A letter from "camp"

Consider this as Minx's "letter from camp". Summer is certainly moving along and our girl has lots to report!

Warren wrote last week to say that Minx "continues to amaze me in how well she is fitting in at the farm." "She’s in training 3 days per week and has almost lost her pacing gait. She does forget sometimes when headed in a normal racing direction, and then seems to think about what she’s doing and drops back. She has an outstanding forward trot and canter and should make a great riding horse."

My first reaction was, "Oh-oh, he's trying to pawn her off on someone else." Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?

He went on to say that Minx "seems quite content in the stall or paddock and is really a great horse to be around." He knows that she feels at home as she "lies down after a day in the paddock and has a good sleep."

Okay, so maybe he just really, really likes her and isn't trying to play Adoption Agent. (See the photo below.)

Apparently Angie and Serge have visited a couple of times and two of the partners have expressed an interest in visiting but so far have not made the trek to Beeton. He wanted me to tell you that everyone is welcome to pay a visit "before the snow flies". I am tentatively planning to head up on Sunday, September 23. Let me (or Warren) know if you're available that day and perhaps we can co-ordinate something. Ten bags of carrots wouldn't necessarily be a good thing!

I'll have a further update on the finances, distributions and tax records when I meet with the accountant next Tuesday.

Warren has passed along a photo of Minx on a lunge-line but unfortunately I haven't been able to upload it to the blog. I have tried saving in various formats but get a "corrupt file" error message each time. This might just be an issue with Blogger so I will try again tomorrow.

"... And certainly likes to eat!"

Good afternoon Count 10 Partners

It’s Friday afternoon in Beeton, Ontario and I’m pleased to report that Minx has settled in amazingly well. She is now in full grass pasture all day and next week begins her ground work enroute to becoming a riding horse. She seems very contented and chilled out, and certainly likes to eat!

She’ll also start getting blended in with a herd next week so that she has the company of other horses around her. She is currently alone in a paddock, but always has the herd that she’ll be joining in the adjacent paddock so that she gets to know them. Her adjacent stall mate is an Arab gelding and they have bonded well, and that has helped her settle.

I’ll send some pictures once she starts training, but in the meantime anyone that wants to visit is welcome. Just give us a call and we’ll offer up directions. We are about 20 minutes north of Canada’s Wonderland as long as it’s not evening or cottage country rush hour

Best regards

Warren

Justa Minx Moves to Beeton (And The Good Life)

I received an email on Tuesday afternoon from one of the partners who asked if I'd heard if Minx was still at the track or if she had moved to the farm. And since the answer is, "she moved to the farm last Sunday", I've spent the last few hours doing detective work. I sent an email to the group from my Woodbine email account sometime last Monday but I don't see it in my "sent" file and since I also cc it to myself, and I can't find it in my "in" box, I can only conclude that its floating around the internet someplace and you're likely wondering what's going on with The Minx. My bad. Will you allow me to blame WEG's cumbersome email system?

Well, I'm happy to report that everything worked out very nicely. On the morning of Sunday, May 31 a three vehicle convoy made its way from Mohawk to Warren and Faun Casely's farm neet Beeton. (I had previously said it was in Bolton but it is in fact Beeton). Serge and Angie drove in their vehicle, Minx went with Warren and Faun in their truck and trailer, and I brought up the rear. At least I was last in the procession until we got to Highway 400, around the Holland Marsh, when I found myself in front of Serge despite the fact that I stopped for gas and he didn't. Don't ask me how THAT happened.

What I once dubbed "Casa Casely" is actually Devereau Farms. Warren has named the farm after his first Arabian, Devereau (Ma Gazadawn x Amurath Baikal), who still resides on the property. While the farm is currently under construction (new barn, huge riding arena, etc.), what is complete at the moment is absolutely first class. It will be a real showplace by the end of the summer. Minx could not have dreamed of a more palatial home.

Warren wrote Monday morning to say that Minx had a good first night on the farm and she's fitting in nicely with the 14 Arabians. She's currently in a stall in the old section of their barn but they are gutting that section in the coming weeks and replacing the old stalls with new mini condos. Seriously, these stalls are super high tech with all the bells and whistles. I'll post photos of the barn at a later date but for now I have posted a few pics of the move and Minx checking out the new paddock.

I know that Warren and Faun are very glad to have Minx on the farm and I'm sure they'd welcome visits from any of the partners. You can expect to hear directly from Warren regarding driving instructions, suitable dates for a visit, etc.


CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
1) Warren handed over a shiny new Loonie to make the sale "official". Minx appeared to be surprised that her value had slipped so low and she took it out on Warren. Note that she managed to keep her eye on the camera. What a ham!
2) Angie prepping Minx for the move
3) Getting off the trailer at Devereau Farms
4) Minx and Warren checking out her new paddock
5) more of the above
6) One of Minx's new Arabian friends (wearing a fly screen while in the field)
7) This might be the answer to my little problem with speeding tickets









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Decision Time

Over the past month there have been several emails to the stable partners that we decided not to share with the general public via the blog. I hate to keep "secrets" but some business decision are better discussed behind closed doors. In this case it has been regarding our decision to enter Minx in a claiming race, her poor performances in three such races, and a decision on her long-term future.

As you may know, the Partnership Agreement states that Minx must be sold at the end of her four-year-old season (this year). We opted to try the claiming route in hopes that she would find $10k fillies & mares a bit easier than the nw2 and nw3 types. And they were easier races - its just that Minx was less than 100% sound and she was losing interest at about the three-quarter pole each time.

When it became clear that we would have to give her more time off and/or treat her knees more regularly, and look for easier spots at the B-tracks (she can't race on a half-mile track so we were somewhat limited), I proposed that the partners vote on two possible options: (a) enter her in the Spring Fling auction sale at Flamboro in mid-June or (b) find a new home. When that option was put on the table, stable partners Warren and Faun Casely came forward with an offer to give Minx a home for life on their farm.

I spelled out the various options to the partners and asked for them to reply with their preference by midnight on Wednesday, May 20. As of this morning I have heard from each and every partner and the feeling is unanimous – Minx will be sold to Warren and Faun Casely for the sum of $1 and she will live out her life in luxury on the Casely's new farm, alongside their growing stable of Arabians.

Some partners replied with a short but sweet "Option 2" while others spoke passionately about wanting to ensure that Minx didn't go through a sale and fall into the hands of someone who would attempt to race her until the "wheels fell off". I like money as much as anyone, and rarely do I leave a few hundred on the table, but in this case it was a very easy decision to pass up 10% of what she would have realized at an auction.

Thank-you to everyone for agreeing that this is clearly the best option for us and most importantly the horse.

At this point I don't know when Minx will make the trek from Mohawk to the farm but I sense a photo-op so I'll do my best to be present when it happens.

Stay tuned for further updates and of course, pics!

Minx Update

I wish I had more positive news to report but unfortunately Minx's third start in a claimer didn't go much better than the first two. She raced last night (Thursday) at Mohawk and for the second consecutive week she lost ground in the last quarter and failed to pick up a cheque. The latest effort wasn't quite as bad as her first start in a claimer but after a first-over move in the third quarter she tired badly in the last quarter and wound up 8th, beaten 9 lengths and timed in 1:55.3. I will speak with Rene in the morning and see how she came out of the race.

Minx Update

Justa Minx made her second appearance in a claiming race on the Thursday program at Mohawk. After being parked into the first turn, past the quarter in 26.3, she nestled into the two-hole for a decent trip up the backstretch and around the last turn. She was still sitting third as the field hit three-quarters in 1:25 but unfortunately she was out of steam by the top of the stretch. She wound up 7th, beaten 13 lengths, and timed in 1:57.4. Sylvain said after the race that he had to use her pretty hard in the first quarter and that next time he'd try to use her "one move" a little later in the race. She will be entered for next Thursday in the same class.

Minx to race on Thursday, May 7

Minx came out of last week's race in fine shape and is ready to step it up a notch this week. She drew post 6 in the 5th race on Thursday night. Here are the entries.


5 -- Pace, purse $9,500 (EX, P3, SF, TR)
FILLIES & MARES, CLAIMING $10,000. ALLOWANCES FOR AGE.
Post time: 08:46 P.M. Lasix: 04:31 P.M.
1 Society Selection (15000) Ra Waples G Lalonde 3-1
2 Sauble Lt (12500) P Macdonell P La Rush 15-1
3 Lil Motion (12500) J Harris J Harris 5-1
4 Whisper Trace (12500) J Jamieson L Denis 10-1
5 Emmas Desire (12500) L Ouellette D Tyrrell 9-2
6 Justa Minx (15000) S Filion R Laarman 7-1
7 Getbehindanything (12500) A Macdonald T Langille 8-1
8 Gimme A Million (12500) C Christoforou A Steeves 8-1
9 Needmorejewels (12500) S Zeron Ri Zeron 5-1
10 Choices Spirit (12500) K Balson S Dicks 20-1

What A Night!

It might have been the first night of the Summer Meet but you'd be hard pressed to find a more miserable night than the one we experienced last night at Mohawk. The track came up sloppy after a full day or rain. The temperature started out at 11C but dipped to single digits throughout the night. The winds were about 15 km/hour to start the night but there were gusting to 40 km/hour by the time Minx hit the track in race 8. And to make matters worse, the winter tenants of the Mohawk paddock were less than pleased at having to share their home with a hundred horses and two or three times as many humans. As you'll see in the photo (below), there were a number of raccoons roaming the steel girders just above the stalls. Some horses seemed to notice the critters but Minx didn't let on that she was the least bit concerned.

Okay, I'll get to the point. Minx picked up a fourth in her first start down the comeback trail. She left the gate with interest, dropped in the 2-hole and rode the pocket for the rest of the mile. The race winner came first-over on the last turn while Minx remained on the patch of track that appeared to be the most tiring.

All things considered, it was a pretty decent return for a horse that had been off since December and through a single qualifier. I thought she was competitive until the last 1/8th mile when she came up a bit short. The good news is that she warmed up sound, raced sound, and came out of the race sound.

I'll speak to Rene over the week-end but if everything is okay we can expect to see her right back in the same class next week. Let's hope for a dry track and another inside post!

Minx To Race on Opening Night at Mohawk

The entries were drawn this morning for the first race of the Mohawk Summer Meet, to be raced on Thursday, April 30, and Justa Minx will be part of the show. We drew the rail in race 8. This will also mark Minx's debut in a claiming race as she has been priced at $10,000 plus allowances. As she is a four-year-old mare and gets a 50% allowance, her claiming price will be $15,000. The purse for the bottom claiming class is $9,500. This is less than half of the purse money that she regularly raced for prior to her layoff but at this stage we feel that its the best way to ensure that she starts paying her way.

Minx may need a start or two before she's at her best but I'm sure she won't disgrace herself in the field of 10. She's listed as the 6-1 fourth choice on the morning line. Regular driver Sylvain Filion as accepted the call.

Justa Minx Qualifies in 1:57.4

We're back! Justa Minx qualified this morning with a 1:57.4 mile that saw her finish fifth, some 7-1/4 lengths off the race winner. Her four individual splits were 30, 29.4, 29.4 and 28. I'd classify it as an adequate qualifier but not the type of mile you'd like to see if we're going to return to the nw3 class.

As discussed with the partners over the long winter layoff, Minx will either head to the B-tracks or try the claiming route at Mohawk once Rene feels that she is ready to get back to racing. At this point we're eyeing a class at Kawartha Downs or quite possibly a second qualifier.

All is well in Campbellville

All is well in Campbellville.

Minx trained this week in 2:03 and doesn't seem to have suffered any post-birthday party hangover.

In fact, things are going so well that we'll will enter her to qualify on Friday morning. While she may require a second qualifier before she's ready "drop in the box" at Woodbine or Mohawk, Rene is considering a trip to Kawartha for her first start and that could come as early as the following Saturday (after just one qualifier).

I had planned to go to Mohawk tomorrow morning but will now wait until Friday and catch the qualifiers.

We're getting close!

Happy Birthday, Minx!

All horses share a common birthday for record-keeping purposes (January 1) but Minx was actually foaled on April 15, 2005 which means that she will be blowing out 4 candles TODAY. She has received numerous birthday greetings on her Facebook page and I've heard through the grapevine that she will be getting some colourful presents as well. Happy Birthday Minx!

(Almost) No News Is Good News

There isn't much to report at this point but I thought I'd at least post that much.

Minx trained in 2:13 on Wednesday and was "sharp and sound". She will train again on Saturday morning, around 7:30 am, so its debatable if I'll be out to see her. Rene said that he'd like to go around 2:12 with her this week and that she should be ready to qualify in about 3 weeks. I'll probably skip this Saturday's training session and aim for a barn visit in the middle of the following week.

See, I told you there wasn't much to report!

Call Off The Search Party

The following article was first published on the Woodbine Entertainment Group website. http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/woodbinecolumn/Column/Column.aspx?id=191

TORONTO, ON – True, it has been a while since I last worked a full week and even longer since I posted something in this space, but the rumours of my defection from Team WEG are unfounded. One regular poster on harnessdriver.com mused that I must have been caught up in some sort of harness racing Ponzi scheme. Another racing fan sent a text message while I was on vacation asking if it was true that I had jumped over to the Good Ship Magna. Either scenario would make for a juicy story but alas, the truth is much less interesting.

The simple explanation is that I’ve been on two extended trips since writing my last column. The first journey took me to Miami, Haiti, Puerto Rico, St.Maarten (sorry, no Saul Korman spottings), and finally back to Toronto just long enough to get caught up on laundry.

A few weeks later I hit the road for a second adventure that took me to New York City, Ft. Lauderdale, the Dominican Republic, Curacao, Venezuela, Tampa, St. Petersburg.

The first two legs of the trip went well enough. I survived a 12 hour train ride to Manhattan, a blizzard that closed the NY-OTB shops on the one night that I wanted to watch a horse in Toronto, four days in a 5th floor Chelsea walk-up, and finally a 28 hour train ride to Florida. And, yes, I have stories. Oh baby, do I have stories!

Around 9:00 pm on the evening of my first night in Florida I received a call from a colleague who reported that several drivers had been taken to hospital after a nasty spill in Woodbine’s second race. This wasn’t the news I had been awaiting. I had been hoping to hear that Sky Art, a three-year-old colt that I’m a part owner of, had raced well and perhaps even pulled off a mini upset to win his division of the Apaches Fame Series.

With the entire card running late, my friend agreed to call back when Art’s race was headed to the gate so that I could listen in. That call eventually came about 25 seconds into the race and the first word’s I heard were those of track announcer Ken Middleton: “Over to the quarter, and off-stride went SkyArt when sitting third.” A fewseconds later the caller came on the line to say that Jody Jamieson was off the bike and walking Art back to the paddock.

