MESMERIZING

5 to go


WOODBINE'S 2008 racing season winds down but not slowly this week, more like with a bang with 5 large cards of racing, stakes events starting tomorrow night and a super LONGRUN CALENDAR GIVEAWAY on SUNDAY, Dec. 7, the last day of racing.

Adding to the giant fields and numerous betting opportunities is the contentious jockey race between Patrick Husbands and Jim McAleney - currently tied at 157 winners.

Husbands has 7 mounts of 9 races tomorrow night.
McAleney has 5.


This week, the NOMINATIONS FOR THE SOVEREIGN AWARDS will be announced and that is surely to bring some surprises to horse owners, trainers and breeders (perhaps even those who voted!).

There will be 10 races or more each day from Thursday on and Sunday's feature is the 1 3/4 mile VALEDICTORY, a traditional marathon stake.

The HORSEMEN'S BENEVOLENT AND PROTECITVE ASSOCIATION (Ontario) will give away an awesome LongRun calendar to fans coming to the races on SUNDAY.




TUESDAY MORNING SCOREBOARD

WOODBINE TRAINERS

Name	Starts	1st	2nd	3rd	Earnings
Mark E. Casse	471	74	74	67	$5,604,141
Sid C. Attard	315	55	50	39	$3,301,659
Reade Baker	308	47	44	39	$2,690,863
Roger L. Attfield	236	45	29	35	$4,135,725
Scott H. Fairlie	230	44	36	29	$1,827,506
Steven M. Asmussen	254	39	27	35	$2,241,568
Robert P. Tiller	273	36	36	39	$1,848,226
Nicholas Gonzalez	187	31	30	31	$2,266,182
Audre Cappuccitti	239	31	16	25	$934,826
Daniel J. Vella	219	30	39	23	$1,740,531
Brian A. Lynch	106	30	17	12	$2,249,204
Terry Jordan	80	30	16	7	$1,111,284

WOODBINE JOCKEYS

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
Chantal Sutherland	589	89	69	85	$4,944,030
Tyler Pizarro	645	87	94	71	$4,541,187
Justin Stein	643	77	86	62	$3,450,036
Jono C. Jones	586	77	69	70	$5,433,773
Robert C. Landry	434	54	55	64	$3,436,875
David Clark	464	51	53	55	$3,321,096

OTHER STUFF

Ontario owner/trainer DEBRA ROMBIS won the first race last night at Mountaineer Park with DEMARIA, a 3yo Bold Executive filly out of A View Indeed, Distant View.
The filly won the $5,000 claiming race by a neck at 5 to 1 under Jose Davila.
She was bred by Helmut and Nancy Kleinhart and is now 2 for 8 in her career.



ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
SUNDAY WRAP

Thank you to everyone who commented on a THOROUGHBLOG query presented in yesterday's post - a query regarding PERCEPTION.

Why does top jockey EMMA-JAYNE WILSON get fined for excessive use of the whip when she carries the new, shorter, softer cushion whip?
Because if it looks bad(flailing or a perception of hitting hard) the ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION and its stewards has a job to do to enforce rules and regulate the sport.
And that's what it does.
It is not a criticism against Wilson, who has taken the lead in using a more humane whip. The ORC simply deemed that it looked bad.

If it doesn't look right, the fans, the bettors, the folks keeping the game going, are left on their own.

That was the point of yesterday's comment on the 3RD RACE ON SUNDAY (which you can watch below).

It doesn't matter what the instructions were for the rider and horse, it doesn't matter what the reasons/intention were for what simply APPEARED to be somewhat of a soft effort - what matters is, it does not look good and that is not fair to the bettors.

On the LET IT RIDE FORUM and other racing discussion forums, the race has come up many times. Not just on this site.



**And thank you to CATHY R., breeder of RED WITH GUILT, for the note. Cathy, you can get a win photo for the filly from MIKE BURNS PHOTOGRAPHY located on the Woodbine backstretch 416-679-9889.