PACKING UP

MARK CASSE, PAT HUSBANDS repeat in titles
Last day of racing scrapped

It was a disappointing way to end the 2008 Woodbine season for sure.
The weather was brutal, very cold and windy and thus the Valedictory Stakes, which had lured a few shippers plus Hall of Fame jockey KENT DESORMEAUX, was cancelled along with 11 of the 13 races scheduled.

The DAILY RACING FORM (Toronto edition) reported that the jockeys refused to ride.


Anyway, fittingly, the only two races that were run were won by PATRICK HUSBANDS who came from chasing Jim McAleney all season long to win the jock's title by wins - he had 4 more than his rival at 166.

His main barn was that of Mark Casse who led all trainers by wins again.

Both Husbands and Casse are up for SOVEREIGN AWARDS on Friday night.

Final statistics on the Woodbine season of waerging figure to be available in the coming days.

THOROUGHBLOG continues to post throughout the winter as it has in the last 2 years.




FINAL STANDINGS - WOODBINE TRAINERS

Name Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings

Mark E. Casse 485 75 75 68 $5,648,751
Sid C. Attard 325 58 51 42 $3,399,415
Reade Baker 325 48 46 43 $2,781,911
Scott H. Fairlie 241 47 36 29 $1,901,857
Roger L. Attfield 241 45 29 36 $4,154,307
Steven M. Asmussen 264 40 28 35 $2,266,428
Robert P. Tiller 283 39 38 40 $2,017,101
Nicholas Gonzalez 191 33 30 31 $2,337,000
Daniel J. Vella 227 31 39 24 $1,780,447
Audre Cappuccitti 244 31 18 27 $948,794
Brian A. Lynch 106 30 17 12 $2,249,204
Terry Jordan 80 30 16 7 $1,111,284
Josie Carroll 202 29 34 25 $2,326,538
Michael J. Doyle 298 28 29 31 $1,467,319
Malcolm Pierce 189 27 28 22 $1,906,677
Michael P. De Paulo 196 26 28 29 $1,625,980
Laurie Silvera 222 24 25 37 $1,071,900
Ian Black 130 22 20 13 $2,076,758
Abraham R. Katryan 195 21 19 21 $783,835
Mark R. Frostad 100 20 19 14 $1,762,438

WOODBINE JOCKEYS

Name Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings

Patrick Husbands 809 166 140 111 $9,433,918
James McAleney 836 162 111 121 $8,461,472
Emma-Jayne Wilson 879 111 113 137 $6,607,596
Eurico Rosa Da Silva 732 105 94 87 $5,906,204
Emile Ramsammy 854 102 106 116 $5,199,193
Tyler Pizarro 660 90 95 72 $4,611,468
Chantal Sutherland 590 89 69 85 $4,947,630
Justin Stein 671 80 90 66 $3,598,415
Jono C. Jones 596 78 71 71 $5,508,920
Robert C. Landry 452 57 57 64 $3,621,769
David Clark 464 51 53 55 $3,321,096
Constant Montpellier 474 45 52 48 $2,419,152
Slade Callaghan 441 44 42 36 $2,792,741
Corey Fraser 390 43 42 55 $2,557,599
Na Somsanith 288 30 36 31 $1,327,196
Richard Dos Ramos 294 30 23 36 $1,883,035
Jerry Baird 328 28 32 47 $1,816,695
Gerry Olguin 285 23 44 25 $1,316,449
David Garcia 344 22 21 27 $903,897
Steven Ronald Bahen 450 21 54 51 $1,653,254


HORSES BY WINS

Name Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings

Sugar Bay 9 6 1 0 $561,660
Ky Bluz Girl 11 5 2 1 $145,625
Baywoods 9 5 2 1 $106,729
Legal Move 9 5 1 1 $381,499
Sand Cove 10 5 1 1 $366,955
Caturiana 13 4 4 1 $57,942
Shadowless 12 4 2 4 $306,467
Field Commission 11 4 2 3 $237,443
Chaplain 13 4 2 3 $160,305
Archie's Gal 9 4 2 2 $124,986
Drunken Love 8 4 2 1 $207,805
Bedarra 11 4 2 1 $185,648
Igottogojoe 12 4 2 1 $85,793
Cusoon (GB) 10 4 2 1 $58,018
Lucas Street 9 4 2 0 $260,340
Daring Attraction 6 4 2 0 $138,560
Hydethetreasure 14 4 1 3 $83,431
Sligovitz 6 4 1 1 $285,970
Dozen Dancer 7 4 1 1 $167,343
Not Bourbon 5 4 1 0 $885,000