Oh-oh, I thought. Art is a green colt who only a few weeks earlier had bolted to the outside fence at Flamboro, so it wasn’t totally inconceivable that he might have shied at something and pulled himself up on the first turn. At least that’s what I wanted to believe.

An hour later I spoke to several partners who were huddled in the paddock, being shown x-rays for the first time in their relatively short lives as racehorse owners. The news came down the line that Art had fractured a P1 (pastern bone). While that wasn’t very good news, it was at least reassuring to know what the problem was. We arranged to have him further sedated and transported back to Mohawk where he could spend the night under supervision in his own stall.

Shortlyafter sun-up the next morning, Art was examined by Dr. Natalie Cote, a surgeon at the Milton Equine Hospital. And once again, the news was much worse than we had hoped. Although the colt had been medicated and was not in severe pain at the moment, Dr. Cote explained that the fracture was much more serious than the initial set of x–rays had hinted. The lower part of the pastern had been shattered so severely that the odds of surviving a very complicated surgerywere pegged at 50-50.

The fact that Art would almost certainly never race again wasn’t an issue. As racehorse owners we are responsible for the lives of these majestic yet vulnerable animals. Does an owner have the right to put a horse through surgery, several months in a cast, a long period of stall rest, a host of potential complications (arthritis, laminitis, etc.) and a steadily deteriorating quality of life just so that he may say that he “saved” a horse?

To be honest, I hadn’t given that question much thought prior to the early morning hours of March 7. But after hearing the quiver in the surgeon’s voice as she described the nature of Art’s condition and the odds of his survival and recovery, not to mention the muffled sobs of several owners who were on the other end of the phone, I knew in my heart there was only one option.

Soon after he had been served a hearty breakfast, Sky Art laid down for what would be his final rest.

Art, we will never forget you.

Justa Minx Training on Saturday, March 21

"Pants" Optional

Frank, Warren, Carmen, Susan and myself were out to Mohawk to watch Minx train on Saturday morning. Serge Boulay took her out for 2 jogging laps and one slow mile (around 2:30) and she did this without a hint of lameness. She has been jogging free-legged (without hopples) for a while and seems to like it. One of best free-legged horses ever was Zooka (1:49.3, $1.3 million) and he is a son of Astreos (same sire as Minx). Minx won't actually race free-legged but for now she seems to be enjoying the experience. Last Wednesday she trained in 2:25 and will soon be down to 2:20. Rene thinks she should be ready to qualify in about 3 or 4 weeks. I'm leaning to the "4" end of that scale as it would be nice to have her good and tight before she hits the track.

After her session on the track she came back to the barn to find not one, not two, not three but four owners holding bags of carrots. Minx didn't argue too loudly when Carmen shared some of the carrots with the other horses in the barn, although Minx did keep her eye on Carmen the entire time.

All-in-all it was a very uneventful morning. It was hard to stand at Art's old stall and not think about him every second, but like someone said in an earlier email, going back to the barn is the first step in the healing process.

Finally, a quick up date on the business end of the stable. Our accountant prepared Year End Financial Statements and T5 slips while I was away. I distributed copies to the partners who were at Mohawk on Saturday. All others will go in the mail on Monday morning. Please let me know if you don't receive yours by the end of the week.

Minx Will Train Saturday

Thankfully Minx appears to be moving forward and will train Saturday morning around 9am. I'll be there to watch in person. I will bring the year-end statements for both stables and the T5 slips for all partners. If you can't make it to the barn on Saturday, I will mail your copies on Monday.

Sky Art: We Will Never Forget You

I'll start by saying this is the toughest thing I've ever had to do and will therefore keep it short. Sky Art was examined Saturday morning by Dr. Natalie Cote and after another set of x-rays it was determined that he had suffered a very complicated compound fracture of the P1 bone. The colt was in severe distress by Saturday morning and Dr. Cote didn't feel that surgery would be successful due to the nature of the fracture (4 if not more places). The decision was made to euthanize and after eating a large breakfast, Sky Art was put to sleep at 9:10 am.


Somewhere in time's own space
There must be some sweet pastured place
Where creeks sing on and tall trees grow
Some paradise where horses go,
For by the love that guides my pen
I know great horses live again.

– Stanley Harrison, breeder, trainer, poet 1889-1980

Sky Art Injured at Woodbine

The following is the partial text on an email sent to the stable partners on Friday night...

Unfortunately I am the bearer of bad news. Sky Art did not finish his race on Friday night. He got away third but made a sudden break near the quarter pole. Jody knew that it was something serious and he immediately left the course with the horse, pulled him to a stop and then walked him horse back to the paddock. The on-track vet took a series of x-rays and after examining just one x-ray was able to determine that it was a very clean fracture of the left P-1 (pastern) bone.

Art is currently in his own stall at Mohawk and has been sedated to the point that he can rest comfortably until around 8 am when he will go to the Milton Equine Clinic for further evaluation. At this point the vet feels that he could likely be saved with the insertion of a number of pins - perhaps as many as four. I will speak to the vet, Rene and Warren again in the morning (as Warren will be transporting him to the clinic). We won't be making any further decisions until we get an opinion from the surgeon.

Program Page for Sky Art's Next Race (Friday, March 6 at Woodbine)

Click on image to enlarge

The Breakfast Report

Rene reports that Sky Art came out of his last race race in fine shape, cleaned up his breakfast on Tuesday morning, and gave no indication why he should not race in the Apaches Fame Series this coming Friday. The entries were taken on Tuesday morning and the final driver changes will be made on Wednesday morning. The good news is that we drew a decent post (5) and there is only one division of this first leg. Unless new horses come out of the woodwork for the second leg, we might have a ticket to the final regardless of where we finish this week OR next week. The not so good news is that we are in pretty deep. Casie Coleman's Mr Terror impressed me when he broke his maiden on Feb 15, Dave Gibson's Midnite Romp just won The Count B Series final in 1:52.3, and Bob McIntosh's Its A Good Thing is 4-for-4 this year. This will be a big test for Art and frankly he may not be good enough to beat many of these colts at this point, but you never know until you try so try we will. Preliminary entries are shown below.

7-PACE-purse $20,000 EX,P3,TR
APACHES FAME PACING SERIES - 1ST LEG - 3 YEAR OLD COLTS & GELDINGS.
ONTARIO SIRED WHO WERE NON-WINNERS $30,000 LIFETIME AS OF OCTOBER 31, 2008.
Post Time: 09:30 P.M.Lasix:05:15 P.M.

1 ANYTHING TO WIN (PP 3 ) HUDON,PHIL
1A BRYSON SEELSTER (PP 8 ) HUDON,PHIL
2 STANLY STINKY TOES (PP 1 ) BREWER,JASON
3 MR TERROR (PP 2 ) WAPLES,RANDALL
4 MIDNITE ROMP (PP 4 ) ZERON,RICK
5 SKY ART (PP 5 ) JAMIESON,JODY
6 HERESTOPATRICK (PP 6 ) WAPLES,RANDALL
7 ARTSBRED CAMOTION (PP 7 ) FILION,SYLVAIN
8 ITS A GOOD THING (PP 9 ) WAPLES,RANDALL
9 LAKERS VETT (PP 10 ) MOISEYEV,JACK

Sky Art Wins at Woodbine

I'm sure this comes as old news to many of you, but Sky Art raced phenomenally well last night (Monday, March 2) and came away with his second win!

Stable partners Warren and Faun Casely made it out to the track and stuck around until the last race which went considerably later than scheduled as there was a serious accident in the fifth race. Here's a link to the Trot Insider coverage of the accident...

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/3-2-09/update-on-woodbine-accident.html

Warren commented that Jody drove the colt very well. While I didn't see the race (NY OTBs were all closed due to the storm), I spoke with my business partner - and Count Eleven Stable partner - Gord Irwin just seconds after the race and he said that he was that Art was HUGE! He got away 6th in the field of 10 and was 10-3/4 lengths off the leader at the quarter. Jody pulled him two wide as they raced to the half and when no one came out in front of him, Jody made the decision to "roll". He was first-over all the way around the last turn, up alongside the leader at three-quarters, and then neck and neck with Paydaze A Comin through the last quarter. In the final strides he got a neck in front, stopping the timer at 1:55.4 with the last quarter of 29.1.

While time isn't the best gauge of a horse's performance, this one goes down as Art's second fastest to date -- and it was taken in -14C weather when the track allowance was one full second. I consider "trip" and "who you beat" to be much better ways to gauge a win and in this case Art scores major points for racing without cover and from so far back in the early going. He didn't beat any that I'd consider to be future champions, but Dervish Hanover was a $70,000 yearling and he is paid into the Youthful Series, as is Rave On.

This win leaves me hopeful that Art will hold his own in a series like the Apaches Fame which gets underway this coming Friday. I'll speak to Rene later today but going into last night's race the plan was to race Friday (March 6) in the first leg.

Here's the chart of Art's race. It shows a $17.60 win ticket and a Superfecta that paid over $5900. The win was worth $9500 to the stable and brings Arts total earnings to $25,826 or an average of $3228 per start.

Top: Serge Boulay shares a laugh with Green Gables Farm Manager John Henderson (right) when he visited the Laarman barn on Friday. John gave both Minx and Art their early lessons at the Brampton farm.

Bottom: Sky Art and Assistant Trainer Serge Boulay

Baby Gets New Shoes

I was out to visit the kids last Friday morning (Feb. 20) when one of my other horses was entered to qualify for the first time. Gregg McNair trains a colt by the name of Out Go The Lights for myself and three partners (my business partner Gord Irwin, Western Fair Race Secretary Ian Fleming, and BC resident Jessie Woods who is the wife of the BC Racing Commission Judge Garry Woods). I'll spare you the gory details and just say that OGTL did NOT qualify. He'll try again tomorrow morning and I'm planning to be there so will obviously pay a visit to Minx and Art as well. I hit the road on Monday morning and won't be back in Canada until March 20 so this will be my last chance to see Art before he enters the Apaches Fame Series, if in fact that plan develops as hoped.

I didn't get to the barn last Friday until about 9:30 am and by that time Minx had been jogged, bathed and cooled out. I walked down the shedrow and when I called to her she thrust her head out of the stall with such a force that she was clearly looking for carrots. I'm sure she has associated cameras and carrots as she clearly poses for the camera!














According to Rene, Serge and Angie, Minx has been jogging 100% sound for the last week. I doubt that I'll be at the track when she jogs at 7 am (5-1/2 hours from now) but I will get an update.

The only real "news" for the Count Ten Stable members is that as of Thursday afternoon we have reached unanimous agreement to adopt "Option B" as laid out in an earlier email to the stable partners. As of today I have heard from all 9 partners (I'm #10) and all have agreed to support our own bailout package. (If you are a stable partner and you did not read my email of February 27, please do so.)

Now on to the Count Eleven Stable update. Art spent some time with both the vet and blacksmith (farrier) last week. It's hope that treating his hocks and fitting him with a new pair of shoes will lead to a little more encouraging finish than the one he turned in on February 15. He wasn't what I would call "horrible" in that race as he did pace his last quarter in 28.4 (faster than his last two starts, including his maiden-breaking win), and at 1:56.4 it was his second fastest effort to date (from 11 starts or qualifiers). The discouraging part was that he lacked any "kick" in the last quarter and as a result he failed to pass a horse.

Blacksmith Steve Hill has fitted Art with a shoe that has been built up to compensate for his pronounced frog. Unfortunately the lens that I had with me last week was best suited for long shots on the track and not very good for close-ups of hooves and blacksmiths. I did get a few pics (see below) but the shots of the modified shoe are out of focus. I plan to visit with Steve some more in the future (possibly later today) and will get some shots of his very interesting shop, including the collection of shoes that he has assembled from some of the all-time greats that he has shod. Its really quite a Who's Who of the racing world so Art is obviously in good hands with Steve Hill.





















I have encouraging news on both the Art and Minx fronts. In short, Art has drawn in to race Monday night at Woodbine and we have reached a unanimous decision to top up Minx's account and continue with her training, which is going well so far. Read on for the details.

Unfortunately Art's race on Monday will not be one of the first five, and thus not broadcast on The Score. In fact, you'll have to have an afternoon nap if you're planning to be at the track as he's in the 12th and last race. Post time is estimated at 11:00 pm. I'll try to catch it from a New York City OTB shop but knowing that operation, I have no faith that I'll get anything more than results on my phone.

The only real dilemma at this point is securing a driver. Randy Waples was named on the entry slip but his name also shows up on two others, including Ed Hayter's Dervish Hanover who is staked to the Youthful and Diplomat Series. I wouldn't blame Randy if he opted to drive Dervish Hanover. Sylvain Filion is also named on one horse so he is probably out of the question. When I discussed this possibility with Serge last week he mentioned that he'd like to see what Mark MacDonald could do with Art. While the draw was held Thursday morning, final changes for Monday are not made until 9 am on Saturday. If Rene doesn't have any objections, I will ask him to name Mark as our backup should Randy take a pass.

As I said earlier, I'm going to miss Art's next few races. I leave Monday morning on a trip that takes me to New York City, Ft Lauderdale, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Curacao and Tampa/St Petersburg. I'm taking a train from Toronto to NYC (The Maple Leaf) and 3 days later a second train from NYC to Ft Lauderdale (The Silver Bullet). I'm on a charter cruise aboard the Celebrity Solstice for 7 days and going as far south as Curacao. I'm also visiting my sister Karen (a Count Eleven Stable partner) in Tampa before flying home on March 19.

I'll be checking emails periodically but unless anyone can tell me how to avoid Rogers' exorbitant roaming fees, I won't be on the IPhone every 5 minutes as is the case in Canada.

Watch for one last update sometime tomorrow. And sorry about the novel. It's late and I just don't feel like editing!

Art, Minx, Out Go The Lights, etc.

The report from the vet and lab is back and Art was NOT sick when he raced on Sunday. He scoped clean and it was felt that he may be coming down with something and was simply tired after his immune system had been working overtime to fend off the virus. However, after checking the results of the bloodwork, that does not appear to be the case.

Rene recently trained Art in front of Dr. Powell and together they have come to the conclusion that his hocks are pinching him when he's near racing speed. Dr. Powell came to this conclusion after examining the horse, watching him train, and checking his shoes. The shoes show unusual wear on the outside which indicates that Art is not landing properly and since they feel he is properly shod, this is likely because he is hurting a bit and trying to compensate by landing on the outside of the foot.

Dr. Powell will return to the barn on Saturday morning and they will inject his hocks and check his knees one more time. He'll train again mid-week and be entered to race on Sunday, March 1 at Woodbine. If there are no complications after that race, he will be entered in the Apaches Fame Series which kicks off just five days later on Friday, March 6. The second leg of the series is March 13 and the final is March 20. Let's hope we're in it!

