QUESTIONS - ANSWERS?

VOTING FOR SOVEREIGN AWARDS CLOSES TODAY 5 P.M.

Who will be HORSE OF THE YEAR??

(Fatal Bullet, left, by Amber Chalfin, Rahy's Attorney, below, www.horse-races.net)





5 DAYS LEFT IN MEETING
Jocks tied

Name Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings

Patrick Husbands 775 157 132 108 $9,054,324
James McAleney 807 157 110 115 $8,316,182
Emma-Jayne Wilson 855 110 109 131 $6,493,412
Emile Ramsammy 826 101 101 114 $5,119,553
Eurico Rosa Da Silva 707 100 93 83 $5,707,955





VIEWPOINT :

WHAT CAN A BETTOR DO?

It's going to be a fun finish to the 2008 Woodbine season with lots of races and big fields and the jockeys race is added spice.

But bettors who had their dollars on BUG'S BOY at 14 to 1 in the 3rd race yesterday at Woodbine are probably wondering what was going on with the gelding as the maiden sprint field turned for home.

The race had started off slowly for the entire field - :24 2/5, :49 into a strong wind over a bizarre Polytrack that was yielding big kickback chunks.

Bug's Boy, under Simon Husbands, was very eager it appeared and was under strong restraint early in the race.
Then the gelding moved to the inside to follow the favourite, Come On Love.

Inside the quarter-pole, Bug's Boy was seemingly full of run, off the turn, he moved from the rail and tipped out to the 2 path, still under a hold.

Track announcer Dan Loiselle said this from the top of the stretch to the eighth pole:

"Bug's Boy still travelling well in 2nd...Bug's Boy, still yet to be asked"

Well, not much happened after that, the horse closed steadily and was in front after the wire but the rider never turned his stick over or make any strong pushing movements.

What makes the situtation all that more tricky to a litany of fans, owners and trainers who discussed the matter yesterday is that the winner was ridden by Husbands' brother Patrick, who tied for leading rider by wins with the score (no. 157 on the year).

Certainly there is more to this race than what the regular fan knows, maybe the horse does not like the whip (why would the jockey carry one then?) or maybe he had taken a funny step when he angled off in the stretch.

But it would be good information to know.




THAT'S APPEALING
Ontario Lassie Beyer Figure- 66

CEC Farms' homebred MILWAUKEE APPEAL was very strong in the stretch to win the Ontario Lassie Stakes yesterday as part of a long 11-racecard at Woodbine.
The 2 to 5 favourite in the race, RETRACEABLE had to battle back and get 2nd between fillies after it appeared as if she was going to finish nowhere.

Milwaukee Appeal is a new stakes winner for her sire MILWAUKEE BREW (Ginger Brew etc.) and her dam is the Open Forum mare Appealing Forum.

The filly debuted for $32,00 claiming and lost and then won her maiden for $40,000.

"This filly has improved from day one. She's matured and always gotten
better with each race," said winning trainer Scott Fairlie.

Fairlie said the sire side of Milwaukee Appeal's pedigree suggested his
pupil would enjoy route racing. In two two-turn attempts, both stakes,
she has one win and one second-place finish, which came in the Princess
Elizabeth on Nov. 1.

"Milwaukee Brew stamps his foals pretty well," he added.

The filly is now 3-for-6 with $207,538 in earnings.

Some nice prospects won yesterday despite wet snow, big wind and cold temperatures.

KEINO WEST, an Ontario bred by Kissin Kris - Vanetta Hill by Crown Attorney, won his maiden in 1:44 4/5 by a tiny nose from the 11 post in race 6.
The 2yo beat the highly regarded CROWN ISLE who actually won his maiden last time but was disqualified.

Keino West is owned by Track West and Sue Foremand and trained by Steve Attard. Foremand bought back the 2yo for $33K U S) from the local sale last year.

COSTALIVIN won a slower maiden race later on the card but it was his first 2 turn attempt. The 2yo was the 8th winner for 1st crop sire TOMAHAWK and his dam, Sylky Market won the Wonder Where Stakes.
Costalivin is owned by Jam Jar and trained by John Ross.

Trainer MARC BLOUIN won his first race of the year when PLEASANT DREAM won the finale without hind shoes and in her first attempt at the 1 1/16 mile distance.
Recently purchased by Walnut Ridge Farm, Pleasant Dream was coming off a 2 month layoff.

She is by Pleasant Tap and was bred in Ontario by Cavendish INvesting Inc.



SPRINGSIDE OUT OF DANGER
Should be named Canadian champion 2yo filly

There were reports yesterday that SPRINGSIDE will survive a broken pastern but perhaps will never race again.

The Awesome Again filly, Canadian-owned by Jim and Alice Sapara and trained by Josie Carroll who watched the race from Woodbine, won the DEMOISELLE STAKES by a long margin on Saturday but pulled up after the race.

The filly made a devastating move from last around the turn and drew off to win - not sure why Garret Gomez needed to hit her as many times as he did after she got clear of the field, however.

The video of the race is on http://bloodhorse.com/


DANCE SMARTLY JACKET SOLD FOR $350

Thanks to everyone who bid on the Dance Smartly jacket for LONGRUN.
$350 was needed to buy the jacket and the winning bidder was R.D.

Thank you to BRUCE WALKER for donating the jacket.

ON EBAY for the next 11 days, LongRun has a saddle pad up for auction signed by Eric Lamaze, show jumping Olympian:

http://www.cmarket.com/auction/item/Item.action?_sourcePage=%2Fitem%2FbrowseImage.jsp&id=77116490


JAPAN CUP - 40 T0 LONGSHOT WINS

Marsh Side scratched
excerpt from JAPAN TIMES..


Screen Hero takes center stage with Japan Cup victory By BARBARA BAYER Staff writer
Screen Hero, a horse that had barely been in the picture before the race, managed to grab top billing Sunday with a half length win of the Japan Cup at Tokyo
Coming in second in the JC 28th running was race favorite Deep Sky, with second pick Vodka in third place a three-quarter length later. Matsurida Gogh, Oken Bruce Lee and Meisho Samson followed in that order.
A crawling slow pace threw a wrench into the race for many, but winning jockey Mirco Demuro of Italy was able to give Screen Hero a smooth ride from the start, breaking from the No. 16 slot and easing his way in to five widths' off the rail five off the front. Vodka, on the other hand, fought her jockey on the rail as she, with tongue flapping, pulled her way forward into an unsettled third position.
On her outside was Matsurida Gogh. Shadowing him on his outside was Screen Hero. "We had decided to mark Gogh as he always gets a nice position," said the 28-year-old Demuro. "The only thing I had been concerned about was the start, but he broke well and the slow pace meant we could move in and get a good position easily."
Into the stretch, with horses lined up at the top of the slope 400 meters out, Screen Hero took the lead with some 200 meters left and fought off Deep Sky on his outside.
"All I could think was, my God, just don't pass me!" Demuro said of Deep Sky.
It was hair-raisingly close to the very end. "My heart was just pounding until he was over the finish line," said trainer Yuichi Shikato. Shikato only opened his stable in March and took over Screen Hero's charge from retiring trainer Susumu Yano.
Following a broken bone and nearly a year away from the turf, the horse was returned to racing from summer.
Four races preceded the Japan Cup, with three different jockeys bringing the 4-year-old home with two wins and two seconds. Only open class until his last time out, when he won his first group race, a G2, Shikato had been told by each of the jockeys that the horse has potential and can go a lot further.
"With each race he seemed to rise to meet the level of his opponents," Shikato said. "But the Japan Cup field had three Derby winners and I wondered if he could rise that far."
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sp20081201a1.html