MUST BE FUNNY

(RAHY'S ATTORNEY is in Japan! The leading contender for CANADIAN HORSE OF THE YEAR needs only a good showing to win the Sovereign..read more below. photo from Japan Racing website)






YOU WANT LONGSHOTS?

WOODBINE'S GOT 'EM

With less than a few weeks to go in Woodbine's meeting, the bombs are flying at the Toronto track and Thursday's head scratching results were no different.

The day started off tamely enough...favourites BEAR'S ALI, a light grey 2yo by
Two Punch, won race 2 and BRIENNANA CAT won the 3rd but that's when things got bananas.

The suddenly hot FIELDSTONE FARMS AND TRAINER ANALISA DELMAS won another race, this time the 4th with first-time starter VENGANZA, who had the rail post in a big field of $25,000 claiming 2yo fillies, rode the rail most of the way and then took advantage off the turn when a giant path opened on the fence.
The Compadre beginner was a $2,370 (US) purchase from breeders Anne Grguric and Wynnwood Farm.
Venganza was 24 to 1.

IN 30 minutes, WILDMAN was the official winner of race 5 at 80 to 1, yes, 80 to 1, in a quickly run 7 furlong race for just $8,000 claiming. The Doneraile Court 4yo, owned and bred by Beclawat Stable and trained by Steve Attard, had just won his previous race - at Fort Erie for $5,000, the site of his only 2 wins this year. Jono Jones rode this wild one.


RENIER was a 4 to 1 logical winner of race 5 for maidens for $10,000 for trainer Roger Attfield on the class drop with Rob Landry riding but then DUBAI GOLD won the VALEDICTORY prep at 1 1/2 miles at 6 to 1, thanks to a shrewd ride by Tyler Pizarro, and the PICK 4 paid the entire pool at $26,000.


The late double was wild - first time starters ruled again - the maiden allowance as race 8 went to PASO DOBLE from the 12 post for David Callaghan and trainer Franz Crean at 23 to 1. Crean, long known for his ability to have a debut runner ready, had this Kentucky bred by Bold 'n Flashy - Dance Lessons by Foxhound, so sharp the gelding whooshed around 2yos on the turn like Arazi. Slade Callaghan rode the 2yo for his family.

And the finale was supposed to go to 50 cents-onte-dollar READ'S BAY but that gal hung late and 30 to 1 shot THREE THIRTEEN dove to the rail and won by a head after starting from post 13. The grey Porto Foricos filly was making her 11th start and was recently 11th in her latest at Fort Erie.

Several Pick 3's paid 2 out of 3 on the day.

Saddle-up, today is FREAKY FRIDAY, but could it get any freakier?



WHERE DID EVERYONE GO?
Biggest race for Canadian-bred 2yos snubbed

It is the time of year when the Canadians are packing up and leaving - apparently many have already left!

Despite 101 eligibles, the prestigious CORONATION FUTURITY, 105 years old on Sunday - ( which perhaps should be moved to earler in the stakes schedule) - attracted a dismal field of 6 runners for Sunday.

The Coronation is usually the definitive race to decide a champion 2yo in Canada or at least a Queen's Plate favourite.

This year's race has 3 maidens, one western Canadian winner, one minor winner and EL BRUJO (photo by www.horse-races.net at right), who figures to be 8 to 5 or lower.

The top 2yo filly race for Canadian breds, the Princess Elizabeth, was also a drab field and was held late last month.




DAVID CLARK, SENTENCED TO HOUSE ARREST

with notes from Toronto Star and Daily Racing Form.

Top jockey David Clark was sentenced to 2 years of house arrest yesterday in a Newmarket court having pled guilty in April to impaired driving causing death and impaired driving causing bodily harm.

On the evening of May 16, 2006, Clark was driving southbound on Huntington Road south of Major MacKenzie Drive when he collided with a northbound car.

Suzanne Mizuno, of Vaughan, was the passenger in the vehicle. She was killed on impact. The driver, a 30-year-old man, was also injured in the accident.

In addition to house arrest, Clark was sentenced to an additional two years of probation, which includes 240 hours of community service. He also received a three-year driving prohibition.