Minx is set to jog tomorrow (Friday) morning around 7 am. I doubt that I'll make it for 7 am (after working well late tonight) but I will be at Mohawk for the 10 am qualifiers as my "other" horse, Out Go The Lights, is set to make his debut. It might not be pretty as he is quite rank - and it might not be just a "green" thing according to Gregg McNair. Gregg's young son Doug will drive. While I'm happy to have Doug drive, the rationale that "20-year-old's bones heal quickly" is a wee bit troubling.

I'll be doing the "CC" thing tomorrow (camera and carrots) so watch for a pictorial report.

Hamilton No Longer MIA

As some of you may know, I've been away for 10 days and had a computer crash during that time, hence no updates on the blog since January 24. Looks like I've got some updating to do! I'll get to that over the next few days. For now, here's an edited version of my last email to the group.

Hi gang,

I am hoping to get out to Mohawk to watch Minx jog sometime early next week but for now will have to rely on Rene's assessment of how she's doing. And since Rene has been in Florida all week, he is relying on Serge's account. But that's not such a bad thing as Serge is the the one who has been sitting about 3 feet behind her when she jogs and as such he's best qualified to pass judgement on her soundness. While I'm getting this second hand through Rene, Serge has apparently told him that Minx is jogging 100% sound. That's definitely a step in the right direction.

Mike

Program Page for Sky Art's Next Race

Click on image to enlarge.

Sky Art Rallies for Second

Here's a quick update on both Sky Art and Justa Minx. Unfortunately there's no news on Minx. Dr. Powell is going to take another set of x-rays and possibly an MRI on Tuesday. We'll know more at that point - and if not we'll have to formulate a plan as we just can't keep on taking weekly x-rays forever.

Thankfully there is happier news for those involved with Sky Art. As I'm sure you're already aware - from being at the track or checking the results before I was able to get to them - but Art raced exceptionally well in his first start at Woodbine. He was 5th at the 1/4, sixth and 10 lengths off the leader at the half, sixth and parked at three-quarters, still about 5 off the leader, and 4-wide coming out of the last turn. On a day that NO winner came from back of 4th at three-quarters, Sky Art closed strongly to finish second by a neck. In fact, he went by the heavy favourite just past the wire. While it would have been nice to win, I'm very happy that he passed horses, finished strong, picked up $4,250 for the day's work, and is still eligible to race at the "maiden" class next week.

I spoke with Rene earlier this evening and so far Artie appears to have come out of the race in fine shape. There's no reason to think that he wouldn't but it's always my first question. If there are no setbacks during the week, he will be entered to race next Sunday in the same class.

I'm more than a little reluctant to bring this up, but since you are all involved, I thought I had better mention the fact that my boss had asked a few weeks ago if I wanted the night off work to attend the SBOA Awards Night which was held last night in Guelph. "Sure, who wouldn't take a night off work to attend a party?", I replied. I started to suspect that something was "up" when several colleagues asked more than once if I was planning to attend. A few days ago I told the boss that he could put me back on the simulcast show for Saturday night as I had changed my mind and would not attend the banquet. To that he replied that I "had to go" to the banquet. I didn't know exactly what was in store but when I got there and saw Count Eleven Stable partners Warren and Faun Casely and Bob Read and partner Susan Gilbart, the cat was out of the bag.

I'll spare you the details but in short they presented me with the Lloyd Chisholm Award for service to the industry. The blog and the two stables were mentioned. Frank Salive acted as the Master of Ceremonies and mentioned that I'd probably be leaving early as I had to be home in time to catch Sky Art today at Woodbine. And while I didn't see Art in person, his stirring finish was a very nice way to cap off a very nice week-end. And to Faun, Warren, Bob and Susan, thanks so much for being there to share the night with me.

Okay, enough of the sappy stuff!

G'night.

Program page for Sky Art's next race (Sunday at Woodbine)

Click on image to enlarge

Sky Art Set To Make Woodbine Debut

First of all, let me thank the owners who have answered the "cash call" that I put out last week. We now have a respectable float and will be able to pay our bills for a few months even if Art doesn't begin to generate some gravy. However, I have a nice warm feeling after watching him pace down the stretch to be a close second in his last qualifier. Of course, I tend to get that feeling at the mention of gravy, but in this case I think its justified. Art appears to be headed in the right direction after two good learning experiences at Flamboro, one little hiccup at Flamboro and one nice qualifier at Mohawk.

Rene said after the latest qualifier that he'd enter the colt to race Sunday at Woodbine. Those entries were taken on Wednesday morning and sure enough, Art drew in. He'll leave from post 3 in the third race on Sunday's matinee (1:20 PM) program. The race goes for $17,000. Randy Waples is listed as the tentative driver and since he wasn't named on anything else in the race, and all but one of the horses has a designated driver with no duplicates, it certainly looks like RW is our man!

I had really wanted to see Art in this race as I will be out of the country for the next two Sundays, but I had previously asked for the day off work to attend a memorial service in Claremont, Ontario for the late Ab Samarillo (an avid hobby horseman and longtime friend of my father's). For a while I thought I might be able to attend the service AND make it to Woodbine but the service starts at 2:00 PM and Woodbine's third race goes at... you guessed it, 2:00 PM. There was only one "Ab" and with a bit of luck "Art" will make many appearances at Woodbine so I will head to Claremont, iPhone in hand.

Below are the names of the horses that Art will face. I'll post a program page on the blog after "scratch time" on Friday.

Race 3 – PACE – Purse $17,000 – 4 YEAR OLDS & YOUNGER, NW 1 RACE OR $7,500 LIFETIME. NO ALLOWANCES. Post Time: 2:00 P.M. – Lasix: 9:45 A.M.

1 WESTERN COMFORT / HUDON,PHIL / OUELLET,MICHEL
2 MAN OF THE YEAR / JONES,DUSTIN / JONES,DUSTIN
3 SKY ART / WAPLES,RANDALL / LAARMAN,RENE
4 CAVIART MASON / TBA / BAILLARGEON,BENOIT
5 GO NATIVE / SAFTIC,MIKE / BELLIVEAU ,JEAN GUY
6 VILLAGE BISTRO / HUDON,JOE / HUDON,JOE
7 QUICK DRAGON / OUELLETTE,LUC / MCMASTER,KEVIN
8 RICKY BOBBY / JAMIESON,JODY / MOLENDYK,RON
9 CEST LA VIE / BREWER,JASON / CHUPP,MERVIN
10 CARRERA ANGEL / BAILLARGEON,MARIO / WALLACE,BEN
AE1 SEE YOU SMILE / CHRISTOFOROU,CHRIS / DEBARTOLO,TONY

Waples & Hawley Represent Racing

Reprinted from The Harness Edge (January 9, 2009)

Two of Ontario horse racing’s most engaging stars, retired jockey and Hall of Famer Sandy Hawley and two time Canadian driver of the year Randy Waples, will be among the celebrity guests at the Milton Chamber of Commerce Sports Celebrity Dinner.

Hawley, who now works for Woodbine Entertainment, came out of retirement briefly a few months ago when he competed in the Living Legends race at Santa Anita on Breeders Cup weekend. With the Maple Leaf prominent on his riding pants, Hawely won the event after being out of the saddle for 10 years.

Waples, Canada’s Driver of the Year in 1998 and 2001, has been one of this country’s leading horsemen for more than 10 years. He currently sits with 4,731 victories and $77.8 million in purses in his career.

The event takes place on Tuesday, January 20 at Rattlesnake Point Golf Club. Other celebrity guests include NHLers Jean Beliveau and Johnny Bower, three time Grey Cup champ Mike O’Shea, Canadian baseball legend Fergie Jenkins.

The dinner and auction raises money for the chamber’s scholarship program. To book tickets, at $150 each, or for more information, please call Krista Lenardon at 905-878-0581.

Friday Morning Qualifiers

TOP: Faun & Warren Casely, Susan Gilbart pose with driver Randy Waples after he drove Sky Art to a fast-closing second in his Friday, January 9 qualifier
MIDDLE: Waples hops into the sulky behind Sky Art for the first time
BOTTOM: Serge Boulay drives Art along the scenic route from the Mohawk stable area to the paddock

Sky Art: Back In The Good Books

I'll have to make this short right now but more details and hopefully some photos taken at this morning's qualifiers will follow later today or tonight. Things went pretty well. Four owners (including myself) showed up. Angie, Serge and Rene showed up. Randy Waples showed up. And, most importantly, Sky Art showed up.

He wore a head pole, blind bridle and a Murphy Blind covering his right eye. This, and the work that Dr. Powell did on his knees following "The Fiasco at Flamboro" seemed to do the trick. Serge was very confident before the qualifier that he'd be okay. And while he did qualify, I'd say his performance was much more than simply "okay".

Randy took Art back to sixth in the early going, sat 10 lengths off the leader at the half and 8 lengths back at three-quarters. Part way around the last turn he pulled two-wide and was on the move. When they came off the last turn he was in the process of fanning 4 and eventually 5-wide. And thankfully that was Randy's intent as there were four horses to his inside and not because Art had made a unilateral decision to take the scenic route. By mid-stretch he was 5th and appeared to be driving nice and straight. He flashed under the wire as the widest horse on the track (again, out of necessity) and he was just a neck shy of winning. His time was 1:58.1 and his own last quarter will show as :28 seconds.

Waples got off the bike and seemed genuinely impressed with Art's "kick". He didn't see a need to change a thing for his next start but thought that after another start we might put a "half" head pole on him. I'll leave that decision to Rene but no doubt they'll experiment with him while training in the mornings. After the race Rene agreed that he's ready to give the Woodbine maiden class a shot. He'll be entered to race on the matinee (1:20 pm) program on Sunday, January 18.

All things considered, it was a very encouraging morning!

Sky Art ready to requalify

Sky Art has been entered to requalify on Friday morning at Mohawk. He drew post three in the fourth event. Randy Waples is the listed driver but since Art is the ONLY horse he's named on all morning, I doubt that he'll be in attendance. Sylvain Filion has drives in the 1st and 4th qualifers so will likely be there and will likely pick up drives in other races as well. If he's available in our race, we'll try to get him. There will be a number of driver changes in our race as Phil Hudon is named on three and Mike Saftic is on two. We won't know much more until tomorrow morning when we see who actually shows up. Unfortunately that's the way qualifiers work.

Perfect 10 For St Lads Farm

The following news item was posted on the TROT Insider web site on January 7, 2009. As most of you likely know, Justa Minx was originally named St Lads Minx and she was bred by St Lads Farm.

MISSISSAUGA, ON – In the fall of 2008, Bob Ladouceur of St Lads Farm was truly excited. He had good reason to be, given the overwhelming success of juvenile Twin B Champ bay St Lads Popcorn. Although, the filly's success wasn't the only reason why '08 will go down as a banner season for the 65-year-old.

In 2007, Ladouceur's St Lads Farm sold 10 yearlings. By the fall of 2008, eight of those 10 made it to the races in their freshman campaigns.

When St Lads Bling and St Lads Nano recorded charted miles in late November and early December, respectively, all 10 of St Lads Farms 2006 foals made it to the races in their juvenile seasons, a rarity in the business to say the least.

"It was as big a thrill as St Lads Popcorn doing what she did in 2008," Ladouceur told Trot Insider. "It really was an amazing stat.

"Throughout the year, I had been following up on the babies' progress with their trainers. It was just amazing to see all of them make it to the races. For us, it was really something to monitor their progress."

St Lads Popcorn led the charge in '08, assembling a slate which read 12-1-0 from 15 starts, a mark of 1:52.2 over Mohawk Racetrack and purse earnings totaling $602,669. The standout campaign has made St Lads Popcorn a finalist for an O'Brien Award as Canada's top two-year-old pacing filly of 2008.

The nine other St Lads Farm two-year-olds that made it to the races in '08 were St Lads Nano, St Lads Gracie, St Lads Boomer, St Lads Supersonic, St Lads Gabby (now named Paid In Silver), St Lads Rave, St Lads He Man, St Lads Adonis and St Lads Bling. – TROT Insider

The Head Pole Mystery

Sounds like a Hardy Boys novel, doesn't it. When I spoke with Rene following Art's race, he was driving between Woodbine and Mohawk and had not yet spoken with Serge or Angie who had taken Art to Flamboro. At that point Rene was certain that Art was simply fighting his head pole. Since then it has come to my attention that Art wore a head pole when he warmed up but apparently it was removed or had fallen off by the time he went to the gate in the actual race. I'll call Rene in the morning and see if he has any new information. Stand by for clarification.

Driver forced to use the "Armstrong" steering

I'm happy to report that Rene Laarman trained the first winner of the 2009 season on the WEG circuit. Unfortunately it wasn't one of our horses. Trotter Abby Kadabra delivered as the favourite in the first race of the New Year's Day program at Woodbine.

Those who caught Sky Art's 2009 kick-off at Flamboro will no doubt have a few questions. If you can imagine what it would be like to be driving a sports car down the DVP at top speed when suddenly the steering wheel locks and despite your best strong-arm tactics you have absolutely no control of the car, then you'll know how Mike Whelan must have felt when Sky Art "locked on a line" going into the first turn today at Flamboro.

I spoke with Rene after the race, and while he was watching on simulcast from Woodbine, he was 99% sure that Art simply didn't like the head pole that he was wearing in a race for the first -- and almost certainly last -- time.

If you didn't see the race, the chart line only tells half the story. Art left from post 6, blasted off the gate and was headed to the early lead. Unfortunately two others left as well and Mike found himself parked around the first turn. That wouldn't have been so bad had Art managed to negotiate the turn. He was unmanageable on the turn and came dangerously close to brushing the outside fence as they entered the backstretch. Mike was able to get him under control by the time they hit the second turn and he was able to ease him back to ninth. While he did finish the race, he was so far back that he was charted as being "distanced" and thus will have to requalify before he can race again.

If there is a positive side to this minor fiasco, it is that Art was simply exhibiting childlike behaviour and there is no indication that he's anything but 100% sound. At least in body. We'll get a better indication after he trains and requalifies with a new bridle (likely a Murphy Blind) and perhaps a gaiting pole -- a rigid pole that attaches to the sulky and runs parallel to the horse, preventing him from swinging his rear to one side. I can envision another early morning trip to Mohawk to watch a horse train one of these days!

Those who are members of the Count Ten Stable will be glad to know that Dr. Powell will take a second set of x-rays of Minx's knees on Saturday morning. Let's keep our fingers crossed on this one.

