PLATE FORM
UPDATE.. UPDATE..UPDATE... NOT BOURBON "canters" in 46.30 in final Plate prep.
"It was great, he just breezed along," said Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield about NOT BOURBON's final Plate workout this morning on the Woodbine Polytrack.
"That's a canter for him, it was pretty much the same work as before the Trial."
NOT BOURBON is expected to be the morning line favourite for the Plate.Post positions will be drawn tomorrow at a breakfast in the TRACKSIDE TENT with Don Cherry as guest.
DEPUTIFORMER has some of the faster workouts heading into Sunday's Queen's Plate. He was bred by WINDFIELDS FARM and is by SILVER DEPUTY.
1998 Plate winner Archers Bay was by Silver Deputy and bred by Windfields. (photo www.horse-races.net)
Owner MIKE KOWALSKI (at left) and trainer SAM DIPASQUALE (at right in back) have had a super season together and will go for the gold with MAMMA'S KNIGHT, by Ascot Knight.
(www.horse-races.net)
QUEEN'S PLATE NEWS
DEPUTIFORMER sizzles again
Cup and Saucer Stakes winner DEPUTIFORMER, bred by the famed WINDFIELDS FARM, worked 5 furlongs on Polytrack in 59.40 yesterday at Woodbine.
David James' leggy gelding out of the Dynaformer mare Barney's Mistress had worked 6 furlongs in 1:11 in a previous prep.
Trainer MIKE DEPAULO has said that he is confident the gelding will run well in the Plate despite the gelding's lacklustre record since his Cup and Saucer win, which came on the grass.
A $90,000 yearling purchase at Keeneland, DEPUTIFORMER has never cracked 80 on the Beyer Figure scale and he was 5thint he Wando Stakes behind Bonanza and 5th in an allowance race, some 5 lengths behind TOOK THE TIME, who is also in the Plate.
DePaulo has said that the plan to let the gelding race a bit more freely in the early stages and note that the gelding just about won a 6 furlnog sprint early in his career - he does have natural speed.
SILVER DEPUTY sired 1998 Plate winner ARCHERS BAY.
ONTARIO SIRES, CANADIAN BRED SIRES ..
REPRESENTED IN PLATE
It was not only the fact that T J 'S LUCKY MOON won the 2002 Plate as an 82 to 1 longshot without a stakes score to his credit but it was a big score for Canadian stallion TEJABO, a sturdy Ontario stallion who had been all over Canada during his stud career.
Previously, VICTOR COOLEY, the '96 winner, was sirede by an Ontario stallion.
This year, the likely Plate favourite (at least when the betting opens), NOT BOURBON, is by an Ontario sire, NOT IMPOSSIBLE, who unfortunately is no longer alive.
NOT IMPOSSIBLE was bred by Charles Fipke, who bred Not Bourbon and races the flashy ctesnut colt. The sire never raced but is a full brother to PERFECT SOUL, Fipke's champion grass horse.
The late ASCOT KNIGHT is represented by MAMMA'S KNIGHT, an Auchmore Stud-bred gelding. Ascot Knight stood at Windfields Farm until his death earlier this year.
CANADIAN-BRED STALLIONS represented by Plate starters include VICTORY GALLOP (Solitaire), SILVER DEPUTY (Deputiformer), LANGFUHR (D. Flutie) and SMART STRIKE (Harvest Home).
QUEEN'S PLATE IN THE NEWS
CBC SPORTS FEATURE ON ATTFIELD
There are a couple of lovely stories on ROGER ATTFIELD on the CBC WEB SITE (CBC is covering the Plate for the first time in many years) and DRF.COM..
from the CBC...written by MALCOLM KELLY...
It's hard to imagine trainer Roger Attfield being treated with anything but the utmost respect around Woodbine race track.
After all, he's a three-time winner of Canada's Triple Crown of horse racing, has saddled seven Queen's Plate victors (with a possible record-tying eighth coming this Sunday afternoon), won scores of stakes in more than 30 years of conditioning animals and, by absolutely everyone's account, is a complete gentleman.
None of this stopped Palladio, an accomplished six-year-old horse who won the 2007 Eclipse Stakes, from coming within about a centimetre of biting the 68-year-old's left ear off as Attfield gave a visitor the full tour of Barn 4 at Woodbine on a recent sunny morning.
"Oh, geez," Attfield exclaimed, laughing, as he nimbly danced out of the way. "And I was about to tell you to watch out because this one will bite."