STARTING TODAY -
YEAR IN REVIEW, MONTH-BY-MONTH

Local news, and stories from other places too


JANUARY 2008

Jan. 5, 2008 - TAMMY SAMUEL BALAZ passes away at just 47. The president of Sam-Son Farms and daughter of the late Ernie Samuel, loved her horses and the famil business.


SUGAR SWIRL, bred in Ontario by Adena Springs, won the FIRST LADY HANDICAP (GRADE 3) for AENDA SPRINGS and trainer BRIAN LYNCH.

FRENCH BERET wins the Col. Bradley (Grade 3) for SAM-SON FARMS.

NYUK NYUK NYUK (Mutakkdim-May Time) runs a 100 Beyer Figure at Gulfstream Park for Tucci Stables and trainer Tino Attard. Later in the month, he runs 103.

American 7yo COMMENTATOR runs a 119 Beyer Figuer at GUlfstream in an allowance score.

MARYFIELD , bred in Ontario by Mike Carroll, is named champion FEMALE SPRINTER at the ECLIPSE AWARDS.

EMMA-JAYNE WILSON, champion jockey at Woodbine is granted a license to ride in Hong Kong, the first Canadian jockey to be asked to ride there.

BUFFALO MAN, a Canadian-bred, wins the Grade 3 Appleton Stakes.




HONG KONG RACES ON SUNDAY!
Kip Deville and others in action

from Hong Kong Jockey Club website

While most of the thirty-five visiting Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International contenders ventured on to the Sha Tin track this morning, it was really only the Australian challengers Douro Valley (CXHK Vase) and Apache Cat (CXHK Sprint) who put in any serious work on the turf and all weather tracks respectively.

Apache Cat strode a strong 800 metres in 50.5 seconds on the all-weather, zipping home the last 400 metres in 22.5, which pleased his trainer Greg Eurell. "He had a good gallop which is what we wanted. He's settled in so well here I think he was looking forward to a bit of decent work," Eurell said.

Eurell reported that the striking six-year-old was 530 kg on landing last week but had put on condition in the past few days. "He's 540 kilos (kilograms) now and that's around his optimum racing weight. It's a good indicator with him. He was 538 kilos when he last raced in Western Australia.

"He's eating and drinking as you'd hope and I would say he has settled in very, very well," Eurell said.

(at right, SUPER HORNET gets ready for Hong Kong Mile)

Fellow Australian trainer Danny O'Brien (who arrives Wednesday) was not on hand to see his charge Douro Valley work strongly on the course proper but would almost certainly have had an encouraging report from foreman Paul Koumis.

Douro Valley worked over 1200 metres in 1.15.8 seconds with a rousing last 400 metres in 22.8.

Singapore-based trainer Laurie Laxon was at the track to watch his sprinter Waikato have a gentle canter on the all weather track, and was happy with his horse. "He's thriving right now, he shipped well and he may have even put on a little weight according to the scales over here," Laxon said.

(KIP DEVILLE gallops in Hong Kong)

"I think he's still on the upgrade, and he's maybe improved a bit since his fourth to Takeover Target in the international sprint in Singapore back in May. He'll have a bit of work on the turf later in the week," he said.

The eight challengers from France came out in a posse, and all put in routine canters on the all weather track. These included the Freddy Head trained champion sprinter in Europe, Marchand D'Or, who was confined to a gentle lap of the all weather track.

Defending CXHK Vase champion Doctor Dino appeared to be happy to be back on familiar ground, and his regular work rider Eric Gandon was smiling as he confirmed the horse's well being on the way back to the barn.

"He likes it here and there were problems with the transport and to look at him, I'd say he is in the same form now as last year when he won the race," Gandon said.

The US challengers, Kip Deville and Awesome Gem (CXHK Mile) and Out Of Control (CXHK Cup) also had routine canters on the all weather. The 2007 Breeders' Cup Mile winner Kip Deville looked particularly well and connections are happy with the way the horse has adapted to going right handed on the track since his arrival in Hong Kong.

