HUGE

There were lots of good things about the SUPER BOWL yesterday (e.g.the finish and the result for the non-fans of Tom Brady out there!).

But this commercial had to be the highlight of the evening…HANK THE CLYDESDALE!

YESTERDAY – SONG SHAN, 94 BEYER

The regally bred SONG SHAN, a Canadian foaled colt by Golden Missile-Primal Force, Blushing Groom, doubled up in Florida when he won an allowance race yesterday at Gulfstream.

The colt ran 7 furlongs in 1:22.34, good for a 94 Beyer Figure.

The Adena Springs homebred is leased by Stronach Stables. He is a half-brother to AWESOME AGAIN, MACHO UNO and the mare has a 3yo named Golden Dynasty who is unraced.

TRIPLE CROWN NOMS RELEASED

On yesterday's post I included the locally connected horses and Canadian-breds nominated to the American Triple Crown.

FROM SOUTH CHINA MORNING NEWS..

(Emma-Jayne Wilson's first day riding in Hong Kong: cold weather, a close finish!)

Wilson's first day a learning experience

ALAN AITKEN

Emma-Jayne Wilson must have felt right at home at arctic Sha Tin yesterday, where racing fans were treated to everything but snow. The Canadian's first meeting went without a hitch and even gave her the sniff of a winner.

Wilson's home track of Woodbine in Toronto is in recess for winter and she needn't have left home to find yesterday's conditions.

"I thought I had left this sort of weather behind in Canada. Everyone has told me this is one of the coldest days ever!" she said after completing her first day as the first foreign woman to be licensed as a Hong Kong club jockey.

With Howard Cheng Yue-tin standing down from his later rides with a fever, Wilson added two pick-up rides to her book of mounts, Syllabus and Dordenma, and the latter finished strongly from the rear to even loom as a knockout chance at the 200 metres before finishing a very close fifth to Jackpot Delight.

"Well, it was a good day for my first day and I got a good feeling of how things are done here, the ins and outs of Hong Kong racing," she said. "When it all comes down to it, though, I'm out there to do a job and with a little more luck, I'm hoping there will be a couple of winners in the near future."

Wilson couldn't be faulted for her display on the John Moore-trained Gold Gem in the fourth - the shortest-priced of her mounts - but the gelding simply wasn't up to the job in finishing sixth.

While Wilson did a good job on the track, she realises that there are challenges ahead in her work off the track here.

"The response I've had from people here has been very good, but of course it's a whole new way for me in Hong Kong," she explained. "At home, I'm used to having an agent who hustles me rides and organises my works in the mornings, so that will be different. That looks a challenge, but I'm always up for a challenge. It should be good."

From the San Bernadino Sun...

Santa Anita hit by another washout

Art Wilson, Staff Writer

Article Launched: 02/03/2008 10:18:11 PM PST

ARCADIA - Mother Nature rained on Santa Anita's Super Bowl Sunday card, and the result was the eighth cancellation of the winter-spring meet.

If you're scoring at home, that's 22 racing days Santa Anita has snuck in and soon to be 10 cancellations if you count today and Thursday, which earlier were canceled to allow for maintenance to fix the Cushion Track's drainage problem.

Management made the latest cancellation official at 8:45 a.m. after conferring with jockeys, trainers and track maintenance personnel. They decided overnight rain and a forecast that called for more showers were too much for the controversial $10 million-plus artificial surface to overcome.

"This decision was really made for the safety of the horses and riders," Santa Anita president Ron Charles said. "It might have been possible to get one or two races in ... but with the safety issue and too much water accumulating in certain areas, this is not a dirt track where we can manipulate a lot of it.

"Hopefully, this is the last day we're going to have to do this."

The weather, of course, will have a huge say in that.

The Cushion Track will be reformulated with a polymer binder and fiber that track officials hope will solve the drainage problem and allow for racing to resume Friday with a pick-six carryover of $181,514. But work, originally scheduled to begin following the final race Sunday, can't be done until the rain stops and the track is dry. It's believed the project will take four days of around-the-clock work.

There is a possibility racing won't resume until Saturday, when Santa Anita will host a trio of stakes races, including the $250,000 San Antonio Handicap that originally was scheduled for Sunday and serves as the final major prep for the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 1.

"We're still shooting for (racing) next Friday," Charles said. "I have a feeling we're going to know pretty well where we're going to be either by (this afternoon) or Tuesday morning as to how good Friday looks."

According to weather.com, mostly sunny skies are forecast through Sunday, which would enable track superintendent Richard Tedesco and his crew to complete the job in time for racing to begin again Saturday at the latest.

Santa Anita had been forced to cancel only eight racing days in its history before this 85-day meet, which ends April 20.

Two days were canceled in 1952 because of rain effects on roads, two were wiped out in 1993 because the main track was closed for training and two were lost in 1995 because of rain. Two racing days - Jan. 8, 1995 and Jan. 9, 2005 - were canceled after the first race because of rain.

