WILD NIGHT

CANADIAN-BRED brings $500,000

Shadwell Estate Co, Ltd. paid $500,000 for a Canadian bred yearling colt by Ghostzapper out of Dash for Money, offered by Adena Springs, last night on day 2 of the Saratoga preferred yearling sale held by Fasig-Tipton.


(above right - Thoroughblog friend KEITH sent some pictures of Breeders' Stakes day, MARLANG pulls way in the 1 1/2 mile turf classic, Keith has a blog too, called Tripledeadheat)



1-2-3 WEDNESDAY NIGHT RACING
at Woodbine


SHEPPERTON honoured


"No Canadian-bred horse carried weight and won with as much authority as Shepperton" -
Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, Lou Cauz.


Yep, tonight's intriguing SHEPPERTON STAKES , the 33rd edition, honours on of the most sturdiest of racehorses from the 1940s.

Shepperton, breed in Gormely Ontario by Fred Schelke, won 22 of 54 races, 9 in a row at one time, including events like the Breeders' Stakes, the Canadian Championship Stakes twice, and the Autumn Handicap.

He won under weights of 121 pounds up to 140 pounds and spotted rivals up to 30 pounds.

As Cauz reports, a 1943 Blood Horse article wrote "If selecting 'horses of the year' were not purely a vagary of U S Sports writers, Shepperton would be an easy Canadian horse of the year".

Tonight's running of the race features the 1-2 finishers from last year - stablemates and half-brothers MAIN EXECUTIVE and COOL SELECTION.

Both are speedy types who will have the rapid lick of DRUNKEN LOVE (supplemented) to worry about.

Indeed the race seems to set up perfectly for DANCER'S BAJAN, the hotshot, white-lgged chestnut who raced against the super ARTIE HOT last time in an open route race. Too bad he did not go back in the Seagram Cup but this race should work out well for him.

Heavy, heavy rain yesterday, the grass race for this evening may be in danger.

Don't forget to go to THE SCORE website and enter your picks for the 1-2-3 racing contest this evening.

http://thescore.123racing.ca/



(www.horse-races.net captured the undefeated filly CAWAJA BEACH is full flight when she won the Nandi Stakes on Sunday)







WOODBINE SCOREBOARD
from Equibase, through
Monday's racing


MARK CASSE holds narrow lead


Name Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings

Mark E. Casse 205 26 30 27 $2,262,339
Sid C. Attard 148 23 24 19 $1,303,341
Steven M. Asmussen 129 23 17 13 $1,377,546
Scott H. Fairlie 115 22 22 15 $886,030
Reade Baker 148 19 17 19 $1,218,980
Roger L. Attfield 109 19 11 20 $1,900,830
Nicholas Gonzalez 94 19 11 11 $1,315,950
Michael J. Doyle 135 17 12 14 $759,505
Robert P. Tiller 137 16 21 20 $950,609
Brian A. Lynch 49 16 8 5 $1,388,510
Terry Jordan 40 16 8 2 $638,938


JOCKEYS - Jim McAleney pulling away

Name Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings


James McAleney 362 72 51 47 $3,832,079
Patrick Husbands 309 57 47 38 $3,546,750
Eurico Rosa Da Silva 404 54 46 49 $2,917,940
Emma-Jayne Wilson 417 52 50 62 $3,073,404
Emile Ramsammy 423 50 58 55 $2,787,691
Chantal Sutherland 355 45 43 55 $2,464,278
Tyler Pizarro 323 43 40 37 $1,977,538
David Clark 276 35 33 29 $2,202,735
Justin Stein 288 31 38 25 $1,448,586
Jono C. Jones 263 30 33 32 $2,601,761
Robert C. Landry 169 25 23 28 $1,749,902
Slade Callaghan 206 25 19 18 $1,154,836




(more lovely images from TODD P., this one of the filly VAN LEAR ROSE as she heads out for training - and she races on Saturday!)







LEADING HORSES

Drunken Love going for 5 tonight

Name Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings

Drunken Love 5 4 1 0 $167,220
Fatal Bullet 4 4 0 0 $198,360
Emma Ain't Bluffin 4 4 0 0 $122,580
U R Energy 7 3 3 1 $49,946
Legal Move 6 3 1 1 $248,809
Zounds 5 3 1 1 $132,668
Not Bourbon 4 3 1 0 $810,000
Igottogojoe 6 3 1 0 $60,060
Sugar N Tabacco 4 3 1 0 $51,200
Hydethetreasure 8 3 0 3 $64,364
Joannie Not Jo 7 3 0 2 $67,892
Marlang 5 3 0 1 $402,550
Wollemi Pine 5 3 0 1 $162,380
Starticus 4 3 0 1 $129,329
Southern Exchange 3 3 0 0 $216,000
Cawaja Beach 3 3 0 0 $201,000
Michael's Bad Boy 4 3 0 0 $101,380
Springledge 3 3 0 0 $36,060
Jader (IRE) 6 3 0 0 $35,040