Actually, a horse on the other side had already had a nibble at the visitor's shoulder.
Attfield's genuine surprise only underlined one of his core beliefs about the training of equine athletes, even after all these years:
"The main thing is, you have to really understand the horse," he says, relaxing in a small trailer out back that serves as his office practically every day from spring to fall, starting from before dawn.
"That's a big learning process, and I've been doing it all my life, and I'm sure I don't know as much as there is to know. I know that."
(Including knowing for sure when one of his charges is going to bite the hand that feeds it. Or an ear, for that matter).
That life began in England back in late 1939, and it included a career jumping horses as an accomplished equestrian, followed by a switch to steeple chasing.
Moving to Canada for what was supposed to be just a couple of years in 1970, Attfield wound up helping train at a small six or seven horse stable owned by a local auto parts manufacturer named Frank Stronach.
They've both gone on to much bigger things.
Since then, Attfield's list of accomplishments has become so long it goes for pages, and it includes all the various roles of the trainer such as handling the business side (there's currently 27 employees at his barn and he writes the cheques), the choosing and buying of future thoroughbred prospects at the big annual sales, picking jockeys, etc.
But ultimately, his life comes down to one key thing - the relationship with those horses.
Walking with Attfield as he goes through the barn, stopping to chat about each of more than four dozen horses currently at home including the Plate favourite Not Bourbon, you quickly realize a key to his success.
He remembers everything about every one of his athletes -- their breeding, their training, the idiosyncrasies, the times they've been running, how they handle different track surfaces and a hundred other items for each.
Many come up to the stall gate to say hello, but some are sleepy after a morning workout, cool down and breakfast, a few are out and out surly and one or two actually seem to be sulking. Knowing who's who, and what they are about, is the fun of the training game, he says.
"The main thing is to have your horses happy, and have them want to go out there and race," he says. "And then, how well they race is totally up to the genes in the horse and their desire when they actually do race."
Having an animal mentally and physically "top notch" is vital.
That includes making sure the right morning rider is up on the horse, that he has the proper hot walker, groomer, companion and finally the right jockey up.
"If you go to school and you have a nasty school teacher and you hate going to math or something, you're never going to do any good at it," he says.
"Animals are the same way. If they are happy, they are going to try and please you as much as they can."
Their true ability will then come out as the training and racing goes on. That is, if the horse itself wants it to.
read the rest of the story here
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2008/06/17/f-queensplate-horselistener.html
ATTFIELD also the subject in DAILY RACING FORM...
BY BILL TALLON
EXCERPT
Even Attfield and the colt's regular rider, Jono Jones, professed some doubts as to whether Not Bourbon would handle the 1 1/8 miles of the Plate Trial, not to mention the 1 1/4 miles of the Queen's Plate.
"He's a horse that always had a great deal of natural speed, and he's always wanted to use it from day one," Attfield said. "Getting him to settle and rate, going two turns, hasn't been an easy project."
Not Bourbon had suffered what appeared to be a major setback when he finished slowly while working a mile in 1:45 in his major prep for the Plate Trial. The colt was scoped and showed signs of having started to displace his palate.
"When a horse trains badly, or runs a bad race, it really bothers me," Attfield said. "I try to analyze it; I'm usually hard on myself in that situation.
"But I don't get too excited about it. I'm pretty easygoing."
Not Bourbon came back one week later to breeze four furlongs in a bullet 46.20 seconds.
Four days after that, the colt passed his test with flying colors in the Plate Trial as he prevailed by a neck after Jones had waved his whip in almost premature celebration.
Read the whole story...
http://www.drf.com/news/article/95554.html
PLATE FIELD
D. Flutie/Gus Schickedanz/Mike Keogh/Emile Ramsammy
Deputiformer/David James/Mike DePaulo/Jerry Baird
Dylan's Choice/Winter Road Racing Corporation/Desmond Maynard/Chantal
Sutherland
East End Tap/Sheik Yobuti Racing Stable Inc./Reade Baker/Tyler Pizarro
Ginger Brew/Stronach Stables/Brian Lynch/Javier Castellano
Harvest Home/Sam-Son Farm/Mark Frostad/Corey Fraser
Jungle Brew/Stronach Stables/Brian Lynch/Eibar Coa
Mamma's Knight/Mike Kowalski/Sam DiPasquale/Justin Stein
Not Bourbon/Charles Fipke/Roger Attfield/Jono Jones
Palmers/Melynk Racing Stables Inc./Mark Casse/Patrick Husbands
Sebastian's Song/Centennial Farms (Niagara) Inc./Alec Fehr/David Clark
Shadowless/Heather Takahashi/David Bell/Emma-Jayne Wilson
Silver Jag/Earl Daynes/Josie Carroll/Slade Callaghan
Solitaire/William Clifton/James Bond/Robert Landry
Took the Time/Earle I. Mack/Mark Casse/Ramon Dominguez
TATTLING STAKES TONIGHT...first running since 1994
and watch on THE SCORE!
