Plate Day 2012

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Plate Winner Strait of Dover
(Photo Courtesy: Woodbine Media Office)

There was no doubting the ride Justin Stein gave Strait of Dover yesterday in the Queen's Plate. He flat out believed in his horse and the colt took him to new heights setting a polytrack record in Canada's most famous race.

 It was a fun day at Woodbine Racetrack where a healthy crowd attended Sunday's first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown at Woodbine Racetrack. It was actually my first ever Plate appearance, it seems like I always had some type of commitment on Plate day, but after driving 5 hours from central Pennsylvania in the morning, I headed north to cover the race for TBN arriving in time for the 7th race. A special thanks to the @NiagaraBridges twitter account that steered me clear of the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge to the Rainbow Bridge to avoid a longer delay. Twitter can be more than just a time-waster sometimes.

Some things I enjoyed about my day yesterday:

* The hospitality and outgoing media folks at Woodbine. They could give a course on how to treat folks that are covering your sport. I always enjoy going up to Woodbine despite my hatred of the bridges.
* 20 cent Pick 3's. I would have lost my arse if I was just betting my regular 50 cent P-3. In the P-3 through the Plate I backed up my 60 cent P3 play with a 3,6/ALL/4,7,10 and caught a bomb in the middle leg with Rush Spots (24-1) that saved my main play and put us in the black for the day. I was also lucky that the higher priced Musketier edged out even money Simmard at the wire in the first leg.
* The pageantry was pretty cool to check out. Having the Canadian Mounties doing their thing was fun to watch (see picture below).
* Watching horses drive down the long stretch at Woodbine (especially the turf course) is very exciting, at one point in an earlier race I believe there were 5 horses alongside each other in the stretch. Riveting stuff.
* The walking ring. It's a very nice ring with plenty of room to move around with beautiful trees and the backdrop of the enormous Woodbine plant.
* Seeing a familiar face, Sam Pendolino, from Buffalo Raceway, who was giving me his horse flesh selections in the paddock and he was right on.

It's just a neat place to watch a race and it was certainly bustling with people yesterday, I can vouch for it based on where I had to park!

My recap of the race for TBN can be found here and my advance on trainer Mark Casse with my selections is here. I left out Irish Mission and missed on Golden Ridge, but did have the other three horses (Strait of Dover, Dixie Strike and Colleen's Sailor) in my top four selections, so I wasn't too far off. Strait of Dover was a bargain at 3.80-1, that's for sure.

I hope Strait of Dover gives Fort Erie a go, it would be a shame if the Plate winner skipped the Prince of Wales for the second year in a row. The race is scheduled for Sunday, July 15 at the border oval and is the highlight race of the meet. If not, another duel between the two fillies would be the next best thing. Listening to the connections yesterday, however, and  based on the colt's difficulties over the dirt track at Hastings, I'm not so sure that they will give it a sporting chance.

Here are some photos from the day up in the great white north:

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)

10-year-old Musketier before the
Grade 3 Singspiel

Gate Break in the Singspiel

Musketier holds off Simmard at the wire

The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
David C. Olney in the Royal Box

Patrick Husbands heads toward his
mount Dixie Strike

Ramon Dominguez with
Big Creek

Emma-Jane Wilson getting
ready to ride Macho Whiskey

Julien Leparoux flew in to ride Peyton
(note the Jermaine Bridgmohan lid)

Corey Nakatani and Hall of Fame
Trainer Roger Attfield

Trainer Mark Casse still
looking for his first Plate, standing
with Dixie Strike owner John Oxley

Giant Temporary Scoreboard
overlooking the paddock

Fourth Place Finisher
Colleen's Sailor

Third Place Finisher
Dixie Strike

Second Place Finisher
and Oaks champ Irish Mission

The Champ Strait of Dover
looking like a million bucks

That's a wrap on Queen's Plate 2012, it was a good one!

Queen's Plate 2012: Post Draw Breakfast

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The Draw

I made my annual trek up the Queen Elizabeth Way (1 hr 45 minutes - not bad) for the Queen's Plate Post Position Draw Breakfast held at the Woodbine walking ring on Thursday morning. It was a hot, but breezy morning and the Eggs Benedict was delicious and the hosts definitely do a great job. It  is one of my favorite places to visit and talk horse racing.