FORT ERIE SCOREBOARD
(from Equibase)

TRAINERS


Name Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings


Nicholas Gonzalez 74 16 18 8 $208,199
Donald C. MacRae 47 15 10 5 $140,657
Michael Newell 94 13 11 12 $128,876
John Simms 76 12 17 15 $139,818
Ashlee Brnjas 30 12 3 3 $82,833
Kevin Buttigieg 77 9 9 13 $96,670
Daniel Wills 42 9 5 8 $90,775
Lyle Morden 31 8 3 6 $68,554

JOCKEYS


Name Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings


Chad Beckon 278 53 55 41 $638,896
Christopher Griffith 179 30 21 28 $344,362
Rui M. Pimentel 152 29 23 26 $319,302
Cory Clark 213 27 30 29 $331,794
David Garcia 111 25 17 11 $245,232
Kristopher Robinson 171 22 21 24 $261,247
Edward Keith Robinson 175 16 15 15 $189,927


HORSES

Name Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings


Bright N Golden 5 4 0 1 $34,078
Way to Run 7 3 2 1 $24,684
Disbelief 6 3 1 2 $31,680
Spirit to Run 9 3 1 1 $27,298
African Rainbow 5 3 1 0 $35,800
Krz n' Flashy 5 3 1 0 $29,328
Expect No Regret 5 3 1 0 $23,070
Explosive Greek 5 3 1 0 $20,468
High Thoughts Slew 3 3 0 0 $23,640
Bad Boy Will 3 3 0 0 $22,968
Asclipianoulla 4 3 0 0 $19,810



BITS


**FASIG-TIPTON SARATOGA

A day after selling a yearling for $900,000, Canadian owners Jim and Alice Sapara paid $100,000 for a Menifee-Chamrousse filly yesterday on day 2 of the auction.

**CURLIN races next in the WOODWARD STAKES at Saratoga on Aug. 30 on the dirt.


**From Jeff Nahill's Horse Racing Notes for the North County Times in California....
does this sound familiar?

THUMBS DOWN TO..

Public address system!!!!

The PA was cranked all the way up to 10 for Big Brown's Haskell Invitational race on Sunday's simulcast. It was ear-splitting in the grandstand ---- and unnecessary.
Also, what is the public's fascination with Big Brown? You could hear the applause after he barely won. I just don't get it.

**CURLIN'S OWNER fires back at Big Brown camp
Excerpt from newsday.com

BY ED MCNAMARA | ed.mcnamara@newsday.com

It's not easy to anger Curlin's personable owner, 78-year-old Jess Jackson, but Rick Dutrow managed to do it. After Big Brown won the Haskell Sunday at Monmouth Park, his trainer ripped the defending Horse of the Year, and Jackson fired back yesterday on a conference call.

"Curlin couldn't win the Derby, we could," said Dutrow, who reverted to his controversial self after six weeks of good behavior. "Curlin couldn't win the Haskell. We could. Curlin got beat by a filly. We haven't. Our horse is undefeated on grass. Curlin isn't. I don't know why people think Curlin is such a good horse. We're way better than Curlin."

After announcing Curlin would start Aug. 30 in the Grade I Woodward at Saratoga, Jackson criticized Dutrow.

"I think it's bad for racing to have trash talk," Jackson said. "To run down another guy's horse, I don't think it's right. It demeans the industry. I'd like to meet Big Brown, preferably on the dirt, which is each one's best surface, but I think they're considering retiring Big Brown before we have a chance to meet him.' '

Asked about perhaps facing Big Brown in a Breeders' Cup prep, Jackson said: "It depends on whether Big Brown wants to evade us or wants to meet us."

Big Brown is owned by IEAH Stables, whose co-president Michael Iavarone said: "I find it interesting that [Jackson] doesn't like trash talk, because what he said sounds like trash talk to me. I'm not upset at all about what Rick said. I don't think it's wrong to say my horse is better than your horse.

"I think building a rivalry between horses is good for the game, as long as it's not personal. Curlin and Big Brown both have huge followings, and I would love to have the opportunity to run against Curlin."

The Oct. 25 Breeders' Cup Classic is on Santa Anita's synthetic track. Curlin has never run on one, and Jackson dislikes them. "Those surfaces vary from day to day," he said. "You take chances with Curlin because he's such a splendid animal ... but you don't want a horse to get beaten by the surface and its inconsistency."