Let's hope that the server that provides the signal of Woodbine to THE SCORE is working better tonight for the races.
On Sunday, audio problems plagued the 4-hour show, some races were not even seen and most of the time, there was a beeping and buzzing that took over the audio.
Tonight's show should be a good one not only because the racing card is super with big fields, but because the TATTLING STAKES is back.
TATTLING was one of th best 3yo fillies in Canada in the 1920s. The filly was never beaten in Canada and would have been the big favourite for the King's Plate in 1926 but she was foaled in Quebec and was not eligible at the time.
She won the Breeders Stakes, Dominion Plate, Canadian Handicap and Quebec Derby, beating the boys on many occasions. She was owned by Commander J.K.L. Ross.
The first TATTLING was in 1956 but the race was CANCELLED after the 1994 running when it was a 10 furlong dirt race at Greenwood.
The race returns tonight as a 1 1/16 mile grass event.
The favourites will be RUSSIAN ROSIE, MAY NIGHT and GLITTER ROX.
HERE IS WHAT ELSE IS ON THE SCORE THIS EVENING..
-races 2 - 7 including the racing 123 game, get your picks in!
-a closer look at some of the contenders for the Tattling Stakes
-the winner of this year's Queen's Plate Battle Royal is revealed
-a preview of this year's Queen's Plate with some bits on some of
the contenders
-Rapid Fire with trainer Scott Fairlie
ROYAL ASCOT -
(WATCH LIVE AT WWW.ATTHERACES.COM - THE QUEEN IS IN MAUVE TODAY!
HENRY CHARTS COURSE TO 3RD GROUP 1 WIN
The first day of ROYAL ASCOT featured a stunning win by HENRYTHENAVIGATOR (Kingmambo-Sequoyah, Sadler's Wells in the Group One ST JAMES PALACE STAKES, a one mile event.
Canadian-bred SQUARE EDDIE was 11th and beaten 11 lengths in the Coventry Stakes as he raced "too keenly" early on and then faded while the winner, ART CONNOISEUR, came from last place.
Interesting side note is that jockey Johnny Murtagh, who rides 'Henry' won the roughtly run 1st race on the card yesterday, the Queen Anne Stakes, on Haradasun but then got a 3-day ban for excessive whip use.
TODAY'S FEATURE is the PRINCE OF WALES STAKES - the colt who was 2nd in last year's Canadian International, ASK, is one of the favourites.
from PRESS ASSOCIATION
Henrythenavigator was crowned undisputed champion three-year-old miler after winning the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Trained by Aidan O'Brien and ridden by Johnny Murtagh, the Kingmambo colt preserved his unbeaten record this term with another top-notch performance. O'Brien's star had too many guns for runner-up Raven's Pass, who finished well but was no match for the 4-7 favourite.
The Henry Cecil-trained Twice Over was third. In addition to the St James's Palace, Henrythenavigator has this season won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Irish equivalent at the Curragh.
O'Brien said: "We are delighted - he's a really special horse. He has speed, stamina, class and he picks up - he has a great attitude and Johnny rode him with so much confidence. He's a great horse and I think it's very hard to say that we'll get a better miler than this lad."
Of Henrythenavigator's next port of call, the Ballydoyle handler added: "I think all things are open to him. He can go down a lot of routes, this horse. You could drop him back (in trip), step him up or leave him at a mile - it's a great decision to have to make."
Murtagh added: "He's a great horse and he's improving all the time. He settles down well, he loves fast ground, he travels and he has a super turn of foot. I went to change my hands and got them tangled up in his mane but he's such a professional horse, he was gone. He's an easy ride."
