ROCK STEADY

MT. SASSAFRAS honoured

He is a gelding living the life of leisure these days but back in the day,, MT. SASSAFRAS was one of Canada's top racehorses.

Remember the 1996 Breeders' Cup Classic that he almost won?

From pedigreequery.com:


Owner: Minshall Farms
Breeder: Aubrey W. Minshall
State Bred: ON
Winnings: 47 Starts: 8 - 7 - 14, $1,223,038

WON Gulfstream Park H.(G1), Dominion Day H.(G3)- twice, Eclipse H.(G3).
2ND Breeders' S., Durham Cup H.(G3) - twice
3RD Meadowlands Cup H.(G1), Display S., Molson Export Million S.(G1), Queen's Plate S., Prince of Wales S., Hawthorne Gold Cup (G2), Stephen Foster H.

1996 Horse of the Year, in Canada


Tonight is the 5th running of the MT. SASSAFRAS STAKES for Ontario foaled older horses at 7 furlongs.
Curiously, the race is an overnight stakes that, when it did not fill on Sunday, was CARRIED OVER to tonight...that does not happen much.
The race has only 5 entrants and two are supplements.
Last year there were 4 horses in the race and the winner was Sam-Son Farms' SAIL FROM SEATTLE,=.

Sam-Son has WRITTEN IN STONE in the race this evening as a pace threat. Corey Fraser will ride.

Fraser's former long time mount DANCER'S BAJAN, is also on the race (he was 3rd in it last year) as well as Archers Alyancer, Shadowless and Yummy With Butter



PHOTO WAS FROM THIS SITE:
http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/72442330.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF193875DCB1DD8387ABBA979653F17A47BE9A40A659CEC4C8CB6


COZZENE (1980-2008)

I was there in 1985 at Aquduct, frozen, for the Breeders' Cup, betting my $10 to win on COZZENE in the Mile. The good ole days of classic Breeders' Cups...Pebbles was on that card too.
Cozzene gave racing so many good babies too..
This is a picture of him from last year at age 27 by Cindy Pierson Dulay.








PRINCESS ROONEY 1980-2008

Speaking of Breeders' Cup champions, PRINCESS ROONEY also passed away..she was the first winner of the Distaff, won 17 of 21 races..
here is a wonderful feature on the mare from HRTV...thanks to Inside Information at YouTube.com..













GOOD STUFF GOING ON AT WOODBINE

On the backstretch the JAKE HOWARD CENTRE opened this summer. There was not much news about it made available anywhere but what goes on there is super.
one of the neat things for backstretch folks is a much needed Internet class for newbies in the commpueter worlds.
There are computers available and a structured class each week held by Alex Brown...here is part of the outline:

Internet for First Time Starters at Woodbine
Welcome to Internet for First Time Starters at Woodbine.

Content

1. Introduction

2. Session 1

3. Session 2

4. Session 3

5. Resources

6. Tips

Introduction

Goal
The goal of these classes is simple. To allow those who work at Woodbine to learn about the internet. We will teach some basic tools of the internet. You will become "internet literate".

Who should attend?
Those who know very little (or nothing) about the internet, but want to learn. Those who know very little about computers, but want to learn.

Format
There will be three sessions. Each session will be held on Monday at 5 pm in the Jake Howard Center. Between each session, you will have "homework" to complete, which you can do in the Jake Howard Center during the week.

Each session will include some basic instruction, some question and answer sessions and some hands-on practical work.

Instructor
That's me, Alex. I work for Steve Asmussen as an exercise rider. I manage alexbrownracing.com. I also used to teach Internet Marketing at the University of Delaware.

Session 1
Basics of the internet and the computer.

to read more, go here:

http://www.udel.edu/alex/woodbine.html



FORT ERIE GOINGS ON


CORY SPATARO wins first race


The apprentice ranks in Ontario are very very thin but newcomer CORY SPATARO is on his way to piling up wins perhaps after his first score in the first race at Fort Erie yesterday.
Spatro guided I SEE ROCKETS to win the $10,000 claiming events for Winston Wilkinson and C. Morris.