For the second year, the horsey-themed Christmas cards that I bought in early November never did get addressed or mailed. So before I forget, Happy New Year everyone!

Santa never forgets. He may be late but he never forgets.

Santa was a few days late getting to the Laarman barn at Mohawk Racetrack but when Sky Art and Justa Minx awoke on December 28 they found a pair of Jolly Balls (stall toys) and two tubs of Stud Muffins (horse treats) on the tack box.

Christmas Photos

Top: Serge and Angie with Justa Minx. Bottom: Serge with Sky Art

Minx has been making a lot of Facebook friends since we aired a segment about her being an "online pioneer" on the December 15th edition of Race Night on The Score. One of her oldest friends, Australian Annemarie Failla, sent the following message on behalf of the band Slinkee Minx...

Hi Everyone,

We'd like to take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones a very magical Christmas and a happy, safe and successful 2009!

Thank you very much for all your wonderful support, lovely messages and continued feedback this year.

We are very much looking forward to the New Year and have some exciting releases planned for 2009, so stay tuned!!!

Until then, happy holidays, stay safe and all our very best wishes to you!

Love & Kisses,
Slinkee Minx xxx

http://www.slinkeeminx.com
http://www.myspace.com/slinkeeminx



Here's some background info on Slinkee Minx...

SLINKEE MINX first arrived on the music scene in impressive style in mid-2004, with their explosive remake of the 1989 Belinda Carlisle classic ‘Summer Rain’. Rocketing into the ARIA Singles Chart at #5, ‘Summer Rain’ also held the #1 position on the ARIA Dance Chart for 13 consecutive weeks, achieving Gold status in a very short time and becoming the Highest-Selling Australian Dance Single of 2004.

International success soon followed with the release of ‘Summer Rain’ in more than 50 countries including the UK, where it reached #3 on the UK Mainstream Dance Chart and #9 on the UK Commercial Club Chart. The track also achieved chart success in many other overseas territories such as Sweden (debuting at #14 on the Swedish Dance Chart) and Finland (#25 on the Finnish Dance Chart), and went on to become a massive club hit worldwide. Two more Top 10 ARIA Dance Hits followed, establishing the girls as a musical force to be reckoned with!

2007 marked the release of their highly-anticipated and sensational debut album 'Electric Dreams', which features productions by some of the country's hottest music movers and shakers including mrTimothy, James Ash (Rogue Traders), Ivan Gough (TV Rock), Josh Abrahams and many more!

In an industry saturated with manufactured acts, make no mistake - these girls are the real deal. So leave your preconceived notions at the door and stand up and listen, as Slinkee Minx continue to rock your world in 2008!

Minx gets a cheque; Art doesn't get in

I'll be heading out to Mohawk in the morning to deliver some Christmas treats to the Laarman barn, so expect a further update and some photos on Tuesday afternoon.

For now I can report that Justa Minx raced a few minutes ago in the second leg of the Niagara Series. She caught a few lucky breaks in the race and wound up fifth behind the likes of Windsong Experanza, Rip Rockin Lady and Village Bolero. Her race went in 1:53.4 and I'd guess that Minx was about 8 lengths off the winner and race-timed around 1:55.2. That's a decent time considering the track was icy, the wind biting, and one of the other divisions went even slower at 1:55.4.

Unfortunately (or not, depending on how you look at it), Minx won't be advancing to next week's Final of the Niagara Series. We have a few days to figure out where she'lll race next. For now she can take a few days off in the knowledge that she banked another $1000 this week and $3000 during the month of December despite just three starts and never having finished better than fifth.

Sky Art was entered to day for December 28 but he did not get in. With Georgian Downs suspending live racing for the months of January and February there are bound to be more horses in the entry box at Flamboro. Rene will enter him for the next opportunity which appears to be Thursday, January 1. If that's the case, its quite likely that both of our horses have completed their assignments for 2008.

More to follow on Tuesday.

Mike

Dear Santa

The following article was originally published on the Woodbine Entertainment Group web site

http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/woodbinecolumn/Column/Column.aspx?id=131

Dear Santa,

Hey, how’s it going Santa? Mike Hamilton here. You remember me. I’m the guy who at age 8 asked for a 16-car set of Hot Wheels, the accompanying Juice Machine and 100 feet of orange track. You also might recall that instead of the super cool Hot Wheels Barracuda, Camaro, Corvette, Cougar, Eldorado, Firebird, Mustang, and the like, you brought a set of 16 encyclopedias and couple of Dinky cars. Yes, the British-made Dinky cars, with models like the Morris Minor, Vauxhall Cavalier and Hillman Avenger. Not cool, Santa. So not cool.

But after 38 years, I’m over it. Almost. Besides, by the end of third grade I had assembled a serious collection of Hot Wheels, mostly by winning schoolyard bets with Ricky Cairns and John Maynard. Actually, I won 20 cars from Cory Drolet one time but his mom phoned my mom and I had to give 10 of them back. I guess that was my introduction to the concept of rebating. But that’s another story for another day. For now, I’m wondering if you could help me out one more time.

You see, the harness racing sport/game/industry needs some help and I’m wondering if you could find it in your heart to deliver just one or two items from a 26-item Wish List that I’ve compiled? I know that even the reallygood kids don’t get everything they ask for, so hopefully you and the elves can work on a few of these items for this year and the rest within the next five years.

Here's my Wish List, from A to Z...

A – Acknowledgement within the industry that not all racetracks are in the same business. Sure, horses go around the track and each race has a winner, but other than that, what does Clinton Raceway in July have in common with Woodbine in January? Most small to mid-size tracks are all about the social aspect of a day at the races whereas the larger tracks are in the business of gambling for all but a few days each year. Sure, gambling can be a ‘social thing’ too, but we cater to two very different segments of society and a one-size-fits-all national marketing initiative just won’t work.

B – Betting Exchanges work in other parts of the world and they could work here too. If the pari-mutuel model hasn't completely broken down, it’s certainly on its last legs. Give me one good reason why a track like Sudbury Downs should still run a traditional ‘closed’ pari-mutuel system when they handle as little as $5,000 on an entire 10-race program and many starters don’t even have a single dollar wagered on them to Win? Peer-to-peer wagering, proposition betting, in-play betting, auction betting and a host of other innovative concepts must be explored. Pronto!

C – Conditions based on “money won” instead of a specific number of races. I’d like to see all races restricted to either stakes, claimers or conditioned races based solely on lifetime earnings. There should never be an incentive to finish second or win every 7th start. Until the present system is changed, the message that we really care about integrity is clouded.

D – Data from a number of different sources should be available through one co-operatively run web site. In a perfect world the customer could go to one site, enter his PIN, and access Standardbred Canada’s invaluable TrackIT system, USTA’s Pathway system, plus databases run by various tote suppliers, timing, charting and photo finish system operators, regulatory agencies, racing commissions, racetrack paddock judges and equipment inspectors, various program printers, and even independent tipsters. Imagine the potential of a site that offered convenient access to competing styles of past performance pages, value-added trainer and driver stats complete with ROI information, bios, pedigrees, handicapping tools, tips, trends, and observations from the pros. Some customers would pay to access the site while others could redeem points awarded by their account wagering provider (who in turn would pay the content providers). Since customers of the the various rebate shops and off-shore wagering providers wouldn't be eligible to gain free or cheap access to this site, the appeal of those outlets would quickly wane. He who controls the information is King!

E – Exclusive clubhouse area at major racetracks for people involved in fractional ownership of horses and a non-profit group to administer a program where anyone with $100 could buy a (very small) share of a horse and be admitted to the ‘Club’ whenever one of his horses is racing. As you may know, I manage two stables, each comprised of 10 or 11 new owners. When members of Count Ten Stable show up at Woodbine’s Finish Line Bar, they sometimes out-number all other patrons in the bar. Imagine what the on-track atmosphere would be like if half the horses on any given card had 100 or even 1000 minority ‘owners’ and even a small percentage of them showed up to watch their horse race!

F – Four-year-old stakes similar to the OHHA Series that was operated across Ontario in the late 70s and early 80s, with divisions for A, B, and C level horses and purses that increase throughout the season, culminating in a rich final at year-end. If the goal is to get more three-year-olds to return to the track at age four, the only workable solution is to make it worth their while. You can pass rules that restrict three-year-olds from standing at stud unless they have suffered career-ending injuries but the only thing that will do is increase the number of supposedly ‘career ending’ injuries that trainers and syndicate managers will dream up. Money talks!

G – Golf course, hotel and convention facility for Mohawk. This is in the works, Santa, so all I’m asking is that you promise to stop in and play a round when you have some spare time a few summers from now.

H – Harness racing app (game) for the Apple iPhone and other so-called smart phones. I’m still working on this one, Santa, so give me a while to work out the details.

I – Inquiries should be explained to the public by the judges over the PA system at the track and via the simulcast presentation. What possible reason is there for NOT explaining a judge’s ruling to the public and who better to explain the ruling than the Presiding Judge? Tracks could spend gobs of money to build TV studios within the judges’ stands or they could simply ask the judge to walk 15 feet to the announcer’s booth and explain the ruling over the announcer’s mic while the replay is shown. I know which one I’d try first.

J – Judges who crack down on rules that are already in the book. If the goal is to encourage more ‘flow’ in races conducted on 7/8ths mile tracks, we can tinker with the distance of races, spend seven figures to reconfigure a racetrack, or simply enforce existing rules that pertain to drivers who give holes, set a slow pace, fail to contest a slow pace, permit a horse to pass needlessly on the inside, etc. If the various racing commissions won’t do their jobs, racetracks should consider appointing a 'fourth man' or 'track judge' to look out for their own interests.

K – Karaoke and similar attractions before, between and after the races on Friday and Saturday nights. If you’ve ever witnessed my colleague Greg Blanchard on a karaoke stage, especially around 1:30 a.m., you’ll know that he could single-handedly put the ‘Entertainment’ back in Woodbine Entertainment Group.

L – Lifetime suspensions for those found to be in possession of illegal drugs. This is a no-brainer. I’m okay with the current set of penalties for trainers of horses that test positive as it’s entirely possible that a horse could be tampered with and the odd innocent trainer might pay the price. However, if the authorities obtain a search warrant and find performance enhancing drugs in the locked trunk of your car or in the beer fridge in your basement, then HLVB (Hasta la vista, baby).

M – More incentive to win. I’ve harped on this one in past columns but I firmly believe that as long as we offer Win, Place and Show wagering, only the top three finishers should get a share of the purse. Why should a horse be rewarded for finishing fifth when those who bet on him are out of luck? And don’t get me started on the idea of taking some money out of the purse and redirecting it to a national marketing fund. That's fodder for a whole new column.

N – National lottery-style pool with tickets sold through provincial lottery retailers and the 5, 6 or 7 race sequence broadcast (at least in part) on a national cable television show similar to Race Night on The Score. The prospect of collecting $2.30 on a Show ticket may have been exciting back when pari-mutuel wagering took off in the 40s and 50s but it just doesn’t cut it in 2009. Until the racing game offers at least one lottery-style payoff per week we’ll never tap new markets in a serious way.

O – One mile track at Mohawk. Yes, Santa, a one-mile track was considered a few years ago but since a stream runs through the Mohawk property, and an environmental impact study would have been required before it could be diverted, it was decided that an egg-shaped 7/8 mile track would be much simpler to build. It seemed like a good idea at the time (heavy emphasis on ‘at the time time’). I don’t profess to know all the issues surrounding this one but it strikes me that it would be a lot easier to build a one-mile track in conjunction with a planned golf course than it would be a few years after the fairways are in place.

P – Poker rooms at all racetracks that operate a specific number of live racing programs each year, free programs for anyone playing poker, a ‘comp’ system that rewards poker players with free pari-mutuel wagers, easy access to wagering terminals and big screen TVs within the poker room, etc. I’ve always thought that people who are attracted to slots might be the last people on earth who would have the patience required to learn how to handicap with any degree of success. Poker players, on the other hand, are often lapsed racing patrons. And if they're too young to be lapsed racing patrons, at least they're gamblers who appreciate the cerebral aspect of the game. The easiest way to get them into the track is to offer poker at the track. Let’s face it, the people you see in the poker room at Niagara or Rama look like they walked straight out of the Clubhouse at Greenwood.

Q – Quebec and Alberta need help, Santa. I don’t know what can be done in either case, but I hope you can look into this and both jurisdictions can get back to racing harness horses before their respective industries are decimated.

R – Reduced take-out for at least one pool per card. It would be nice to lower the take-out across the board but I understand this is much easier said than done. But how about putting one item ‘on sale’ every day and promoting the (bleep) out of it? All sorts of businesses use ‘loss leaders’ to attract new customers with the hope that they’ll buy some regularly priced product once they’re inside the store. Why wouldn’t this work in the world of simulcast wagering?

S – Sports Betting at Canadian racetracks. The appeal of Vegas-style, ‘bricks and mortar’ sports betting lounges may be on the decline but the right to run online and mobile sports betting in Canada should be racing’s #1 goal. Like slots, it would be little more than a lifeline, but WHAT a lifeline!

T – Triple Crown of Pacing changed to include the North America Cup, Meadowlands Pace and Little Brown Jug. If you cannot name the legs of the current Triple Crown of Pacing in five seconds you MUST admit that it’s broken and nothing short of three $1 million races can replace it. My version of the ‘Big Three’ would combine ½, 7/8 and one-mile tracks, elimination and ‘heat’ formats, big city and country fair venues, two countries, and it would be spread over an entire summer. Would it really make any difference if the purse of the NA Cup was reduced to $1 million? I don’t think so, especially if it meant that the Jug was increased to $1 million, and an insurance policy was purchased that would pay another $1 million to a horse that sweeps the Big Three. Million dollar purses attract very nice horses. Million dollar contests attract very nice crowds! I don't know how we'd raise the money, but if we guaranteed that one on-track customer was going home with $1 million at the conclusion of the North America Cup, the infield may not be big enough to hold the crowd. Wouldn't this draw more attention to racing than all the current promotions, combined?

U – Uniform racing rules and penalties at all North American tracks. It doesn’t matter which hockey, baseball or basketball game you watch, the rules, penalties and quality of the officiating is the same. Uniformity wasn’t much of an issue in the racing world until the advent of simulcasting. But that was 15 years ago, Santa. If racing expects to be taken seriously, it must tackle issues like this in a much more timely fashion.

V – Veal sandwiches on fresh baked rolls, Peaches N Cream corn on the cob, 3” high shaved roast beef sandwiches, warm Mennonite apple pie and Oxford County cheddar cheese, $2 hotdogs with 100 gourmet condiments, warm and gooey caramel corn, or any number of other tempting treats should be offered at the track. I’d like to see a different ‘signature’ concession item at each track and a price that makes it the talk of the town! Of course this is coming from someone who’s clearly had too many roast beef sandwiches at Greenwood in the 80s and too many slices of Shirley Reibeling’s fresh-baked fruit pie at Elmira in the 90s.