HORSE RACING TO BAN STEROIDS
from newswire services
Thoroughbred racing took a major step toward outlawing steroids yesterday when a safety panel created days after Eight Belles' fatal run in the Kentucky Derby recommended that they be banned by January. The proposal was immediately endorsed by several key players. A ban on anabolic steroids was one of three suggestions from the committee established by North America's thoroughbred registry, the Jockey Club -- the others being a ban on certain horseshoes known to cause injuries and regulating riding crop use by jockeys. "Hopefully we can say this is the last year horses were racing on steroids," said committee chair Stuart S. Janney III. "There's a real opportunity to shame people into doing the right thing if that's what it requires. We hope it doesn't."
WHOLE LOTTA Claiming...
Champion WHOLELOTTABOURBON, a 6yo gelding multiple stakes winner who is now racing for low claiming at Fort Erie, was re-claimed by his longtime owners, M.A.D. Racing and Martha Gonzalez, yesterday at Fort Erie.
The Foctrail gelding won again yesterday, his 2nd conseucitve score.
SIX BROTHERS STABLE and JULIE ROBILLARD claimed the gelding for $4,000 from a win earlier this month.
The gelding has won over $412,000.
FROSTAD NAMED TO ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION
ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION chair Rod Seiling announced that PAM FROSTAD has been appointed by the Government of Ontario as a member of the Ontario Racing Commission (ORC) for a period of two (2) years, effective June 11, 2008.
As well, Bernard F. Brennan, D.V.M., of Kemptville, who has served as a Commissioner since 2002, was re-appointed for a one (1) year term on May 7, 2008.
Frostad, accomplishing in marketing and promotion, is the wife of Woodbine Entertainment director Mark Frostad, who also trains horses for Sam-Son Farm.
BEAR BACK!
KENTUCKY BEAR, 3rd in the Blue Grass Stakes and a troubled 6th in the Preakness, has regrouped and is back in action this Saturday in the Colonial Cup in Virginia.
Danny Dion's Mr. Greeley colt, trained by Reade Baker, will race 1 3/16 miles on the grass at Colonial Downs for $600,000.
His rivals include EL SULTRY SUN (88 Beyer when winning the Lamplighter Stakes last out); COURT VISION (13th in the Kentucky Derby, never raced on turf); SPORTING ART (double grades turf stakes winner, 91 Beyers); BOSS LAFITTE (stakes winner, 88 Beyer last out); ADRIANO (19TH Derby, has won on turf).
KENTUCKY BEAR is a half brother to a turf winner and a placed turfer and the 2nd dam has produced 2 grass winners.
THE FIELD
1. El Sultry Sun Eltish Eibar Coa 118 John C. Kimmel
2. Court Vision Gulch Garrett K. Gomez 116 William I. Mott
3. Your Round Distorted Humor James Lopez 116 Mark Hubley
4. Sporting Art Doneraile Court Javier Castellano 122 Christophe Clement
5. Baltimore Bob Malibu Moon Horacio Karamanos 116 Carlos A. Garcia
6. Nistle’s Crunch Van Nistelrooy Robby Albarado 116 Kenneth G. McPeek
7. Kentucky Bear Mr. Greeley Elvis Trujillo 116 Reade Baker
8. Boss Lafitte Dynaformer Julien R. Leparoux 120 Thomas M. Amoss
9. Sailor’s Cap Distant View Alan Garcia 116 James J. Toner
10. Adriano A.P. Indy Edgar S. Prado 120 William I. Mott
BAKER is also out of town on Friday as STORM CALLER, owned by Jim and Susan Hill, will compete in a $75,000 stakes race at Belmont.
"It was great, he just breezed along," said Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield about NOT BOURBON's final Plate workout this morning on the Woodbine Polytrack.
"That's a canter for him, it was pretty much the same work as before the Trial."
NOT BOURBON is expected to be the morning line favourite for the Plate.Post positions will be drawn tomorrow at a breakfast in the TRACKSIDE TENT with Don Cherry as guest.
DEPUTIFORMER has some of the faster workouts heading into Sunday's Queen's Plate. He was bred by WINDFIELDS FARM and is by SILVER DEPUTY.
1998 Plate winner Archers Bay was by Silver Deputy and bred by Windfields. (photo www.horse-races.net)
Owner MIKE KOWALSKI (at left) and trainer SAM DIPASQUALE (at right in back) have had a super season together and will go for the gold with MAMMA'S KNIGHT, by Ascot Knight.
