CALL HIM SIR

SIR BARTON REMEMBERED



The 34th Sir Barton Stakes is tonight at Woodbine and its another opportunity to learn more about the heroes of racing's yesteryear.

Last year's winner EXECUTIVE CHOICE plus the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers are all back for more fun in the 1 1/16 mile race for Ontario sired older guys.

Below are 2 cool clips - one from JIM MACKAY about SIR BARTON and then a 17 second clip of the big match race in WINDSOR,. ONTARIO between Sir Barton and Man o' War.
















JOCKEY RACE STARTS FRESH TONIGHT

Jim McAleney and Pat Husbands are 157-157 heading into the last 5 days of racing.

Here are tonight's mounts:

HUSBANDS

Race 2 - Seaside View 4-1
Race 3 - American Signature 6-1
Race 5 - Unique Incident 5-2
Race 6- Full of Wisdom 4-1
Race 7- Dancer's Bajan
Race 8 - Tiller entry 4-1
Race 9 - Charley Tango 3-1

MCALENEY

Race 1 - Morani 4-1
Race 2 - Elkhart 2-1
Race 4 Thumbin a Ride 2-1
Race 5 Affiniti One 6-1
Race 8 - Gotaghostofachance 8-1



OTHER STUFF

Ontario bred NEWBURY won a $5,000 claiming race at Mountaineer Park last night. The 6yo by Archers Bay-Branchbury, Mt. Livermore won by 6 1/4 lengths as the odds-on favourite. The owner is Robert Ianotti.

At Penn National, Ontario bred FLAWLESS CASE (Crown Attorney-Millenium Dawn, Slew o' Gold) won a $5,000 claiming race for owner/trainer Sam Webb. The 3yo was 11 to 1 and was bred by the Ladiges family.
The Penn National track was listed as good yesterday and there were winners by 12, 15 1/2 and 16 1/4 lengths in separate races.


COLEBROOK QUEEN RESCUED FROM OLEX

COLEBROOK QUEEN (El Prado-Queen Dot), an Ontario bred, was bought yesterday from
the OLEX sale in London, Ontario.
A winner once in 9 races of $31,000 and once a broodmae, Colebrook Queen was bought by Ellie Ross and Joanne Pfeifer.
This is the post about the purchase from Alex Brown racing
(and don't forget to watch that Ellie Ross video of her at Olex that was posted her a few days ago)

from Alex Brown:

Fortunately others were at the sale (Ellie Ross and Joanne Pfeifer) and bought a thoroughbred mare (Colebrook Queen) by outbidding two kill buyers. She went for 33 cents / pound (I think). I think she had been used in a riding program for a couple of years and had also been a broodmare. She is by El Prado. Meat prices topped out at about 30 cents / pound today, so the market was up over last week. Having three kill buyers at the auction will do that. Usual suspects, standard breds, belgians and so forth.



MORE LETTERS/COMMENTS

(re: race 3 on Sunday, addressed on this site last 2 days)


from trainer John LeBlanc Jr.:

December 2, 2008

Well, here it is straight from the trainer, husband and father of the owners, as well as exercise rider of Bug’s Boy.

While I’m not a regular reader of the Thoroughblog site, it was brought to my attention that Ms. Morrison had made quite a mission of casting doubt on the integrity and professionalism of Simon Husbands in his handling of this horse during the running of the 3^rd race on Sunday, November 30^th.

Ms. Morrison neither contacted myself nor Simon for comment before her widespread, damaging remarks were published.

While it was stated, as a follow up the next day, on her blog, that other sites have discussed this issue, I will remind that the credentials held by this blog editor, are quite sold when innuendos such as these are made.

To this end I feel I must respond in Simon’s defense. I have had a great working relationship with Simon over the years, and can not speak highly enough of his honesty, integrity and willingness to assist me in my job to help a horse achieve it’s maximum potential.

Bug’s Boy was ridden by Simon exactly as I instructed him and as we discussed.

This horse dropped in for $ 16,000., last start and hit a brick wall and stopped immediately, as soon as Simon began to get aggressive with him, as many of you fault him for not doing on Sunday.

After talking to Simon, after the race and experimenting while I galloped him in the morning, I wanted to try something different. I told Simon to keep him covered up as long as possible.

Tap him on the shoulder, and DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT PUSH HIM, or HIT him, but rather hold him on the bit and nudge him.

As you can see Simon’s attention to the instruction resulted in the horse’s best finish yet. He is not the 1^st horse I’ve trained that could not be hit!

This horse also did not switch leads down the stretch once again until he crossed the wire, compromising his late burst. Galloping him every morning, I can tell you he is a very quirky horse. As well, by his race record, a good horseplayer might suspect that we have been dealing with some issues!

While we wish Patrick well in his quest for the title, I believe that he’s plenty talented enough and doesn’t need his brother to be aiding him in the outcome of a race, as Ms. Morrison’s innuendo suggested in her public forum….

It should also be pointed out that I sent out 3 of our family owned horses to run the best races of their careers, with a Mdn.Alw. win, and 2, 2^nd place finishes….all 3 ridden by Simon Husbands.

While we were ecstatic with the improvement Bug’s Boy showed on Sunday, still he did not win, and make no mistake, that’s what he, Simon and our family went there to do~

John LeBlanc, Jr.

from S. Rigole:

To me the incident with Simon Husbands doesn't simply boil down to what we think we saw, it's what we want to see. The fans who want Jim to win the title saw that Simon may have "helped" out his brother.
The others who want Patrick to win saw nothing but a horse who maybe is scared of the whip.
As for Emma-Jayne Wilson using ex(c)essive force with her whip? come on why don't we go after the jockeys and trainers who really do something wrong! Sometimes the stewards are too careful and to fine a jockey who to me makes every effort to get her horse to the finish line by other methods than the whip, seems like a waste of time and embarassment on their part. When did this supposed misuse happen because I'd like to watch that race again. Anyways that's just my opinion maybe it doesn't count for much but that's how I feel.

S. Rigole