Along with the usual friendly faces of the Woodbine media staff, I was fortunate to spend time with track announcer Dan Loiselle (a total class act), Hall of Fame jockey Sandy Hawley, in addition to the trainer/jockey combination of Mark Casse and Luis Contreras.

One thing I wasn't expecting to hear was Nick Eaves' speech about the current state of racing in the province. In his speech launching the 153rd running of the Queen's Plate, Eaves, Woodbine Entertainment Group's President and CEO announced that this may be the last year for the Plate, the oldest annual sporting event in Canada.

"Earlier this year the Ontario Government made the decision to arbitrarily cancel the commercial contracts between Ontario's racetracks and the OLG. The cancellation of these contracts will devastate the province's horse racing and breeding industry which contributes $4.5 billion to the Gross Domestic Product," said Eaves. "As a result of the Government's current position, premier race events such as the Queen's Plate as well as day-to-day horse racing are in jeopardy."


Scary stuff, indeed.

Mark Tewksbury was the Honorary Draw Master, a former Olympic gold medalist for the 1992 Canadian team, winning the 100 meter backstroke in Barcelona.

I have a quick recap of the draw at the Sports, Ink blog on the TBN website which can be found here.

Here are some pictures from this morning's draw:

The Plate Jockey's Reach for the Goods

WEG CEO Nick Eaves addresses the crowd

Olympic Champion Mark Tewksbury
chats with Dan Loiselle

Trainer Mark Casse selects first for
Golden Ridge and grabs Post No. 7

2012 HOF Inductee Roger Attfield
selects Post No. 9 for Colleen's Sailor

Yours truly yukking it up
with jockey Luis Contreras
Photo Courtesy: Keith McCalmont, Woodbine Media

The race itself looks to be wide open with lots of story lines. I'll be up in Toronto on Sunday afternoon mid-card and through the Plate, so follow along with me on Twitter.

Around the Horn

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Wise Dan (Courtesy: Reed Palmer,
Churchill Downs)

We've had some time to decompress after last weekend's whirlwind tour on Long Island and sort out our thoughts after returning to Buffalo on Wednesday. There are a few topics that have been spinning around in the meantime...so let's get to it....

Triple Crown Season
It was a terrific triple crown season, even with I'll Have Another's untimely scratch last weekend. Having each race be decided in the final jumps really couldn't have been scripted better from the drama angle. Even though we didn't have a Triple Crown attempt I think the sport received some excellent coverage from most outlets and for a while we were front and center in the sports section as well as on Sports Center. It has set up an awesome summer season with a lot of story lines between Bodemeister, Paynter and Union Rags battling it out in the stakes at Saratoga and Monmouth. The Haskell should be a terrific race and I'm pretty psyched to be attending for the first time since Bluegrass Cat's 2006 romp at the Shore.

2013 Road to the Kentucky Derby
With the announcement of the major change in how horses qualify for the Kentucky Derby, I actually have to say I'm on board with 95% of the switch from graded earnings to the new point system that is weighted based on the timing and historical significance of the race. The fact that all of the races are a mile or longer seems on the face to be a solid decision, but for the exclusion of 2-year-old 7-furlong races at Saratoga and Del Mar which have had some historical significance. I understand the theory and thinking of Churchill on this, but it is a bummer for those two tracks and probably some trainers that would use those races as a start for building a foundation for a potential Derby runner.

While I believe change is good, and in this case the elimination of high dollar 2-year old races worked positively relating to the Delta Jackpot and negatively for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, I'm sure the powers that be at Churchill will tweak the point system after discovering the flaws after the initial 2013 implementation.

Two things I would change (since we're on the change train) would be limiting the Derby runners to 14 (possibly 16) horses to prevent the inevitable bumping and injuries that seem to be more common over the past few years. More than one good horse has been ruined in that cavalry charge at the start. The other item would be to award the selection of gates based on the point system (most points gets first choice of gates) to eliminate the chance that a Lookin at Lucky would be stuck at the rail and benefits the horses that have earned the most points and the right to select a more preferable gate.