(www.horse-races.net)
QUEEN'S PLATE NEWS
DEPUTIFORMER sizzles again
Cup and Saucer Stakes winner DEPUTIFORMER, bred by the famed WINDFIELDS FARM, worked 5 furlongs on Polytrack in 59.40 yesterday at Woodbine.
David James' leggy gelding out of the Dynaformer mare Barney's Mistress had worked 6 furlongs in 1:11 in a previous prep.
Trainer MIKE DEPAULO has said that he is confident the gelding will run well in the Plate despite the gelding's lacklustre record since his Cup and Saucer win, which came on the grass.
A $90,000 yearling purchase at Keeneland, DEPUTIFORMER has never cracked 80 on the Beyer Figure scale and he was 5thint he Wando Stakes behind Bonanza and 5th in an allowance race, some 5 lengths behind TOOK THE TIME, who is also in the Plate.
DePaulo has said that the plan to let the gelding race a bit more freely in the early stages and note that the gelding just about won a 6 furlnog sprint early in his career - he does have natural speed.
SILVER DEPUTY sired 1998 Plate winner ARCHERS BAY.
ONTARIO SIRES, CANADIAN BRED SIRES ..
REPRESENTED IN PLATE
It was not only the fact that T J 'S LUCKY MOON won the 2002 Plate as an 82 to 1 longshot without a stakes score to his credit but it was a big score for Canadian stallion TEJABO, a sturdy Ontario stallion who had been all over Canada during his stud career.
Previously, VICTOR COOLEY, the '96 winner, was sirede by an Ontario stallion.
This year, the likely Plate favourite (at least when the betting opens), NOT BOURBON, is by an Ontario sire, NOT IMPOSSIBLE, who unfortunately is no longer alive.
NOT IMPOSSIBLE was bred by Charles Fipke, who bred Not Bourbon and races the flashy ctesnut colt. The sire never raced but is a full brother to PERFECT SOUL, Fipke's champion grass horse.
The late ASCOT KNIGHT is represented by MAMMA'S KNIGHT, an Auchmore Stud-bred gelding. Ascot Knight stood at Windfields Farm until his death earlier this year.
CANADIAN-BRED STALLIONS represented by Plate starters include VICTORY GALLOP (Solitaire), SILVER DEPUTY (Deputiformer), LANGFUHR (D. Flutie) and SMART STRIKE (Harvest Home).
QUEEN'S PLATE IN THE NEWS
CBC SPORTS FEATURE ON ATTFIELD
There are a couple of lovely stories on ROGER ATTFIELD on the CBC WEB SITE (CBC is covering the Plate for the first time in many years) and DRF.COM..
from the CBC...written by MALCOLM KELLY...
It's hard to imagine trainer Roger Attfield being treated with anything but the utmost respect around Woodbine race track.
After all, he's a three-time winner of Canada's Triple Crown of horse racing, has saddled seven Queen's Plate victors (with a possible record-tying eighth coming this Sunday afternoon), won scores of stakes in more than 30 years of conditioning animals and, by absolutely everyone's account, is a complete gentleman.
None of this stopped Palladio, an accomplished six-year-old horse who won the 2007 Eclipse Stakes, from coming within about a centimetre of biting the 68-year-old's left ear off as Attfield gave a visitor the full tour of Barn 4 at Woodbine on a recent sunny morning.
"Oh, geez," Attfield exclaimed, laughing, as he nimbly danced out of the way. "And I was about to tell you to watch out because this one will bite."
Actually, a horse on the other side had already had a nibble at the visitor's shoulder.
Attfield's genuine surprise only underlined one of his core beliefs about the training of equine athletes, even after all these years:
"The main thing is, you have to really understand the horse," he says, relaxing in a small trailer out back that serves as his office practically every day from spring to fall, starting from before dawn.
"That's a big learning process, and I've been doing it all my life, and I'm sure I don't know as much as there is to know. I know that."
(Including knowing for sure when one of his charges is going to bite the hand that feeds it. Or an ear, for that matter).
That life began in England back in late 1939, and it included a career jumping horses as an accomplished equestrian, followed by a switch to steeple chasing.
Moving to Canada for what was supposed to be just a couple of years in 1970, Attfield wound up helping train at a small six or seven horse stable owned by a local auto parts manufacturer named Frank Stronach.
They've both gone on to much bigger things.