W – Woodbine Live! Like the golf course at Mohawk, this one is in the works. In addition to drawing new people to the facility, we might even coax a few teletheatre patrons back to the track with the right mix of on-track attractions and services. I know that I’d drive a few more miles to attend live racing if the valet parking guys would clean the gunk out of my car and give it a wash and wax while I was playing the ponies. A medium sized hotel should work in Etobicoke given the built-in racing and slots business, let alone our proximity to the airport. And how about a gym with treadmills and bikes overlooking the track? The list of possibilities is exciting.

X – X-treme Horsepower III to be raced under sunny skies for a change. Holy monsoon, Santa. You think YOU have to work in some pretty bad weather conditions. The folks at Georgian Downs deserve nothing short of perfect weather for the third edition of this unique and worthwhile event.

Y – YouTube channel devoted for racing replays from all major tracks as well as bloopers, humorous segments, and the hours of content that its currently shown once on various broadcasts and then stored on a shelf. Forget about putting the replays on individual track’s web sites. YouTube is the way to go. Twenty million unique visitors each month can't be wrong. Tracks should definitely link their sites to YouTube but the content must be on YouTube if the general public is ever going to find it.

Z – Zeron, Waples, and more ‘characters’. I’ve written in past columns about placing more emphasis on the BETTORS and less on the drivers, but if every driver had as much personality as Rick Zeron or Randy Waples, I’d be willing to rethink this one. As I’ve said before, Texas Hold'em took off when the ‘hole card’ was shown on TV, but had all poker players been of the 'yeah, she raced good' variety, even televised poker would be much less compelling.

That’s all, Santa.

Mike

PS: If you simply cannot swing even one of these items, I’d give anything for the Hot Wheels ‘Sizzler’ edition of the 1969 Dodge Charger. I once had a nice orange one but sometime in the mid-70s I painted a Confederate flag on the roof and a big ‘01’ on the door. I’d really like a pristine one for my collection.

Feature that aired December 15 on "Race Night on The Score"

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Sky Art finishes in close quarters

Sky Art raced very well again Thursday night, finishing third in a tight three-way finish. He was charted as being 3/4s of a length off the winner (the 2-5 favourite Rhodes Hanover) and he looked every bit like a horse that would have won had he some room to maneuver. He might have found that room had he not been so green that he came a little extra wide off the last turn before realizing that another colt had committed to the inside lane and there was no time to swing three-wide. As I've said before, if he doesn't win his first few starts, I definitely like to see him finishing "on a helmet" or going by other horses late in the mile. Tonight he was very game in the first 1/8th mile, willing to sit in behind the leader for the middle portion, and full of pace as they came down the stretch.

The photo shown above was taken by racing fan (and Minx and Art supporter) Peter Beckett of Lynden, Ontario. Many thanks to Peter for braving the winter weather to get that shot for us. Sky Art is the one between horses with driver Michael Whelan in the green and yellow colours.

I did not speak to Rene today but will try him in the morning. He will be at the track but I'm not sure how much track-work will be going on if the winter storm is as bad as forecast for the area west of Toronto.

This will be a challenge

As there wasn't a conditioned race that Minx would fit this week, Rene opted to try the Niagara Series one more time. We drew post 7 in Monday's fifth race. And we're in tough! There are nine starters, so we have to beat 4 to get a cheque, and we're in with Windsong Experanza, Starofthesea Devie, Rip Rockin Lady, etc. If you want to venture out to Woodbine, by all means do so. On the other hand, with the weatherman calling for up to 30 cm of snow by the end of Sunday, this might be a good one to watch from home on "Race Night on The Score'.

And speaking of The Score, I haven't been able to save the latest video clip to a size that either Dropshots or Blogger will accept. Give me another day or two on that one.

In the meantime, here are the entries...

NIAGARA PACING SERIES - 2ND LEG - 3 YEAR OLD FILLIES. NON-WINNERS $50,000 LIFETIME AS OF OCTOBER 31, 2008. Post Time: 08:46 P.M.Lasix:04:31 P.M.

1 STAROFTHESEA DEVIE - BAILLARGEON,MARIO
2 WINDSONG EXPERANZA - JAMIESON,JODY
3 RIP ROCKIN LADY - BUTER,TYLER
4 ELECTRIC MOMENT - ZERON,RICK
5 LAKE SHORE DRIVE - MACDONELL,PAUL
6 VILLAGE BOLERO - MACDONELL,PAUL
7 JUSTA MINX - FILION,SYLVAIN
8 WILD SIDE - BREWER,JASON
9 GRACIE LYNN - WAPLES,RANDALL

Program page for Sky Art's 2nd start at Flamboro Downs

Click on the image to enlarge.

Tip Sheet for Thursday at Flamboro

Sky Art will race Thursday, December 18 in the 7th race at Flamboro. Track handicapper Gary Guy picks our boy for second. Click on the image to enlarge.

Minx gets a cheque; Art gets to race! (Again)

As usual, I'm a little late getting the report out following our girl's latest effort. I'd classify it as a "good" effort - good enough to garner a $1000 pay cheque - but not good enough to guarantee her a spot in the final. There's always next week, if Rene opts to race her in the second leg. I say "if" as she had a pretty nice "following" trip and when clear in the stretch she just paced with the pack rather than surging by anyone.

Of course the eternal optimists will argue that it was bitterly cold, there was a relatively strong wind, others had more momentum in the stretch and Minx did well to not lose more ground than she did. On the other hand, cynics like me would say that she was in the slowest of the three divisions and she appeared to be "all out" to hold fifth. The horses that finished 10th in the other two divisions actually paced faster than Minx did in finishing fifth. That's a pretty clear indication that we were in the cheapest division and just barely got paid for it.

I will talk to Rene later today or tomorrow and see if he feels the same way. We could enter the second leg of the series and hope that we draw a good post in another soft division or we could take the week off. The condition sheets are posted through December 22 and unless I'm missing something, there aren't a lot of options.

On a brighter note, Sky Art came out of this first race in fine form and has been entered for round two. He will race Thursday, December 18 at Flamboro Downs. He drew post 2 in the 7th race. The horse that has post one is Rhodes Hanover - the one that went wire-to-wire in Art's first race. In a perfect world, Rhodes Hanover will use his rail advantage and we'll luck into a 2-hole trip behind the heavy favourite. If that's the case, it will be fun to see if Art can get up beside the favourite in the stretch or perhaps play giant killer! That's a lot to ask of our boy but it will be fun to see. Unfortunately I will be working at Woodbine so will have to watch via simulcast.

If you caught "Race Night on The Score" on Monday you will have noticed that we got a little more free PR. I will post a video clip as soon as I figure out how to reduce the size of the very large "broadcast quality" video that blogger is unlikely to accept as-is.

There must be some mistake!

Post one isn't the best spot at Woodbine but nevertheless it's a lot better than posts 8, 9 or 10... and Minx has it for her next start. The Monday, December 15 program at Woodbine features three divisions of the first leg of the Niagara Pacing Series and Justa Minx drew post one in the first division (race 3). She'll face a good group but at least she dodged Windsong Experanza, Paper Cut and several others that are clearly on their game right now. The program page won't be finalized until after scratch time on Saturday. I'll post it when I have it!

Purse $20,000 EX,P3,P7,TR NIAGARA PACING SERIES - 1ST LEG - 3 YEAR OLD FILLIES. NON-WINNERS $50,000 LIFETIME AS OF OCTOBER 31, 2008. Post Time: 08:02 P.M.Lasix:03:47 P.M.

1 JUSTA MINX - FILION,SYLVAIN
2 SIGNAL - MACPHEE,BRODIE
3 TRACYS SONG - OUELLETTE,LUC
4 STAROFTHESEA DEVIE - BAILLARGEON,MARIO
5 BOOTSCOOTNFLOOZIE - SAFTIC,MIKE
6 GOTTOGETOUTMORE - BUTER,TYLER
7 MISS SHANGHAI - BYRON,STEPHEN
8 NETWORKING - ZERON,SCOTT
9 AERONAUT - WAPLES,RANDALL

1-0-0-1

Sky Art can be very proud of his effort in tonight's pari-mutuel debut at Flamboro Downs. He left from post 9 (second tier) and had to do some fancy stick handling when the #1 horse made a break on the first turn. Once they settled away it was Rhodes Hanover ($70,000 yearling from the Erv Miller barn) on the lead, Premium Bliss in the pocket and Art was sitting third. There was no change in position until the top of the stretch the second time around when Mike Whelan moved Art to the outside. The colt's inexperience showed when he made his move as he came a few feet wider than needed. Thankfully he paced strong through the stretch, finishing third by two lengths. He was just a nose out of second and timed in 1:58.

Now here's the really encouraging part: As the camera picked the horses up after the finish, Art was pacing around not only the runner-up but also the winner. That doesn't mean that he would have beaten the winner had he made his move a bit earlier but it is EXACTLY the way I like to see a first-time-starter finish up his mile. In my opinion, if you can't win, you definitely want to be going by other horses at the end of the mile. This trip and finishing style will serve Art very well in the future.

And speaking of the future, Art will be entered for the same class next week. Rhodes Hanover is eligible to race in the nw1/6000 class until he has won $6000 but there is a chance that his trainer will try him at Woodbine now that he has that initial win under his belt. On the other hand, both Rhodes Hanover and Sky Art are eligible to the Snowshoe Series, which opens at Woodbine on Friday, January 2, and both colts could see action at Flamboro for another start or two before tackling the Snowshoe. I should caution that it's WAY too early to be calling Art a "stakes colt", but if he continues to improve as he has over the last few weeks, it's CONCEIVABLE that he'll be good enough to start in an event like the Snowshoe Series. Only time will tell.

Sky Art to debut in T-minus 48 hours

I don't have much to report after speaking with Rene on Monday evening but promised that I'd get back to you so here goes. In case you missed it the first time, Sky Art will race Thursday at Flamboro. Mike Whelan was named on two horses in that race but chose Sky Art.

Rene told me today that Roger Mayotte's latest assessment of Art was that he just wasn't ready to race at Woodbine. We're not sure if its a maturity issue or if he's just not strong enough to finish off his miles with anything better than a 30 second last quarter, but the issue for the last two qualifiers has definitely been in the last quarter mile. Post nine will suit him just fine as he can follow the #1 horse who figures to be a contender. We should get a decent trip in a race where all but one of them are two-year-olds, and the lone three-year-old has the far outside (post 8). Keep those fingers crossed!

Rene thought that Minx raced reasonably well but just lacked momentum when she was finally clear in the stretch. Another factor that might have contributed to her lack of "fire" in deep stretch is the fact that she has raced weekly for seven consecutive weeks. She'll get this week off and will be entered for the same class for next week.

I will be working at Woodbine on Thursday so will have to settle for a simulcast view of Art's debut. Rene will also be at Woodbine so the road trip falls to Serge and Angie. I guess it would be appropriate to wish good luck to SA2. (Sky Art, Serge/Angie).

Mike

Minx gets a cheque; Art gets to race!

I'm guilty for not getting this out earlier but have been waiting until I spoke with Rene - and haven't as yet. I'll call him mid-morning on Monday.

I was working in HPI on Friday so didn't get back to the barn after Minx's 5th place finish but Warren and Faun Casely did (to deliver the carrots) and Warren writes that "Minx lost a front left shoe at the gate."

My assessment, before knowing about the shoe, was that she did very well getting to the front in a 27.2 quarter. Sylvain put on the breaks in the second quarter which triggered the move by 4-5 favourite Elizamotion and we got to sit behind that one for the rest of the mile. If you were reading the chart it would be easy to assume that she was blocked for the rest of the mile but in fact the head-on shot showed that she was clear for a good portion of the stretch and simply didn't have the "umph" to go by anyone.

Rene mentioned last week that he'd like to give her a week off if that race didn't fill - so we can assume that she'll be playing in the paddock a bit THIS week and gearing up to race next week. While you like to see them race every 7 days, there is a point when every horse needs a mini-break. Minx raced on October 23, 30, November 6, 13, 20, 28, and December 5, so she's probably due for some play time.

I had a appointment on Friday that kept me from attending Sky Art's qualifier at Mohawk. I saw the chart later that day and wasn't overly impressed with the line. However, when I got to the track on Monday evening and watched the replay a few times, I was much, much more impressed with his effort. He flashed some gate speed to get the early lead and then yielded before the quarter. He rode the pocket through three-quarters in 1:28.1 and wound up third. He didn't have a lot left in the slowing pace, and in fact his last quarter was just 31.3, but he did drive straight through the stretch and finish. I would classify it as a "successful" but not "ultra-impressive" qualifier. He would have to drop 3 or 4 seconds to be competitive in the maiden ranks at Woodbine so Rene and I agreed that his debut will come at one of the "B" tracks.

And - drumroll please - that debut will be on Thursday, December 11 at Flamboro Downs. The entries were taken Saturday and the drivers will be finalized on Monday. What we do know is that Art drew post 9 in the 5th race. Post 9 is in the second tier at Flamboro (a half-mile track) so it's not nearly as bad as it might sound. It's a good spot for a first-time starter in that he'll get some experience following other horses and there will be absolutely no pressure to be on the early lead. I took a brief online look at the other horses and would say that he's in with about what I would expect for a maiden race in December at Flamboro. One of the better looking colts in the race is the Rhodes Hanover - the horse that finished second in Art's latest qualifier. We certainly won't be under any pressure to win with one that recently beat us by 6 lengths. I'm looking at this race as another step in Art's education and if he somehow beats 4 of them he'll get paid while learning.

Mike Whelan is listed as the tentative driver. He'll be good for Art in that he will listen to the trainer and drive the horse according to his ability. I wouldn't expect Mike to "overdrive" a maiden that will be a relative longshot, particularly from post 9.

Stay tuned for more info after I've spoke with Rene on Monday.

Two In The Box

We've got two ponies in the box! No, not some creepy Christmas package but rather Sky Art and Justa Minx who were both dropped in the (entry) box. And, believe it or not, both got in.

Sky Art will qualify Friday morning at Mohawk. I have an appointment in Toronto at the same time as the qualifier so I don't think I'll be able to make this one. I will talk to Rene before the day is done and will post the results.

Justa Minx was entered for Friday night in a race for those who did not make the final of the Ontario Sired Autumn Series. We didn't think that they'd go with the race as the maximum number of entries would have been 9 since 10 of the 19 starters in the elims found their way to the final. But luck must be on our side. There were just seven entered in the "consolation" and the race secretary decided to use it. Minx drew post 4 in the race which carries a purse of $20,000. Despite her less-than-stellar effort last week, she is the 5-2 morning line choice.

