was all for Notgivinmyloveaway with the D. Wayne Lukastrained Sweet Sugar coming on late for second. Double Down Vinman did manage to hold on to finish a distant third.

Baker said he had a very good feeling about the race when the 12 horses entered to run took to the paddock.

“I knew he was a nice horse all along,” Baker said. “His Poly numbers weren’t as a good as they probably should be. I thought we had a heck of a chance when we got to the paddock. He just looked super in the paddock, better than any other horse.”

Baker doesn’t venture to Philadelphia Park very much, but when he does, it’s always been a successful trek south of the Canadian border.

He was jockey Gary Stahlbaum’s agent when Stahlbaum guided Afleet to victory in the 1987 Pennsylvania Derby. Baker wouldn’t return for 20 years. He brought Bear Now down from Woodbine and she won the $750,000 Grade II Fitz Dixon Cotillion Handicap in late September.

CANADIAN HORSE RANKINGS

Courtesy KENNEDY'S CORRIDOR

Fellow blogger Kennedy's Corridor (www.kennedyscorridor.blogspot.com) has a formula for ranking championship horses and has provided THOROUGHBLOG with Canadian rankings for 2007...

(yes some of the numbers are cut off and i can't fix it...sorry..also there is a lot of white space after it and then yesterday's stuff follows)...

Here's an excerpt from his site that explains the rankings, followed by the Canadian rankings

For those of you who don't know the TCR (Thoroughbred Championship Rankings) is a project I've been working on for three years now. The stated goal is to "accurately assess the accomplishments of horses and assemble them into rankings that could be used as a sort of pro-tem standings that fans could easily follow during the year." You can see how the TCR has performed since 1999 by clicking on this link .

One could say it's sort of like a speed figure. A speed figure tries to take all the factors in a particular race and boil them down to one number that you can compare universally. The TCR tries to take the accomplishments of a given horse and make it into one number that can be compared with others. Accomplishments should not be the sole determinant of year end awards just like the highest speed figure does not make a horse the definite race winner but I do believe that they should form a large part of the consideration. Once the year is over Kennedy's Corridor will once again host the TCR Awards where the rankings and votes are given 50% weight in determining the final outcome. Your votes will be much appreciated.

The TCR takes more factors into account than simply placings in graded stakes. Earnings, weight given, ungraded races and winning streaks are part of the equation that leads to the final number. One of the real strengths of the system is that all divisions can be compared side by side because of the reduction scale that is in place. A G-1 for older males is worth more than a G-1 for 2yo females. Those divisions are the high and low ends of the scale and every division is reduced somewhere between those levels. All of these factors are not exclusive to American racing so from time to time you'll see some rankings from Canada and Europe, as data and my free time allow.

2007
Horse	Total		Older Male	Total		Older Female	Total
Cloudy's Knight	204.44		True Metropolitan	133.36		Monashee	88.52
Sealy Hill	201.86		Test Boy	59.75		Financingavailable	63.88
Jambalaya	191.70		Arthurlooksgood	53.86		She's Italian	51.58
Sky Conqueror	140.00		Car Keys	53.04		Arden Belle	48.56
True Metropolitan	133.36		Judiths Wild Rush	45.56		She's Indy Money	48.28
Alezzandro	100.58
Monashee	88.52
Eccentric	88.50		Turf Male	Total		Turf Female	Total
Kodiak Kowboy	84.41		Cloudy's Knight	204.44		Sealy Hill	201.86
Mike Fox	83.98		Sky Conqueror	140.00		Essential Edge	50.70
Marchfield	76.90		Eccentric	88.50		You Will Love Me	31.86
Bear Now	74.08		Marchfield	76.90		The Niagara Queen	31.30
Financingavailable	63.88		Rahy's Attorney	50.90		Silky Smooth	30.62
Footprint	61.02
Test Boy	59.75
Jiggs Coz	59.34		Sprinter	Total
Just Rushing	58.28		Bear Now	74.08
Arthurlooksgood	53.86		Financingavailable	63.88
Car Keys	53.04		Just Rushing	58.28
Sir Gallovic	52.22		She's Italian	51.58
She's Italian	51.58		She's Indy Money	48.28
Strike Softly	51.42
Rahy's Attorney	50.90
Essential Edge	50.70		3yo Male	Total		3yo Female	Total
Arden Belle	48.56		Alezzandro	100.58		Sealy Hill	201.86
She's Indy Money	48.28		Mike Fox	83.98		Bear Now	74.08
Leonnatus Anteas	47.84		Marchfield	76.90		Dance To My Tune	44.94
Awesome Action	45.88		Footprint	61.02		Saskawea	44.42
Deputiformer	45.80		Jiggs Coz	59.34		Alpine Garden	42.17
Mikayla's Baby	45.56
Judiths Wild Rush	45.56
Littlemiss Allison	45.18		2yo Male	Total		2yo Female	Total
Dance To My Tune	44.94		Kodiak Kowboy	84.41		Littlemiss Allison	45.18
Saskawea	44.42		Deputiformer	45.80		Dancing Allstar	34.86
Last Answer	43.40		Mikayla's Baby	45.56		Officer Cherrie	24.20
Lake Secret	43.30		Bear Holiday	38.74		Mrs. Began	21.88
BR Remark	42.72		Kesagami	36.46		Victory Romance	20.44
Alpine Garden	42.17
Tanika	40.48
Dancer's Bajan	39.68
Like A Gem	39.08
Bear Holiday	38.74
Palladio	38.50
Le Cinquieme Essai	37.42
Artie Hot	37.02
Kesagami	36.46
Dancing Allstar	34.86
You Will Love Me	31.86
The Niagara Queen	31.30
Silky Smooth	30.62
Napa	30.34
Vestrey Lady	30.22
My List	29.95
Stradivinsky	28.96
Legal Move	28.04
Star Prospector	27.61
Windward Islands	26.22
Stuck In Traffic	25.16
Officer Cherrie	24.20
Speak Wisely	22.44
Mrs. Began	21.88
Globetrotter	21.58
Victory Romance	20.44
Turf War	16.75
Clearly Foxy	15.94
Authenicat	15.59
Don's Folly	13.30
Bears Artiste	12.48
Wind In My Wings	12.34
Alvena	9.12
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