Since then, Attfield's list of accomplishments has become so long it goes for pages, and it includes all the various roles of the trainer such as handling the business side (there's currently 27 employees at his barn and he writes the cheques), the choosing and buying of future thoroughbred prospects at the big annual sales, picking jockeys, etc.
But ultimately, his life comes down to one key thing - the relationship with those horses.
Walking with Attfield as he goes through the barn, stopping to chat about each of more than four dozen horses currently at home including the Plate favourite Not Bourbon, you quickly realize a key to his success.
He remembers everything about every one of his athletes -- their breeding, their training, the idiosyncrasies, the times they've been running, how they handle different track surfaces and a hundred other items for each.
Many come up to the stall gate to say hello, but some are sleepy after a morning workout, cool down and breakfast, a few are out and out surly and one or two actually seem to be sulking. Knowing who's who, and what they are about, is the fun of the training game, he says.
"The main thing is to have your horses happy, and have them want to go out there and race," he says. "And then, how well they race is totally up to the genes in the horse and their desire when they actually do race."
Having an animal mentally and physically "top notch" is vital.
That includes making sure the right morning rider is up on the horse, that he has the proper hot walker, groomer, companion and finally the right jockey up.
"If you go to school and you have a nasty school teacher and you hate going to math or something, you're never going to do any good at it," he says.
"Animals are the same way. If they are happy, they are going to try and please you as much as they can."
Their true ability will then come out as the training and racing goes on. That is, if the horse itself wants it to.
read the rest of the story here
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2008/06/17/f-queensplate-horselistener.html
ATTFIELD also the subject in DAILY RACING FORM...
BY BILL TALLON
EXCERPT
Even Attfield and the colt's regular rider, Jono Jones, professed some doubts as to whether Not Bourbon would handle the 1 1/8 miles of the Plate Trial, not to mention the 1 1/4 miles of the Queen's Plate.
"He's a horse that always had a great deal of natural speed, and he's always wanted to use it from day one," Attfield said. "Getting him to settle and rate, going two turns, hasn't been an easy project."
Not Bourbon had suffered what appeared to be a major setback when he finished slowly while working a mile in 1:45 in his major prep for the Plate Trial. The colt was scoped and showed signs of having started to displace his palate.
"When a horse trains badly, or runs a bad race, it really bothers me," Attfield said. "I try to analyze it; I'm usually hard on myself in that situation.
"But I don't get too excited about it. I'm pretty easygoing."
Not Bourbon came back one week later to breeze four furlongs in a bullet 46.20 seconds.
Four days after that, the colt passed his test with flying colors in the Plate Trial as he prevailed by a neck after Jones had waved his whip in almost premature celebration.
Read the whole story...
http://www.drf.com/news/article/95554.html
PLATE FIELD
D. Flutie/Gus Schickedanz/Mike Keogh/Emile Ramsammy
Deputiformer/David James/Mike DePaulo/Jerry Baird
Dylan's Choice/Winter Road Racing Corporation/Desmond Maynard/Chantal
Sutherland
East End Tap/Sheik Yobuti Racing Stable Inc./Reade Baker/Tyler Pizarro
Ginger Brew/Stronach Stables/Brian Lynch/Javier Castellano
Harvest Home/Sam-Son Farm/Mark Frostad/Corey Fraser
Jungle Brew/Stronach Stables/Brian Lynch/Eibar Coa
Mamma's Knight/Mike Kowalski/Sam DiPasquale/Justin Stein
Not Bourbon/Charles Fipke/Roger Attfield/Jono Jones
Palmers/Melynk Racing Stables Inc./Mark Casse/Patrick Husbands
Sebastian's Song/Centennial Farms (Niagara) Inc./Alec Fehr/David Clark
Shadowless/Heather Takahashi/David Bell/Emma-Jayne Wilson
Silver Jag/Earl Daynes/Josie Carroll/Slade Callaghan
Solitaire/William Clifton/James Bond/Robert Landry
Took the Time/Earle I. Mack/Mark Casse/Ramon Dominguez
TATTLING STAKES TONIGHT...first running since 1994
and watch on THE SCORE!
Let's hope that the server that provides the signal of Woodbine to THE SCORE is working better tonight for the races.
On Sunday, audio problems plagued the 4-hour show, some races were not even seen and most of the time, there was a beeping and buzzing that took over the audio.
Tonight's show should be a good one not only because the racing card is super with big fields, but because the TATTLING STAKES is back.