Pocket: Good; Front: Bad

The verdict is in: Minx doesn't like the front, especially after a 26.3 opening quarter. I spoke with Rene this morning and he reports that they scoped Minx following the race and also drew blood that was sent to the lab. The results of both tests came back normal. The vet couldn't detect anything abnormal when looking into her airways and the blood levels all checked out normal.

Rene plans to enter her for Friday in a class that is open to those who started in but did not make the final of the Ontario Sired Autumn Stakes. It's debatable whether that class will go as there are only 9 horses that didn't make the final and its likely that one of the other classes will draw 10 starters. If the class does not fill, Rene thinks that she could use a week off. We'll re-evaluate the situation after we see the entries for Friday.

Art will be entered to qualify on Friday. I have an appointment in Toronto on Friday morning so will have to take a pass on this one. I'll have Rene on speed-dial though!

Friday Morning Barn Report

I was out to Mohawk this morning to catch Art's qualifier. More on that in a minute. I told Minx that I'm working in the HPI studio (grandstand) tonight so won't be able to make it out to the paddock for our usual pre-race pep talk. She appeared to be okay with that. Tonight will be her first start with blinkers. After her last race Sylvain recommended that she be fitted with a set as he felt that she as in a good position to win the race but then eased up as soon as the she could no longer see the other horses. We can chalk that up to the fact that she was wearing a blind bridle and therefore only saw what was directly in front of her. Once she got up behind the last horse, or even about a length back depending on how wide she was, she would not have seen the competition.

Tonight Minx will wear blinkers (AKA hood and cups). There are holes in the cups that allow her to see some of the action beside and behind her. I used the term "fitted with a set" as they have several sets at the barn and Angie has tried in vain to get them on Minx. I'm not saying that Minx is a freak, but let's just say that her head is "unique" and only a custom made set of blinkers will do. I feel pretty confident that the blinkers will help her, and that she'll be competitive from post 4, but I'm not sure if she can beat #2 PW True To You who is 3-for-3 since Wayne Preszcator took over as trainer. And while we'd love to win, remember that the top 5 finishers get to race next week for more than double tonight's purse.

Now, on to the Sky Art show. The track was rated "good-2" this morning - meaning that it was not "fast" and it was off at about 2 seconds. That seemed like a very accurate (perhaps conservative) assessment based on the times that I saw. Art had post 4, left the gate very sharply and settled into second as they passed under the wire for the first time. He sat on the leaders back past the 1/4 in 30.3 and 1/2 in :59.4. He was still second at 3/4s in 1:29 but by that time the leader had drawn off by 3 lengths. Art finished up his mile in 2:00.3, last 1/4 in :31.

This time doesn't seem all that impressive at first glance - but I have to caution that raw times can be very deceiving. First, the judges were allowing 2 seconds, so that time compares to roughly 1:58.3 on a fast track. The last 1/4 of :31 was obviously the slowest, but that too was a bit better than you might guess. The wind was brisk and straight out of the west (headwind in the home stretch).

A better gauge of how the colt raced would be Roger's assessment that he "drove straight", "was on the bit", and "seemed eager." It should also be noted that he was simply beaten by two colts with a much higher profile. Both come from the powerful Erv Miller stable. The winner, Seer Of Patmos, was a $60,000 yearling, a full brother to $600,000 winner Isle Of Patmos, and when he last raced in October he was timed in 1:54, and he is coming off two other qualifiers, including one that he won by 18 lengths in 1:55.3. He had a license to win our race by open lengths. The runner-up was a $70,000 yearling and also comes from the Miller camp.

After the race I spoke with Rene and he seemed pleased with Art's progress. He said, "he's coming along sure and steady". Although he did qualify this morning, both Rene and I feel that it wouldn't be fair to Art to thrust him into a maiden race that is bound to go right around 1:55. We'll give him one more spin, next Friday, and hope that he drops a second or two. His forward progress, combined with the fact that the maiden class starts to get a lot easier in December, should leave us in a good position a few weeks from now.

Casinos: 0 - Mike: 0

I'm happy to report that the Vegas trip was a "push" - a scoreless draw. I didn't win any poker pots that would be worth mentioning, but then Caesars, Wynn or MGM stocks won't be paying any dividends based on my November business. Any time you spend 7 days in Vegas and come home with almost exactly what you went with it must be considered a success.

While the casinos were definitely quieter than usual, I did see a few familiar faces. Count Ten Stable partners Brenda Pelletier and Arlene Husul flew in on my last full day in Vegas and we had talked about meeting for a drink at 8 pm on Sunday evening. By 8:20 there was still no sign of them but something told me to wait a while longer. At about 8:25 they showed up at the Flamingo Poker Room and I could tell by their smiles that they had a pretty good excuse. Sure enough, Brenda had been playing a machine at the back of the Flamingo, far from our pre-arranged meeting spot, and she had won $1000 TWICE in a 10 minute span. I'm actually surprised that they didn't stand me up! I don't believe in "hot machines" but many do and those people cannot be pulled from a machine that is paying off.

Now down to business. Minx will race on Friday in an elimination for the Ontario Sired Autumn Stakes. She drew post 4 (can you believe it?) in the 5th race. Jim Bullock's Intended To Fly has post 8 and the one that Roger Mayotte is driving has drawn post 10. The one to beat appears to be #2 PW True To You who is 3-for-3 for her current trainer.

There are only two eliminations so the top five finishers from each will return the following week for the final which carries a purse in the neighbourhood of $45,000.

Sky Art is set to qualify on Friday morning as well. I'll have more info on that when I see the entries for the qualifiers on Thursday.

GN / BN

LAS VEGAS, NV – Another one of those Good News / Bad News stories. Art was scratched from this morning's qualifier. That's the bad news. The good news is that he's okay. In between the good and bad is the fact that Rene, like most of us, forgets the odd thing. In this case he simply neglected to have an up to date Coggins Test on file in the race office. This is a routine test that certifies that your horse doesn't have swamp fever. Ugggggh. I'll write more when I get off the iPhone and onto a computer, but basically Art was scratched on a technicality. Roger instead took him out for a schooler and he went well. He'll be re-entered for next Friday. That will be a big day for us with Art qualifying and Minx racing Friday night in the Autumn Series.

Poker table awaits so gotta run.

Must Be A Mistake!

Warren Casely sent a message this morning in which he asked if there was some sort of "translation issue on the entries web page" as it shows Minx having post three on Thursday. I wondered the same thing but apparently it is true. We've been given a reprieve from posts 9 and 10 and Minx will indeed leave from post three on Thursday. I won't be there to see it, and not sure I'll even be able to catch it here in Vegas (the casinos don't take WEG), but I'll get the results soon enough. If you'll be at the track, give the girl a 'pep talk' for me.

Friday Morning at Mohawk

With overcast skies, a moderate wind, and a wet track that was about one second off (ft-1), today was one of those mornings that you might quickly forget even if you didn't have thoughts of warm, sunny Vegas dancing in your head. But this morning Sky Art did his part to brighten the mood of everyone at the Rene Laarman barn.

Our boy Art was in the third schooler, which means that 6 fields of qualifiers and 2 sets of schoolers had been over the track before him. He lined up in about post 6 and got away 4th. I'm not exactly sure where he finished, but it was roughly 4th or 5th. That part doesn't matter a whole lot as horses of varying abilities are lumped together in these schoolers and they are not charted - so the result will not appear on his record. The encouraging news is that Art was caught inside on the last turn and he really "swelled up" despite the fact they were going a third quarter in the vicinity of 28 seconds! He paced his own half in 1:01.3 and his own mile in 2:00, so that's a back half of 58.2.

Roger Mayotte got off the bike, handed the lines to Serge and said, "This is a totally different horse than last time I sat behind him." He added that Art was "REALLY well gaited".

All things considered, it was a very encouraging schooler. The plan is to enter Art in a qualifier for next Friday (November 21). We don't have a set plan as to where or when he'll make his debut but it could be as early as the last week of November. Keep your fingers crossed!

Fifth Is Better Than Sixth

And when you're racing for a $21,000 purse, fifth is exactly $1050 better than sixth.

I thought that Minx did as well as could have been expected considering post 10 and the trip that she received. She left the gate quite well but had to back into the 6-hole early on. When she was ready to make up some ground in the third quarter, she had a stalled horse on her right. Once she got around that one, and shied from a whip about mid-stretch, she drove arrow-straight and got the last cheque. Her time was 1:54.1 which is tied as her fastest clocking after 18 starts and 3 qualifiers. Her last 1/4 of 27.2 was identical to what she offered last week - thus tied as her fastest to date - and also tied as the second fastest on tonight's entire 12-race program. Only one horse had a faster last quarter and that was just by a fifth of a second at 27.1.

As a handicapper, this is exactly the type of chart line that I look for when hunting for "value" plays. If she were to draw a decent post position and have just a bit of racing luck, she could very easily be a 10-1 winner in the near future. Obviously there are no guarantees but I've seen enough of these to know that she's in much better shape than most fillies that have picked up just two cheques in their last six starts.

I'll be getting up bright and early (in a few hours actually), and if it's not raining I will assume that Sky Art is training and head out to Mohawk. If its raining, and the track is bad, Art will jog tomorrow and wait until Monday before he schools.

The "Lost" Photos

These photos were misfiled for a few weeks but I found them this morning. Justa Minx raced at Woodbine on the opening day of the winter meet and thus became the first horse to occupy one of the stalls in the new paddock (race 9, #3). Such a pioneer that Minx! She's shown here just prior to her race with caretaker Angie Rumble (top photo) and assistant trainer Serge Boulay (lower).

Minx and Art jog; Training miles washed-out

Sky Art's scheduled Saturday morning training mile was cancelled due to less-than-perfect track conditions caused by overnight rains. Instead he'll train Monday or Tuesday and then be entered for a schooling race that will be held following the qualifiers on Friday, November 15.

Partners Warren and Faun Casely were out to Mohawk bright and early and had left by the time I got there. They were reportedly headed to a nearby farm equipment dealer as city-slicker Warren is in the market for a new tractor for his recently purchased Caledon farm. And Frank Aloise arrived in time to catch Art as he went out for a light jog. For those who doubt my ability to make it out to Mohawk in time for a 'first trip', I offer the following evidence.


Art getting some "face-time" with partner Frank Aloise



















Angie rushes to assist Serge as Sky Art returns to the barn following his Saturday morning jog.



















Rene notices the camera and decides to pitch in.



















Dennis gives Art a warm bath following his track-time.



Partners Faun and Warren Casely. (Not exactly as illustrated.)

Minx does some more 'pro bono' work

Minx raced Thursday night at Mohawk, and while she didn't get a cheque, I thought it was one of her better races in some time. Okay, the WIN on October 30 was good, but in that race she made one move to the front and pretty much got things her own way. Tonight she simply didn't have the luxury of racing up front as she was confined to post 9 (in from 10 because of a scratch). Sylvain asked her for a bit of speed off the gate as he looked to get away somewhere around fifth - and then hope for a second-over trip - but everyone inside of him left as well and he had no choice but to stay parked or take back. Risking a parked out trip is rarely the best choice when you're 45-1 and moving up in class so I don't have any qualms with his decision to race from off the pace under those circumstances.

Going into the last turn the flow started to shape up and Minx was fourth-over and advancing. Her own third quarter was 27.3 as she closed from 9th by 14 at the half to be 8th by 6-1/4 at three-quarters. She started to fan wide at the top of the stretch but soon ducked back inside as there was plenty of wide-open real estate. While she paced strong right through the wire, she failed to get a cheque with a sixth place finish.

Before you chalk this up as another 'failure', consider that her final time was 1:54.2 and her last 1/4 was 27.2. That's the fastest last 1/4 of her CAREER and the 1:54.2 mile was her fastest since breaking her maiden in May (when she went 1/5th faster at 1:54.1). Had she drawn a better post she would likely have been positioned mid-pack at the half and thus a top-five or even top-3 finish would have been very likely.

This might sound like a "proud papa" talking but I really do believe that it was one of her better races. If you watch the races on any given night at Woodbine you'll see that front-end horses RULE and horses sitting last at the half are almost always doomed. Just 14% of the winners at the current meet have come from back of THIRD at 3/4s. Tonight there was only one winner that closed from back of 4th at 3/4s and Minx's last 1/4 time (27.2) was just 2/5ths off the bullet (fastest on the card).

Minx will be entered in the same class for next week. She can race at that level until she wins another $5000 (approximately) and unless she has a major setback in the next week, she'll contest another stakes race on Friday, November 28. She has been made eligible to the Ontario Sired Autumn Stakes which required a $200 payment on November 1. The elims are set for November 28 with the top 10 coming back for a $45,000 (est.) final on December 5. I don't think she'll look out of place in OSAS. Depending on how she does in that elimination (and hopefully the final) we can decide if we move on to the next two events that she has been paid into. See below.

Niagara Series ($200 nomination payment not due until Dec. 1 but is paid)
1st leg: Monday, December 15 (purse $20,000)
2nd leg: Monday, December 22 (purse $20,000)
Final: Monday, December 29 (purse $45,000 estimated)

Ontario Girls Series ($300 nomination payment not due until Dec. 1 but is paid)
1st leg: Friday, February 13 (purse $20,000)
2nd leg: Friday, February 20 (purse $20,000)
Final: Friday, February 27 (purse $53,000 estimated)

The next barn outing for me WILL be this coming Saturday when Sky Art will go two trips at 8am and 9am. If he trains well this week he will be entered for a schooling race that will be held after the morning qualifiers on Friday, November 14.

Program Page for Minx's Next Race (Thursday, Woodbine, Race 5)

Click on image to enlarge.

Non-winners of Two or $30,000, Here We Come!

Minx was entered for Thursday in the nw2 or $30,000 lifetime class (she fits when the allowances are applied) and she got it! And... she drew post 10. I highly doubt that she'll be going wire-to-wire at this level, from post 10, but at least we know that she has SOME gate speed and Sylvain might be able to get away closer to the front than the back. This will be a "cross your fingers and hope" kind of trip. I'll get a program page up in the morning.