Grade 1 Stephen Foster
Tonight's Stephen Foster Handicap looks like a winner. I'm a big Ron The Greek fan, but Alternation looks to add to his four race win streak under the lights at Churchill. I haven't spent much time on the card, but I think I'll use RTG, Alternation and Wise Dan in some combinations and as part of my P-4. The handicap division is extremely strong this year and the BC Classic could end up being quite a great betting race. It also sets up the Whitney and Woodward for some decent fields at Saratoga this summer.

Queen's Plate on Horizon
I'm looking forward to heading up north next week for the Queen's Plate Draw Breakfast, I have to pass on Monday's BBQ due to family obligations (which means I'm playing golf with my father in Syracuse for a belated Father's Day get together) and plan on attending the race next Sunday at Woodbine. I've been included in the Woodbine media expert selections all spring and always enjoy my time in Toronto. This will be my first actual Plate appearance so I'm anxious to see how it compares to the big race days down here in the States.

I did much better last year in my selections of the Canadian Triple Crown hitting all 3 winners in the paper. Speaking of the Canadian TC, it's a shame that this year is possibly the final Prince of Wales to be run at Fort Erie, which is tentatively planned to shut down its racing operation at the end of this season. I've been delinquent in getting over to the border oval this spring due to my US Triple Crown obligations, but will be headed over a few times before the summer is out.

That's it for now...wishing all the dads out there the best on Father's Day tomorrow.

Belmont 2012: The Weekend in Pictures

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Union Rags in the Post Parade

That's your 2012 Belmont Stakes champion, 3-Union Rags, who edged 9-Paynter at the wire on Saturday afternoon before over 85,000 hearty racing fans and a pretty healthy television audience (5.4 rating/13 share). It was a great weekend, despite the hollow news on Friday morning that I'll Have Another's date with destiny would take a back seat to a lower left tendon issue.

Despite the traffic difficulties we still arrived in time to catch the Jaipur and the Brooklyn and have the photos of both finishes of the two stakes held on Friday afternoon before 5,415 fans. The Space Gal actually asked me if they were racing on Friday as we entered the gate, she'd never been to Big Sandy on a non-Belmont Stakes Day.

My commentary for the TBN and wrap up can be found here. As for the wagering, I was looking good going into the finale in the $1M guaranteed Pick-4, which had a pool over $2.8M with the selections I provided in the previous blog, with 4-Atigun paying over $2,800 if he won. I took a stand against Union Rags, and if not for Mike Smith letting him through the rail, I'd be cashing a P-4 ticket on Paynter.  Oh well, sometimes you have to go with your gut. He finished the race in a pedestrian 2:30.42, in case you missed the final time.

Here are some pictures from the weekend for your viewing enjoyment, most courtesy of Space Gal Enterprises (she even hooked up for a cameo with Joe Torre in the paddock, but wouldn't let me post the photo [boo] -- she loves to be Miss Celebrity Sighting):

Upgrade ($12.00) winning the Jaipur on Friday

Redeemed ($6.50) wins the Brooklyn in 2:28.89 (at a mile and a half)

I'll Have Another early Friday morning
(you can see O'Neill staring at the front left leg)

Hammerin' Hank taking in action early
in the Belmont card in the Clubhouse

Currency Swap in the paddock
before the Woody Stephens

Brian with Mario Gutierrez up
(he was pounding his heart to the fans)

Eventual Woody Stephens winner
Trinniberg with Willie Martinez in the irons

Trinniberg ($7.70) heads to the wire

Papaw Bodie with Rosie Napravnik
lost a photo in the Manhattan

Desert Blanc (GB) ($14.80) and Ramon Dominguez
in the Winner's Circle after the Manhattan

I'll Have Another heads from the paddock
to the winner's circle for retirement ceremony

Team O'Neill with a high-five
awaits IHA's arrival

The Champ Arrives

Mario Gutierrez hops aboard the champ
for the last time

Bob and Bodemeister

Baffert and Joe Torre

D. Wayne Lukas awaits Optimizer
in stall No. 10

Street Life and Jose Lezcano

Union Rags and Johnny V

Third Place finisher Atigun
and Julien Leparoux

Dullahan and Javier Castellano

Second place finisher Paynter
and Mike Smith

Gate load from the view
from the sixteenth pole



They're off in the Belmont Stakes

That's a wrap on the 2012 Triple Crown season. It's been a fun one, we almost had a historic one. I'm a firm believer I'll see a Triple Crown winner one of these days...