FAITH

TERRY VELTRI, 52

On his birthday, Feb. 10, former jockey and Woodbine exercise rider TERRY VELTRI passed away.

Veltri lived his life on the track, and began his horse career as a jockey.

Once he retired from riding (he made a comeback a few years back at Fort Erie when he rode one race) he became known as one of the top exercise riders at Woodbine.

Veltri was intrumental in developing graded stakes winner THUNDER REGENT for trainer Vince Tesoro and dozens of other top runners.

His expertise was getting headstrong horses to train in controlled fashion in the mornings.

Godspeed Terry.



OCALA 2YO SALE

The most active Canadian stable at yesterday's Ocala 2yo sale was Syd Cooper's RMC STABLE, which has not been very active at sales or in racing for a few years but appears to be jumping in again.

Cooper paid $42,000 for the Canadian-bred, Ontario sired filly by Where's the Ring out of Hippicritical and $50,000 for a Kentucky bred filly by Vindication out of Chocolate Brown.

SID ATTARD paid $50,000 for a D'Wildcat Florida-bred filly out of Magic Merger

A Canadian-bred Eurosilver filly out of Basta Barbara solf for $105,000 to LRK RACING INC.

Note: The Canadian-bred Pulpit colt that was listed as sold to Centennial Farms (Niagara) for $190,000 was later sold to Centennial for $150,000.
The colt is out of Magna Cum Laude by Pleasant Tap.


The average price for the sale went from $157,000 down to $104,000.


PLANS FOR SMART SURPRISE, GOOD AND LUCKY

Trainer JOSIE CARROLL has had a whirlwind winter - a good colt in Patena sold and taken from her stable, wins in New Orleans and Florida including stakes scores and some bad news with the death of first-time starter Meli.

SMART SURPRISE and GOOD AND LUCKY, the current stars in the stable, are headed to big events according to DAILY RACING FORM:

SMART SURPRISE, a Kentucky bred, is headed to the Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn and GOOD AND LUCKY, a Florida bred, could race in the Feb. 28 Gulf Coast Classic at Delta Downs and will be nominated for the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap on March 14.



CANADIAN BREDS ELSEWHERE

On the comeback trail is NIAGARA THUNDER (Hussonet), a Canadian-bred who returns to racing today for Centennial Farms (Niagara) in a turf allowance at GUlfstream.
Listed at 12 to 1 in the morning line, the colt is trained by Dom MacRae.
Also in the race is Ontario bred SOUL SPIRIT, from the Stronach Stables.

SNEAKY DEE, a grey 5yo mare by Cat's at Home out of Gray Aries by Same Direction, was a winner last night at Mountaineer for Bert Cline. The filly won for $5,000 claiming and was bred by Ontario's Buckaroo Stable (Steve Owens).

GOLD CHRYSANTHEMUM (Solomon's Decree-Calveeta by Tejano) won at Beulah Park yesterday for $4,000 claiming. She was odds-on and was bred by Bruno Schickedanz.