TATTLING was one of th best 3yo fillies in Canada in the 1920s. The filly was never beaten in Canada and would have been the big favourite for the King's Plate in 1926 but she was foaled in Quebec and was not eligible at the time.
She won the Breeders Stakes, Dominion Plate, Canadian Handicap and Quebec Derby, beating the boys on many occasions. She was owned by Commander J.K.L. Ross.
The first TATTLING was in 1956 but the race was CANCELLED after the 1994 running when it was a 10 furlong dirt race at Greenwood.
The race returns tonight as a 1 1/16 mile grass event.
The favourites will be RUSSIAN ROSIE, MAY NIGHT and GLITTER ROX.
HERE IS WHAT ELSE IS ON THE SCORE THIS EVENING..
-races 2 - 7 including the racing 123 game, get your picks in!
-a closer look at some of the contenders for the Tattling Stakes
-the winner of this year's Queen's Plate Battle Royal is revealed
-a preview of this year's Queen's Plate with some bits on some of
the contenders
-Rapid Fire with trainer Scott Fairlie
ROYAL ASCOT -
(WATCH LIVE AT WWW.ATTHERACES.COM - THE QUEEN IS IN MAUVE TODAY!
HENRY CHARTS COURSE TO 3RD GROUP 1 WIN
The first day of ROYAL ASCOT featured a stunning win by HENRYTHENAVIGATOR (Kingmambo-Sequoyah, Sadler's Wells in the Group One ST JAMES PALACE STAKES, a one mile event.
Canadian-bred SQUARE EDDIE was 11th and beaten 11 lengths in the Coventry Stakes as he raced "too keenly" early on and then faded while the winner, ART CONNOISEUR, came from last place.
Interesting side note is that jockey Johnny Murtagh, who rides 'Henry' won the roughtly run 1st race on the card yesterday, the Queen Anne Stakes, on Haradasun but then got a 3-day ban for excessive whip use.
TODAY'S FEATURE is the PRINCE OF WALES STAKES - the colt who was 2nd in last year's Canadian International, ASK, is one of the favourites.
from PRESS ASSOCIATION
Henrythenavigator was crowned undisputed champion three-year-old miler after winning the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Trained by Aidan O'Brien and ridden by Johnny Murtagh, the Kingmambo colt preserved his unbeaten record this term with another top-notch performance. O'Brien's star had too many guns for runner-up Raven's Pass, who finished well but was no match for the 4-7 favourite.
The Henry Cecil-trained Twice Over was third. In addition to the St James's Palace, Henrythenavigator has this season won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Irish equivalent at the Curragh.
O'Brien said: "We are delighted - he's a really special horse. He has speed, stamina, class and he picks up - he has a great attitude and Johnny rode him with so much confidence. He's a great horse and I think it's very hard to say that we'll get a better miler than this lad."
Of Henrythenavigator's next port of call, the Ballydoyle handler added: "I think all things are open to him. He can go down a lot of routes, this horse. You could drop him back (in trip), step him up or leave him at a mile - it's a great decision to have to make."
Murtagh added: "He's a great horse and he's improving all the time. He settles down well, he loves fast ground, he travels and he has a super turn of foot. I went to change my hands and got them tangled up in his mane but he's such a professional horse, he was gone. He's an easy ride."
HORSE RACING TO BAN STEROIDS
from newswire services
Thoroughbred racing took a major step toward outlawing steroids yesterday when a safety panel created days after Eight Belles' fatal run in the Kentucky Derby recommended that they be banned by January. The proposal was immediately endorsed by several key players. A ban on anabolic steroids was one of three suggestions from the committee established by North America's thoroughbred registry, the Jockey Club -- the others being a ban on certain horseshoes known to cause injuries and regulating riding crop use by jockeys. "Hopefully we can say this is the last year horses were racing on steroids," said committee chair Stuart S. Janney III. "There's a real opportunity to shame people into doing the right thing if that's what it requires. We hope it doesn't."
WHOLE LOTTA Claiming...
Champion WHOLELOTTABOURBON, a 6yo gelding multiple stakes winner who is now racing for low claiming at Fort Erie, was re-claimed by his longtime owners, M.A.D. Racing and Martha Gonzalez, yesterday at Fort Erie.
The Foctrail gelding won again yesterday, his 2nd conseucitve score.
SIX BROTHERS STABLE and JULIE ROBILLARD claimed the gelding for $4,000 from a win earlier this month.
The gelding has won over $412,000.