Thoroughblog had a letter from an unhappy fan from Fort Erie on Monday wondering about two instances that TO THE LETTER-WRITER seemed questionable:
(the opinions expressed by others are not necessarily the opinions of this blog)

The letter has been edited...


Jen..


Husband and wife team Chad Beckon and Cory Clark had a win on Monday...Chad Beckon sent his horse with the front runner Frezacon, burned that rival out while going too fast on the lead and seemed to set the race up for Cory Clark and Kettle Rapids..
Later, 4 to 5 shot MOONSHINE JUSTICE was a late scratch, at post time..why? There were apparently numerous claims in for the horse, was the horse sore?
Was there something else at work?
The late Jack Wilson's estate won the race...Moonshine Justice is on the Top Bunk list...
Why was this horse scratched?

C. Gregory



Jockey hurt, horse dead after racetrack accident
Posted By TONY RICCIUTO REVIEW STAFF WRITER
Posted 10 mins ago
from the Niagara falls review..

A two-horse spill in Monday's fifth race at the Fort Erie Race Track has sidelined a female jockey for the balance of the Ontario thoroughbred racing season.

One of the horses that was involved in the accident had to be destroyed, said Daryl Wells Jr., who is in charge of media and communications.

"It occurred at the end of the stretch. The first horse went down and the next horse went on top of him," said Wells.

Apprentice jockey Catherine O'Brien suffered a broken shinbone. She was taken to hospital for treatment of her injury.

"She's in good spirits," said her agent Ron Burke. "It's just one of those things. It's unfortunate. I guess it's just part of the game."

The 28-year-old native of Montreal had been splitting her riding duties between Fort Erie and Woodbine for the past two years.

O'Brien won her first race as a jockey at the Fort Erie track in September of 2006.

Jockey Martin Ramirez, also involved in the spill, was not seriously injured.

Karachi, the horse O'Brien was riding, had to be put down after the accident, which also involved Talk About Seattle.

"One of the horses had to be humanely destroyed and I believe the other one was OK," said Wells.

O'Brien was scheduled for surgery at the Greater Niagara General Hospital on Tuesday, but no other details were available.



NTRA'S STANCE ON BILL...

From Alex Waldrop's BLOG at the NTRA..


H.R. 6598

It's not been long since my last blog but a subject has come up in the past 24 hours that I need to address.

That subject is the current legislation in Congress that would ban the interstate or international shipment of horses to be slaughtered for human consumption - an activity that the NTRA has long opposed. The bill in question is H.R. 6598, the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2008.

Some in our industry - and many in the community of animal rights activists - have assumed that because NTRA gave its support to the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 857) in 2003, it will automatically support H.R. 6598. And because we have not yet given our support to H.R. 6598, some are assuming that we no longer oppose slaughter.

As we all know, assumptions are dangerous.

The NTRA as an organization still opposes the slaughter of horses for human consumption. Nonetheless, the NTRA cannot in good conscience support H.R. 6598 as currently drafted because it is an unfunded mandate that puts seized horses in the hands of the Attorney General and not in the hands of those who know how to care for horses.

We believe that the prior legislation dealt with this issue in a comprehensive fashion. For example, H.R. 857 provided funding for 501c3 organizations to care for displaced animals and authorized the Secretary of Agriculture - an individual surely familiar with equine care issues - to ensure the horses' safety.

Rather than pushing a bad bill that has little or no chance of passage, we are working to develop a comprehensive program of owner education, aftercare, retraining and adoption for racehorses transitioning off the track. We also are seeking expanded support for the many underfunded charities that work so hard to give our equine athletes the dignified retirements they deserve.

I am a pragmatist. I look for practical, real world solutions to the animal welfare challenges presented by horse retirement. We can't wait for Congress to ban horse slaughter. The reality is that supporters of the ban may never be able to push such a controversial bill through Congress because of the opposition to such a ban by very powerful agriculture interests. This is the political reality that few horse slaughter opponents want to hear. Don't attack the NTRA for delivering this message. We are just the messenger.

READ THE REST..
http://ntra.com/blog.aspx?blogid=15&year=2008&month=9&day=18