Charles has said Santa Anita will ask the California Horse Racing Board for additional dates within the next 10 days to make up for the cancellations, which is expected to be a slam dunk. Charles said the makeup dates most likely would include Wednesdays in March and April, making for some six-day race weeks. Additional races also could be added to week-day programs.

Pro-Ride founder Ian Pearse, who has been in Southern California for much of the past month running tests at the USC civil engineering department for a solution to the Cushion Track problem, now is in charge of the renovation at Santa Anita.

Charles said Cushion Track officials, including technical adviser Paul Harper, are out of the picture.

"I've been unable to get a hold of them, and they haven't been here for weeks," he said recently.

Cushion Track did manage to sell three of its synthetic tracks to venues in Australia in recent weeks.

Santa Anita will be open for simulcast wagering Wednesday and Thursday, with free general admission offered. Hollywood Park also will be open the same two days.

OCALA 2YO SALE FIRST GALLOP SHOW

You could have watched a live feed of the workout show for the upcoming OBS sale yesterday and if you did, you saw some quick youngsters and a very fast SAFETRACK surface at the OBS sales property.

There are no Canadian-breds in the 172 horse catalogue.

The sale is on Feb. 12.

Here is a re-cap from THE BLOOD-HORSE…

Times Fast at OBS Show

by Deirdre B. Biles

Date Posted: February 3, 2008

Last Updated: February 3, 2008

Times were sizzling Sunday in Central Florida as the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. (OBS) held its first under tack show for a juvenile auction over its new Safetrack synthetic surface. Fourteen horses entered in the OBS February select sale of 2-year-olds in training each breezed an eighth of a mile in :10, and a Hold That Tiger colt set the pace at a quarter, stopping the clock in :20 4/5.

During last year's first under tack show for the same auction, when the track surface was dirt, the fastest times were :10 1/5 (posted by 13 horses) for an eighth and :21 (posted by three horses) for a quarter.

"You're always on pins and needles before the first under tack show, but we couldn't be more pleased," said Tom Ventura, the OBS general manager and director of sales. "We had to delay the start of the show for about an hour because of fog, but other than that, we thought it went off very well. The track was very consistent from the morning into the afternoon."

Pinhooker Niall Brennan also praised the consistency of the track throughout the show. In addition, he said, '"It seemed like it was very safe. The horses seemed like they galloped out very well, and they seemed like they came out of it very well. It was great seeing horses do well and not taking bad steps. It (the track) is at least one tick (fifth of a second) faster than your average dirt track, and it might even be two ticks faster."

The swift Hold That Tiger colt was produced from the winning 10-year-old Gulch mare French Factor. He is consigned by W. D. North Thoroughbreds, agent for Tony Bowling, Bobby Dodd, and North. Bowling and Dodd purchased the chestnut colt for $75,000 at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling auction.

The 13 juveniles that shared the honors for the fastest eighth included three consigned by Eisaman Equine, agent: a Silver Deputy -- Daisy Dukes filly, a Forest Wildcat -- Added Time colt, and a Successful Appeal -- Big Score colt.

Two each are consigned by Leprechaun Racing, agent; Straightaway Farm, agent, and Southern Cypress Stable, agent. The Leprechaun Racing's two are a Friends Lake -- Incredible Me colt and a Lion Heart-- Coffee Springs filly. Straightaway Farm's two are a Zavata -- Halo My Baby colt and a Put It Back -- A B C Amanda filly. And the two from Southern Cypress were an Alke -- West Broadway colt and a Yonaguska -- Fairytalescometrue colt named Sheraguska.

Other 2-year-olds working an eighth in :10 were a Teton Forest -- Lochlin Slew colt, consigned by Don Graham; a Freud -- Val's Diablo filly, consigned by Sequel Bloodstock, agent; a Chapel Royal -- White Cliffs filly, consigned by Ricky Leppala, agent; a City Place -- Bon Caro filly named Glitter City, consigned by Murray Smith, agent; and a Johannesburg -- Border Dispute filly named Mythical Border, consigned by Wavertree Stables, agent.

"It's a learning process, and buyers will have more work to do because their short lists will be longer," Brennan said. "The horses didn’t separate themselves out as much as they do on a dirt track. There were a lot of horses that went in :10 1/5 on the wrong lead."

The second and final under tack show for the auction will be Feb. 10, beginning at 9 a.m. (EST). The sale is scheduled for Feb. 12, starting at noon.

Copyright © 2008 The Blood-Horse, Inc. All Rights Reserve

INDIAN DERBY WON BY HOTSTEPPER

Mick Kinane rode HOTSTEPPER (Glory of Dancer) to victory in the McDowell Indian Derby yesterday in India. Jockeys from all over were involved in the big card of racing.

There was 19 horses in the 2400 metre Indian Derby, held at Mumbai racetrack.

The www. Indiarace.com website gives lots of details on racing in India plus the bloodstock and stallions.

Former North American stallions in India include TEJANO….see his page here from the Indian racing site..

http://www.indiarace.com/stallion/TEJANO/index.htm