DAILY RACING FORM REPORTS...

During the period of house arrest, Clark will be confined to his home at all times except for employment purposes, medical or legal appointments, or when with a companion over the age of 18 approved by his probation service.



RAHY'S ATTORNEY IN JAPAN

Rahy's Attorney, the 4-year-old Canadian mile champion who is scheduled to run in the Grade 1 Mile Championship at Kyoto Racecourse, arrived safely at NaritaAirport on Tuesday, November 11.

The Ian Black trained gelding landed at 7:44 a.m. and was transported to the JRA Horseracing School Quarantine Center in Shiroi City at 10:17 a.m., completing a 24-hour trip from Toronto. Rahy’s Attorney will compete in the Mile Championship on November 23.

YPU CAN SEE THESE PAST PERFORMANCES OF ALL THE EARLY ENTRIES HERE..


http://japanracing.jp/_news2008/pdf/081112.pdf



FAIR GROUNDS OPENS TODAY!

Story from the TIME-PICAYUNE
EXCERPT

Fair Grounds season gets underway today
Posted by Bob Fortus, The Times-Picayune November 13, 2008 10:19PM

It's all about hope. When the Fair Grounds meet opens today, jockeys, trainers and owners begin their quest to find that special horse.

For trainer Sam David, jockey Lonnie Meche and owners James and Sue Burns, another runner like Blushing K.D. would make this meet.

Today's feature, the first Blushing K.D. Handicap, honors the memory of the brilliant filly who won the Fair Grounds Oaks, Fantasy Stakes, Kentucky Oaks and Monmouth Oaks in 1997.

"I think it was time, " Meche said of a race named in her honor. "They name a race after a lot of good horses. She was one of them. I'm glad to see it."

David said: "As they turn late 2-year-olds, early 3-year-olds, you're hoping something's coming down the shed that could turn into a good horse. This is the meet to do it. I keep looking down my barn now. I don't see anybody like her."

Blushing K.D. came to the Fair Grounds for the 1996-97 season after winning a maiden sprint and a minor sprint stakes race for 2-year-old fillies at Louisiana Downs.

"She had actually made my summer, " David said. "I was struggling real bad at Louisiana Downs. She won that little stakes, there's a little light at the end of the tunnel. We didn't know it was such a bright light."

Blushing K.D. made her Fair Grounds debut in January 1997, finishing fifth in an allowance sprint against males. "It was a tiring fifth, " Meche said.

David blamed himself. "The reason she got beat here, I kind of rushed her into that race, " he said. "I knew she wasn't quite ready to run, but I got a race into her."

Blushing K.D. was being readied for her first two-turn race, the Fair Grounds Sales Derby. The filly, who had been purchased for $25,000 at the 1996 Fair Grounds sale of 2-year-olds in training, faced six males who had been purchased in that sale. She won by 20 lengths, running a mile-and-a-sixteenth in 1:42 1-5, one-fifth of a second off the track record.

"I thought she had a legitimate shot in there, because it was restricted to sales graduates, " David said. "But I didn't expect her to run away and hide like that. After that race, she just continued to get better."

David blamed himself for Blushing K.D.'s other defeat. Two weeks after she won the Kentucky Oaks, she finished fourth in the Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico. David said she had gone through a hard campaign, and he should have given her a break.

Blushing K.D. bounced back with a victory in the Monmouth Oaks. She was training at Monmouth for a possible start in the Haskell when she broke down during a morning gallop.

"A horse galloped by her, " David said. "She was kind of spooked by that and drove her left fore(leg) into the ground."

Two fractured sesamoids ended her career. Blushing K.D., who won eight of 10 starts and earned $918,900, died of colic in 2000.

Stormy West, coming off a fifth-place finish in the Grade I First Lady Stakes at Keeneland, is the 3-1 morning-line favorite in the Blushing K.D., a turf race for fillies and mares. "It's a pretty good spot for her, " said Rodolphe Brisset, trainer Bill Mott's assistant at the Fair Grounds. "She's doing well. I hope we don't have too much rain."

http://blog.nola.com/tpsports/2008/11/fair_grounds_season_gets_under.html