FROSTAD NAMED TO ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION
ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION chair Rod Seiling announced that PAM FROSTAD has been appointed by the Government of Ontario as a member of the Ontario Racing Commission (ORC) for a period of two (2) years, effective June 11, 2008.
As well, Bernard F. Brennan, D.V.M., of Kemptville, who has served as a Commissioner since 2002, was re-appointed for a one (1) year term on May 7, 2008.
Frostad, accomplishing in marketing and promotion, is the wife of Woodbine Entertainment director Mark Frostad, who also trains horses for Sam-Son Farm.
BEAR BACK!
KENTUCKY BEAR, 3rd in the Blue Grass Stakes and a troubled 6th in the Preakness, has regrouped and is back in action this Saturday in the Colonial Cup in Virginia.
Danny Dion's Mr. Greeley colt, trained by Reade Baker, will race 1 3/16 miles on the grass at Colonial Downs for $600,000.
His rivals include EL SULTRY SUN (88 Beyer when winning the Lamplighter Stakes last out); COURT VISION (13th in the Kentucky Derby, never raced on turf); SPORTING ART (double grades turf stakes winner, 91 Beyers); BOSS LAFITTE (stakes winner, 88 Beyer last out); ADRIANO (19TH Derby, has won on turf).
KENTUCKY BEAR is a half brother to a turf winner and a placed turfer and the 2nd dam has produced 2 grass winners.
THE FIELD
1. El Sultry Sun Eltish Eibar Coa 118 John C. Kimmel
2. Court Vision Gulch Garrett K. Gomez 116 William I. Mott
3. Your Round Distorted Humor James Lopez 116 Mark Hubley
4. Sporting Art Doneraile Court Javier Castellano 122 Christophe Clement
5. Baltimore Bob Malibu Moon Horacio Karamanos 116 Carlos A. Garcia
6. Nistle’s Crunch Van Nistelrooy Robby Albarado 116 Kenneth G. McPeek
7. Kentucky Bear Mr. Greeley Elvis Trujillo 116 Reade Baker
8. Boss Lafitte Dynaformer Julien R. Leparoux 120 Thomas M. Amoss
9. Sailor’s Cap Distant View Alan Garcia 116 James J. Toner
10. Adriano A.P. Indy Edgar S. Prado 120 William I. Mott
BAKER is also out of town on Friday as STORM CALLER, owned by Jim and Susan Hill, will compete in a $75,000 stakes race at Belmont.
posted by Jen Morrison @ 7:36 AM
5 Comments:
At 8:35 AM,
Cangamble said…
Frostad, accomplishing in marketing and promotion, is the wife of Woodbine Entertainment director Mark Frostad, who also trains horses for Sam-Son Farm.
*************************
Not sure if this falls under the category of nepotism, but it has to appear to the public as a major conflict of interest.
At 6:40 AM,
Anonymous said…
I agree about the Frostad thing- Pam is a nice woman but it is the rich getting richer again,and definitely could result in a conflict of interest.
I was really impressed with Catherine O'Brien's winning ride last night. Could she be the next hot apprentice?
At 8:37 AM,
Anonymous said…
these "conflicts" happen all the time within Government agencies. Don't really see what is different with this appointment. If , there is a conflict with Mrs. Frostad, I am sure she is an ethical person and would "declare an interest" and step aside. this happens in court rooms and commission rooms all across this country everyday.
no different here.
At 6:02 PM,
Anonymous said…
If it happens all the time in government agencies, it must be alright !!
At 11:36 AM,
Anonymous said…
Anon 6:02 WHOOOOOSH!! Talk about missing the point.
Fact is. Any Judge, Politician, Mediator, Adjudicator , lawyer, Police Man whatever, you name it, are going to run into conflicts of interest from time to time. There is no way to avoid this. It happens ALL THE TIME!!! You know what they do?
DECLARE AN INTEREST AND STEP ASIDE! That way... poof...no more conflict...see, simple.
As I said and I am sure Jen could even share more. Mrs Frostad is an Etical person and will do the same.
besides everyone knows who she is. It's not like she has or is hiding the fact of who she is or who she is married to. fact is, in society everyday we work through this kind of stuff. as long as the person is honest about any apparent conflicts. Life goes on.
It seems to me that people are just trying to disparge Mrs. Frostad with no apparent facts to back it up. I would imagine she is hardly the first person with a connection to the industry appointed to the Racing Commission....
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