Purple Moon (CXHK Vase) looked in fine fettle as he did a routine half-speed workout on the all-weather track at Sha Tin today and pleased his regular Japanese work rider.

"He seems very well," confirmed Nirina Rakotoarisoa about the Luca Cumani-trained five-year-old, a fair ninth in the Japan Cup last month. Purple Moon bids to give his trainer a second victory at this meeting having won the 2003 Hong Kong Cup with Falbrav.

Ian Willows, travelling head lad to Cumani, was equally happy with Purple Moon. "He has come out of the Japan Cup well. The race was not run to suit us there and that was a big disappointment. They normally go a decent pace which they didn't this year.

Major Cadeaux (CXHK Mile) was seen for the first time on the all-weather circuit. The Richard Hannon trained chesnut looked happy and has pleased his travelling lad Tony Gorman.

"He seems to have lost a bit of weight but he is eating and drinking well so I see no reason why he shouldn't recover his full racing weight by the weekend," said Gorman.

Lush Lashes, Ireland's big hope in the Cup, looked to have travelled well as she limbered up for her first clash of the year against the colts. She looked bright and happy as she took her surrounding for the first time as she limbered up on the all-weather.

Japan's leading CXHK Mile candidate Super Hornet, who beat the Tenno Sho Autumn champion Vodka in the 1800m G2 Mainichi Okan, walked and did a regular canter on all-weather track this morning.

"He is very settled. He is usually tense when he travels, but this time he had a more comfortable trip to Hong Kong," said his travelling-lad Hidetoshi Kawabata.

The four-year-old Japanese sprinter Laurel Guerreiro looked very well when he cantered on the all-weather track under his regular exercise rider Mitsuo Uegomori who said: "He wanted to go faster but that is a good sign for him; he is in very good condition."

The CXHK Vase runner Jaguar Mail followed the other CXHK Sprint candidate Tosho Courage on all-weather track, and both of them cantered easily.

Exercise rider for Jaguar Mail, Masanori Watanabe commented: "My horse was very relaxed behind Tosho Courage. I just gave him an easy workout to show him the all-weather track. I felt he moved very well on his first time outside of the stable area."

Masakazu Sakai, who was riding Tosho Courage, said: "He did a strong canter yesterday, so he had a light canter to loosen up today. He is just like he is at home."

CXHK Cup hope Linngari left trainer Sir Michael Stoute's travelling head lad more than happy, and hoping and anticipating a big show for his final career start before taking up stud duties.

"He knows exactly where he is, and I can tell he is happy as he is eating and drinking well. Jockey Ryan Moore will be here to give him some serious work on Friday," said James Savage.

Linngari, third to New Approach in Newmarket's Champion Stakes last time out, has twice raced at Sha Tin before - finishing fifth in the CXHK Mile in 2006.

Jackpot Delight worked speedily on the dirt to leave trainer Caspar Fownes optimistic of a bold showing in the Vase.

"It will be his first attempt over 2400m but I think he will run the trip out well. His work this morning was very encouraging so I think he has a good chance of figuring in the money," Fownes said.



excerpt: TORONTO STAR

Writer gets voucher from machine but then can't cash voucher!
(this is a weird occurence)

BY JACK LAKEY

Two more failed $20 investments left us with a $39.80 voucher, delivered to us from a self-serve terminal along with the last ticket we'd purchased. But when we tried to use the voucher in another self-serve terminal, a notice came up on the screen that said it had already been cashed.

Hogwash, we muttered, before trying a second terminal. It told us the same thing.

We went to one of the mutuels clerks and tried to use it to make a bet. She ran it through her terminal and also said the voucher had been cashed.

How could that be, we asked. If it had been cashed, we would no longer be in possession of it, since self-serve terminals swallow the inserted voucher. More to the point, the machine would cough up a change voucher only after we pushed "finish."

The other clerk took the voucher and spent 10 minutes on the phone sorting it out. Somehow, the $39.80 value of our voucher remained in the betting terminal after we'd made our previous bet, he said.

Read the entire story...

http://www.thestar.com/GTA/Fixer/article/550010