A Note from The Sick Bay

Several people have asked me to let them know how the "cut and paste" went. The answer, quite simply, is phenomenal. While the normal wait time in Toronto is for a non-emergency hernia operation is about 3 months, I waited only 8 days. It was last Wednesday that I was booked into a spot that opened up when someone else backed out. By the way the receptionist and doctor were whispering, I suspect that someone else died while on the 3 month wait list. From some other cause, I hope! Anyway, in and out very quickly. I won't be lifting anything over 5 pounds for a month but otherwise there are very few issues. At least nothing that codeine and twice-a-day Starbucks (my drug of choice) won't fix. - Mike

Wire-To-Wire

This business is too easy! At least that's the title of one email that was waiting for me when I got home from the races tonight. The writer, an owner by the name of Peter Beckett of Lynden, Ontario, went on to say "of course it isn't, but you deserve the win." I thanked him on behalf of the group.

If you didn't happen to see Minx's race, it was everything the chart showed and more. She DID leave the gate quite aggressively (as instructed) and she DID get the lead well before the opening quarter in 27. She DID hold the lead despite the fact that the even-money favourite got up to her wheel at the top of the stretch. And after putting that one away, she DID hold off the pocket-sitter for a 1-length win in 1:55.3. And she DID pay $82.40 for a $2 win ticket and $4864.60 for a $2 triactor ticket. Her time wasn't "spectacular" but it was mildly impressive considering that the track crew has done a lot of work to the track since the cancellation of the last 5 races on Monday - and as such it was very deep and tiring. She went virtually the same time as the other division of her split class and until the $140,000 race that followed hers, she had the second fastest opening quarter - where the fastest was just 1/5th faster at 26.4. (The Gold fillies in Race 12 went 26.2).

I didn't get a chance to speak with Sylvain after the race other than a few brief words in the winner's circle, but he told Serge that he was very impressed with her gate speed, the fact that she drove nice and straight and that she didn't touch her knee in the least. All in all, it was a step in the right direction.

Of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that we had a little bit of help. Frank Aloise's young daughter Megan sent along her lucky rock and Frank held it in his hand throughout the race. I believe that Minx is undefeated when Frank brings "the rock."

I will try to get a video and scanned photo for the blog but it will probably take at least a week as I won't be back to the track until next Thursday.

Stay tuned for a further update after I speak with Rene.

Feeling Lucky?

The following article was originally published on WEG's web site.
http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/woodbinecolumn/Column/Column.aspx?id=97

TORONTO, ON – Many a racing participant has used the “bad luck” card to avoid doing a pre-race interview on WEG’s simulcast and Race Night on The Score broadcasts. We’ll never know whether these people really are that superstitious or just using this as a convenient excuse to avoid public speaking. We do know, however, that Halloween is the time of year when just about everyone thinks twice before doing something that might bring bad luck. As you can see below, October 31 has been a date that more than a few people would rather not have experienced.

1908 – The 4th modern Olympiad wrapped up in London, England, and Canada won gold in Lacrosse. So where’s the bad luck? The game has not been a part of Olympic competition ever since.

1920 – Dick Francis, born. The British jockey turned author was forced to retire from racing as the result of a serious racing accident. One of his most memorable mounts was the Queen Mother's Devon Loch who inexplicably fell when close to winning the race.

1923 – October 31, 1923 wasn’t particularly ‘lucky’ or unlucky’ but according to Wikipedia, this date marked the beginning of 160 consecutive days of 100 degrees temperatures at Marble Bar, Australia.

1926 – Magican and escape artist Harry Houdini died of complications from a ruptured appendix. Ten days earlier, at Montreal’s Princess Theatre, Houdini had invited a McGill University student to punch him in the stomach. According to GlobeAndMail.com, the young man complied before Houdini had a chance to brace himself and the blow led to his death. Not that’s bad luck!

1941 – The USS Reuben James became the first U.S. Navy vessel sunk by enemy action inWWII.

1950 – John Candy, born. In his short-lived career, Candy played a number of unlucky characters including Uncle Buck whose penchant for junk food, horse racing and shady business deals didn’t exactly endear him to his oh-so-proper relatives.

1955 – Princess Margaret cancelled her planned wedding to Captain Peter Townsend.

1957 – Toyota established a US division. This was good for Toyota but not particularly lucky for GM, Ford or Chrysler.

1967 – Rob Van Winkleapper, born. He was later known as Vanilla Ice. Need I say more?

1984 – The prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by two of her own bodyguards. That's pretty unlucky.

1993 – Actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose at the tender age of 23.

1998 – Iraq announced it would no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors. We all know what that led to.

2002 – Mike Hamilton dressed as Don Cherry for the Mohawk simulcast show. There’s no evidence that this has brought any bad luck to Cherry.

2002 – Former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow was indicted on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. That would tend to wreck your day, Halloween or not.

2002 – Lights in the television studio flickered andfor no known reason the television monitors in the studio shut off several times while Chris Connor and Mike Hamilton were hosting WEG’s simulcast show.

2003 – After winning 42 races and $1,271,843, nine-year-old trotter Hanko Angus was entered in a claimer for the first time since 1997. He finished 8th and was put on the list for performance. Although he did requalify one week later, Hanko Angus raced just five more times and never did win another race before he was eventually retired.

Singing the Post 8 Blues

I don't know if I was subconsciously suppressing bad news or what the issue was, but I wrote a short note a few days ago but then somehow didn't hit 'send' - or more likely hit 'delete' by accident. It didn't seem to make it to the blog either. Whatever the issue was, it was just a short note to say that Minx did indeed get in to race on Thursday. And that's about the extent of the good news.

I didn't make it to Mohawk on Tuesday but am still hoping to have enough work done tonight so that I can go out tomorrow and not have to come home before heading to Woodbine on Thursday evening. To watch Minx from the eight hole! I suppose if that's the extent of the bad news, we're not in dire straits. It would have been nice to draw inside in a claimer but by going back to the conditioned ranks we rolled the dice (on a good post) and lost.

I will be there on Thursday and will talk to Sylvain before the race. There's not much that I can tell him that he doesn't already know, but it'll make me feel better!

Faun will be so happy!

Rene has spoken. With Sylvain, that is. Syvain said that he thinks that Minx can be competitive in that class if only she had a better post position which would allow him to get into contention early and not have to worry about advancing cover, etc. Sylvain also mentioned that he'd like to see Minx right back in the same nw2 class. I can't say that this was my first choice, but considering that the 2yo fillies are off to Western Fair for Gold Series elims on October 31, we should dodge Icey Breeze for a week of two.

At this point the best of both worlds would be to get Minx a race in the next 7 days and a cheap one! I suppose its better to have a shot at the $19,000 purse with a driver who now has some confidence in the filly than enter her for Georgian or Kawartha and find they didn't use the class and we're left on the sidelines for another week (which has already happened once).

In conclusion, I will take the advice of Rene and Sylvain and Minx will be entered for the same race next week. There you go, Faun!

You gotta know when to use you're "you", "use" and "yous"

First, a quick update on Sky Art. He trained this week in 2:09. This was originally reported as 2:08 but confirmed today as 2:09. Either way, he's making good progress and seems to be a much more manageable horse after his, uh, surgically-induced attitude adjustment. He'll train two trips on Tuesday, October 28, and I hope to attend with camera. He'll be on the track at about 8AM and again about one hour later.

Now for the Minx Report. I'm assuming that most of you have seen the results and are wondering if it was as good or bad as it looked. I say "good or bad" as you could look at it either way.

The good is that Minx warmed up well, drove straight, was 100% sound in the race, and came out of it 100% sound. She paced her last 1/4 in 28 seconds which was faster than all but one horse in her race who went 27.4. She made up ground at every call, closing from 15 back at the 1/4 to 5-1/4 off the winner at the finish, and she did all this after being fanned about 6 wide through the stretch.

The "bad" side is that she didn't earn a cent. I could add that she didn't go as fast as the winner of the "nw1" race earlier on the program and at 1:55.3 she was slower than the mare that finished 7th in a $12,000 - $15,000 claiming race, but that's really rubbing it in and not exactly a fair comparison. I'll get to that rationale in a minute.

The bottom line is that she didn't race too bad and she should have been paid something for it. If I had to analyze the race as a handicapper (as opposed to proud owner), I'd say that she was driven appropriately for a filly that was 39-1 and stuck in post 8 in a race where they went 26.3 to the 1/4. Sylvain had no choice but take her back and hope for some flow. It looked like he was going to get that flow just before the half when he flushed Mark MacDonald and the 9-5 second favourite (Tammibest). Unfortunately the outer tier got bogged down on the last turn when Keystone Wendy failed to advance and Minx was forced wide in the lane. Some would say that she "hung" as she didn't get by a couple that appeared to be all-out, but I would argue that she paced home in 28 seconds which was just 1/5th slower than the fastest horse that race. I'd also say that "us racetrackers" use terms like "hung" and "he raced big" and "we was third" without a second thought so I'm not going to cleanse this site just for the sake of "yous other people."

I'll speak with Rene in the morning and hopefully we can find a race where she'll have a fighting chance. There are several possibilities on the WEG condition sheet for next week as well as the option of trucking to the B-tracks. In the end I'll give the final say to Rene.

Minx has a date at Woodbine

Both Rene and myself have been scouring the condition sheets for races that Minx would fit -- on a 5/8ths mile track. And that's the catch. There have been a few opportunities at Flamboro and Grand River but we simply don't think she's cut out for racing on the tight turns. She was entered in one race for Kawartha Downs but they didn't end up using it and went with several divisions of a claiming stake instead.

When I last talked to Rene on Friday he said that if he couldn't find anything over the week-end, he'd put her back in at Woodbine rather than sit out another week. Saturday and Sunday came and went and I didn't see any new races posted that she would fit, so today she was entered for Thursday at Woodbine in the same nw2 class that she tried last time. She did get in, and she will race, and the track is better than it was on opening night, but that's about the extend of the good news. The less than welcome news is that she drew post 8 and she's in pretty tough. I suppose the bright side is that she'll have really showed us up if she beats Icey Breeze.

I won't be working on Thursday so I'll be able to attend and play "devoted owner". If you can make it, great. If not, I don't think you'll be missing a win photo - but then in horse racing you never do know!

Boos and Bouquets

The following was originally posted on the "Columns" section of Woodbine Entertainment Group's web site.

It's time for another round of Hamilton's "Boos and Bouquets" – a celebration of what was good and not-so-good in the racing industry over the past week.

Here are five groups or individuals who surely deserve a bouquet.

The WEG Warriors:
Your average punter at Woodbine or Mohawk might not appreciate a bouquet of posies but he certainly deserves one. Joe Public has nailed the winner in 37.7% of the races over the last 30 days and 37.3% over the last 365 days – numbers that are right down the middle when compared with 31 other Canadian tracks. There's rarely any value in the win pools at tracks where the chalk comes through at 40% or higher. On the other hand, tracks where chalk bettors can't count on winning more than 25% of the time are simply too unpredictable to support major league handles. The Canadian racing scene has a few of each. Thankfully Woodbine ranks 17th on a list of 32 Canadian tracks for percentage of winning favourites. In this case, ‘middle-of-the-road’ is a lot better than it sounds.

Holly, Joanne and ETC:
Do they sell caviar in Utopia? With a name like that, you’d think so. But in reality I doubt that you’ll find any Beluga in the community of about 100 located just west of Barrie, Ontario. Owner-trainer Holly Carr, a resident of Utopia, and partner Joanne Dawson of Stayner certainly deserve to celebrate their five-year-old trotter Enjoy The Caviar who is seven starts into his career and still undefeated! I don’t know the entire backstory on ETC, but he was apparently injured at two and spent a lot of time in a field before he was given a second shot at a racing career. So Holly and Joanne, with apologies to Robin Leach, I hope you’re enjoying those “champagne wishes and caviar dreams.” You've done good work!

The 100 Percent Club:
Jody Jamieson completed the Mohawk Summer meet as the most photographed driver thanks to his132 wins – 15 more than runner-up Randall Waples and 17 more than Rick Zeron. All three drivers had 800+ drives. Drivers Richard Ray, Brad Kramer, Michael MacNeill and Tom Strauss were rather selective in their driving assignments as evidenced by their 1-for-1 records. On the trainer’s side of the ledger, Brent ‘Somebeachsomewhere’ MacGrath was 6-for-6, Joanne 'Enjoy The Caviar' Dawson was 3-for-3, Shaun McDonald, Murray Weber and Justin Lebo were 2-for-2, and Stephen Oldford, Jose Bobillo, Dave Matson, Brad Kramer, Jason Woodward, Roy O’Hagan, Sam Sergi, and Jim Jarvis went 1-for-1.

Little Zee and Jay Dee:
And no, I’m not referring to some hip hop duo but rather the upstart drivers Scott Zeron and Jonathan Drury. Part of my daily routine as program director for Flamboro Downs involves creating the alphabetical list of entries that appears in that track’s official program. There have been a number of days when the last name on the list of drivers is “Zeron, Scott”, and its often accompanied by a single digit – referring to his lone drive on that program. In an age when many catch drivers would rather book off and go home early rather than stick around for a late drive, its refreshing to see that Z II is sufficiently motivated to fulfill his obligations even if it means hanging out in the paddock for a few hours. Jonathan Drury is another first-year driver who is starting to make a name for himself. The 19-year-old son of trainer-driver Barry Drury is 9-for-68 (all tracks through October 16) and he even won a pair at Mohawk on October 2.

WEG’s Board of Directors:
The WEG brass should be commended for going to considerable expense to build a comfortable, attractive and eco-friendly paddock. How many tracks would have cited the economy and declining handles as justification for slapping up a pre-fab steel shed and calling it a paddock? From the use of eco-friendly building materials to several innovative power and water conservation measures, the building is first class all around. Sure, there are some minor things that could be tweaked, but there too WEG has done the right thing by addressing the issues within days of the ribbon cutting ceremony. In an age when there is plenty to grumble about, all racing participants should be thankful that WEG has once again made a significant investment in harness racing.

Many of you are likely rolling your eyes after reading a glowing review of the WEG paddock on nothing less than the WEG web site and written by a paid staffer. Fair enough. So here’s the other side of the coin – my lone "boo" for this week:

The track condition at the start of the current Woodbine meet was described by numerous well respected horsemen as anything from atrocious to a disgrace. I don’t know who was to blame or what the exact reasons were, but when we opened on Thursday, October 9, the newly resurfaced track simply wasn’t ready for prime time. A particularly ‘loose’ racing surface created havoc for more than a few trotters, green horses, inside and outside starters, and the one constituency that matters most – the bettors. After five cards of racing the numbers speak loudly. Three refunds from 53 races; pacers that went 1-for-37 from post one; and trotters from posts 8, 9 and 10 with a collective record of 1-for-26. Would you believe that 40 of 143 trotters made a break in the first 5 cards of the meet and not a single trot race was without at least one on the run? Perhaps the most startling number of all was the North-America-wide handle of $752,173 on the first Sunday of the meet. Who knows if these numbers would have been any different had the track been in tip-top shape? The troubling part is that we're even asking that question.

Trick Or Treat?

The entries for Saturday at Kawartha are now up on the SC site. Unfortunately they did NOT use the race to which Minx was entered. Instead they went with three divisions of something called the "Trick Or Treat Claiming Series." That's definitely more "trick" than "treat" as far as Minx is concerned. Back to the drawing board!

Minx didn't disgrace herself, but...

I'm back from the track where Justa Minx was one of 84 horses to christen the new Woodbine paddock. We can say that our girl was the first horse to stand in stall #3 for race #9. It will be fun to see how many good horses get that same stall over the coming years. Who knows, she might get it herself some day. I'm just not sure that she's in line to get it next week.

For those who didn't see the race, I can tell you that she wore ear plugs for the first time - although Sylvain didn't pull them until after the race to see how she'd react. That was a sound decision as she wasn't particularly sharp tonight and using them in the race would not have accomplished anything. Her race went in 1:54.4 which was 2/5ths of a second slower than the other half of the split class. She finished 7th, beaten 6 1/2 lengths, and was timed in 1:56.

Sylvain said that she was sound but brushing against the "gating strap" that she wears and he recommended that we remove it. I'll let Rene decide if that's a valid option or not.

Her finish time isn't an issue as the track at Woodbine is often very dull for the first week of the meet and that was evident by the times of all the races on tonight's card. The somewhat disappointing aspect of her race was that she got away rather poorly (5th) and didn't pass a horse until very late in the mile when she got around one horse that had plummeted from 1st to 8th and was almost certainly having issues. Minx didn't disgrace herself considering that it was her first start off the shelf, but I can't help but think that she would look a lot better at Kawartha until she is back in a winning frame of mind. I'll be discussing this with Rene in the morning. Stay tuned for further updates and (hopefully) some photos that I took tonight. I'd post them now but there is an issue with my camera and I don't want to monkey with the memory card until I know that it's resolved. Give me a day or two on that front!

Photos of 'Sky Art'

Unfortunately I don't have a recent photo of Count Eleven Stable's two-year-old colt Sky Art. I searched Google Images to see if anyone else had posted one (you never know) and while I didn't find any photos of our colt that aren't currently on the blog, I did find the following five images that were tagged as 'sky art'. Contrary to what some political parties seem to believe, we all need a little "art" in our lives. Enjoy!

Justa Minx Races Monday at Woodbine

Here's a copy of the program page for Justa Minx's race on Thursday, October 9 at Woodbine. (Click to enlarge.)

Goodbye Mohawk, Hello Woodbine

Live racing returns to Woodbine on Thursday, October 9 and Justa Minx will be part of the show. She drew post 3 in the 9th race. We decided to give her another shot at the "bigtime:" rather than ship to Kawartha or Hiawatha to race for half the purse money. Hopefully the combination of big track + relatively cheap class + cooler temperatures (in theory, no allergies) + new driver might help her turn it around. Yes, I said new driver. Sylvain Filion was good enough to qualify Minx for us so we named him - and he didn't have anything else in the race so it looks like he'll be the driver.

I'm not counting on a win but a good cheque would be just fine. The purse is $19,000, so even a fifth pays $950 or little less than half of a month's training bill. Of course we'll take a win if it comes!

Down Memory Lane

The following was originally published on the Woodbine Entertainment Group web site.

According to Wikipedia, “Writer's block is a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity.” I’ll be the first to admit that I suffer from writer’s block more often than not. Oh, there are solutions, all right. But what has Australian Prime Minister John Howard ever written about harness racing?

For as long as there have been newspapers there have been stressed-out, deadline-challenged, editor-fearing columnists who have bought into the old adage, “When in doubt, take a trip down memory lane.” And since the first week of October has been historically significant for the racing game, I’ll do just that. Here’s a compilation of “On This Date in Racing" for the period October 2 through 8.

October 2
1889 – Charlottetown Driving Park opened for business.
1919 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke, which left himpartially paralyzed. The Woodrow Wilson Pace is raced annually at The Meadowlands.
1955 – Trainer Chris Ryder, born, Greymouth, New Zealand.
1970 – Western Fair and Hiawatha Horse Park announcer Dave Walls, born.
1971 – Andys Son and driver Elmo White recorded the Maritimes’ first 2:00 mile when they won at Fredericton in 2:00 flat. Later the same day the horse was trucked to Dieppe Park in Moncton where he Time Trialed in 2:02.2.
1976 – The pari-mutuel entry of Mars Sharp and Mars Judith finished in a dead heat to win at Blue Bonnets.
1982 – Fan Hanover Time Trialed in 1:50.4 at The Red Mile. At the time it was the second fastest mile in history.
1999 – The legendary trotting sire Super Bowl died at Hanover Shoe Farms at the age of 30.
2004 – Loyal Opposition out-battled Eternal Camnation to win the Milton Stakes at Mohawk. Eternal Camnation had won the last three editions and was first-over each time. In 2004 she went to the front while Loyal Opposition came first-over and won at odds of 9-2. Bunny Lake, the 4-5 favourite, finished fifth in what proved to be the second to last start of her career.

October 3
1884 – Johnston became the first horse to beat 2:10 when he took nearly four seconds off the world pacing record with a mile in 2:06 ¼ over a track in Chicago.
1938 – Rosalind Time Trialed in 1:56 ¾ at The Red Mile. This held up as the world record for a female trotter until the mid-1970s.
1953 - Harness racing’s first ever triple dead heat to win was recorded at Freehold Raceway, involving Patchover, Payne Hal and Penny Maid.
1969 – Lindy's Pride, driven by Howard Beissinger, won the Kentucky Futurity in straight heats to complete a sweep of the trotting Triple Crown.

October 4
1947 – Former trainer, driver, race secretary and ORC judge Paul ‘Smash’ Cass, born.
1956 – Wally Hennessey, born, Charlottetown, PEI.
1960 – Adios Butler, driven by Paige West, set the pacing world recordof 1:54.3 in a Time Trial at The Red Mile.
1964 – Former trainer-driver and Edmonton racing commentator Todd Beelby, born.
1973 – Owner and Baymount Corp. CEO J Graham Simmonds, born.
1989 – Legendary thoroughbred Secretariat died.
2002 – Two-year-old pacer Sir Luck became the first Canadian sired horse to win $1 millionaire during his freshman season when he captured a Gold Series final at Mohawk.
2003 – Art Major was retired with a trackside ceremony at The Red Mile.
2003 – Abbey Road C won an elimiation for the Earl Rowe Memorial Trot in 1:55.2 (1/5th off the track record) and his younger sister Ima Sweetie Too won a division of the Trillium Stakes on the same program at Georgian Downs.

October 5
1980 – Classical Way, driven by John Simpson Jr., lowered the world record for trotting fillies and mares when she Time Trialed in 1:55.2 at the Red Mile.
1984 – Workaholic and driver Berndt Lindstedt won the first ever Breeders Crown race (2yo Colt Trot) which was contested at The Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky.
1990 – Kiev Hanover became the last horse to beat Beach Towel when he won a $130,000 stake at The Red Mile. Beach Towel, who was second at 20 cents to the dollar, didn’t race for a month but when he did race he went out in style, winning the Breeders Crown at Pompano Park.
2002 – Real Desire retired as the third richest pacer of all time with $3,159,814, ranking behind Gallo Blue Chip ($3,933,046) and Nihilator ($3,225,653).
2003 – Grand Royal Farm held a dispersal sale.

October 6
1946 – Trainer-driver Paul Coulter, born.
1955 – Scott Frost and driver Joe O'Brien won the inaugural Triple Crown of trotting with a win in the Kentucky Futurity.
1967 – Ray Ellicott recorded his first start at a major track when he drove Pat Sultan to victory at Mohawk.
1972 – Super Bowl, driven by Stanley Dancer, won the Kentucky Futurity on a flat tire to sweep of the trotting Triple Crown.
1984 – On The Road Again won the Western Canada Pacing Derby at Northlands Park.
1993 – Armbro Marshall, driven by Bill Wellwood, lowered the world record for two-year-old trotting geldings on a half-mile track by winning in 1:59.3 at Barrie Raceway.
1995 – Pompano Park opened for its 33rd season featuring a new poker room, acing surface and pylons replacing the old hub rail.
2000 – Moni Maker and jockey Julie Krone set the worldr ecord for trotting under saddle with a 1:54.1 mile at The Red Mile.
2003 – Mario Baillargeon returned to action for the first time since a driving accident on July 15. He won three races on the Mohawk card, including the first race with his brother Benoit's (appropriately named) Harmony Reunion ($8.30). While Mario was sidelined, Ben's barn went 1-for-40 (2%) on the WEG circuit.
2003 – Shebeasabrefan made her WEG debut. On the pre-game show Mike Hamilton referred to the filly as “She Bea’s A Brefan” until Ken Middleton pointed out that it was probably meant to be pronounced “She Be A Sabre Fan”.
2005 – Preference, the 2-year-old full sister to Admirals Express, won her WEG debut in 1:54.4. Paul MacDonell drove for trainer Mike Hales.

October 7
1922 – Dr. Norm Amos, owner of Odies Fame, born.
1955 – Northlands Park racing executive Les Butler, born.
1957 – Handicapper extraordinaire Costas Demetrious, born.
1966 – Bret Hanover, driven by Frank Ervin, lowered his own world recordw ith a time trial in 1:53.3 at The Red Mile.
1990 – Armbro Indeed, Greystone Alicia and Too Sharp finished in a tripled ead heat to win at Hiawatha Horse Park.
1992 – Mohawk’s handle topped $2 million for the first time.
1993 – Wesgate Crown, driven by John Campbell, lowered the world record for two-year-old trotting colts with a 1:55.1 Time Trial at The Red Mile.
2007 – Last night of the Mohawk Summer Meet. The daytime temperature in Toronto hit 30C with a Humidex reading of 40C.

October 8
1930 – Fred Hill, born Ohsweken, ON. Hill would enter the record books in 1961 when he swept the entire 8 race card at the Beamsville Fair.
1950 – Trainer-driver Mike Wassilyn, born.
1956 – Driver Jim McClure, born.
1970 – WEG broadcast department staffer and 1980s music trivia guru Al Dalton, born.
1973 – PEI native Joe O’Brien served potatoes at Northlands Park’s annual Horsemen’s Thanksgiving Dinner. At the time O’Brien had driven a record 189 two-minute miles. A report in the Edmonton Journal noted that this was “a record probably never to be matched”.
1973 – Secretariat made his grass-racing debut in the Man o' War Stakes at Belmont Park, winning the 1 1-2-mile race by 5 lengths in 2:24.4. A newspaper report at the time noted that he “overran the finish line by another furlong”, finishing 1 5-8 miles in a world-record-equaling time of 2:37.4.
1973 – Armbro Nadir and trainer-driver Nelson White lowered his own Assinboia Downs track record from 2:01.1 to 2:00.2 when he won the $12,000 Manitoba Great Western Futurity by open lengths. At the time it was the fastest pacing mile in Western Canada. The trophy presentation was made by Mrs. William Fleming whose late husband trained and drove the great Winnipeg who in 1928 became the first Canadian-bred to beat 2:00 with a mile in a shocking 1:57.3.
2005 – Frank Salive was Mike Hamilton’s in-studio guest on the final night of the inaugural summer meet at Mohawk. Frank then called all 13 races on his final night in the WEG announcer’s booth. His final stretch call was, “McSmiley and Jody Jamieson nailed it on the stripe.”
2005 – Admirals Express (Paul MacDonell) won for the 65th time in his career when he took Mohawk’s $50,000 Open Pace in 1:49.4. He joined Life Source as the only horse in history to have 10 sub 1:50 wins.
2005 – Eddie ‘The Goose Boy’ Allworth worked his final night at WEG.
2005 – Pronger became the fastest Maritime-foaled performer when he won at Mohawk in 1:49.3.

The Fine Print: If you run a Google search on the words and phrases included above, you’ll likely find that at least some of it was lifted from various press releases, trade journals, web sites and newspaper accounts spanning the last 150 years. I’d credit the approrpate sources if I could remember how half this stuff got into my 'Really Big Trivia File'. Hey, it's harness racing ephemera, not a parliamentary address. Lighten up!

Minx gets 'er done

It feels like "old times". I'm sitting in the Starbucks in Milton after watching Minx qualify at Mohawk earlier this morning. In case you haven't had a chance to check the qualifying results, I'll get right to the point: She won!

Roger Mayotte opted to drive a colt for trainer Cal Campbell so we had Sylvain Filion pinch hit. With Rene in Kentucky, Serge delegated me to speak with Sylvain before the race. I told him that Minx has been sick and turned out, trained Wednesday in 2:00, would be better if she was NOT on the front, and should be able to go around 1:56. I also said, "We'd like to find out if she fits at WEG or should be headed to the Bs, so feel to see what she has." Which he did.

Minx was shuffled from 3rd to 4th in the second quarter, edged to the outside on the last turn, got up to second at the 7/8ths pole, and won by a half-length in 1:56.1 with her last quarter in :29.

In my opinion that's a good indiation that she's ready to race - just not necessarily at Mohawk or Woodbine where the nw2 class goes around 1:53 - 1:54. After the race Sylvain recommended that she have pull out ear plugs. He also said, "I'd give her a try here". Before we get too excited about the prospects of racing at Mohawk or Woodbine, I'm going to caution that catch-drivers are very kind in their assessment of other people's horses. I appreciate his expertise but let's just say that I didn't see anything that leads me to believe that Minx would be better off racing at WEG where she will have to work to get a good cheque as opposed to the Bs where even a poor effort could produce a decent payday and hopefully boost her confidence a bit.

I'll speak to Rene about this and let him make the ultimate decision, but if I had my way, and there's a class for her next Friday in Windsor, she'd be sharing a trailer ride down the 401 with Lubbock who races in a OSS Grassroots race at the border oval.

On a totally unrelated matter, a few people have asked why I don't make more postings on the blog. I've toyed with putting up racing-related posts on a more regular basis but have always put it off as I think of this more as the stable's blog as opposed to my blog. I think for now I will post some items that I have written for the WEG and other sites and credit them as such. They'll be back-dated to when they were actually written so they won't appear at the top of the blog. Over time there will be enough incriminating stuff up here to ensure that I can never run for parliament!

Justa Minx Takes a Step Forward

We're not counting any purse cheques just yet but Minx took a big step down the comeback trail yesterday morning when she trained at Mohawk 2:00. Rene said that she is making rapid progress and is now ready to qualify. She will jog on Friday and Saturday and be entered in the Monday morning qualifiers. Rene will see how she handles herself in the qualifier before deciding if she should make her next start at Mohawk or one of the B-tracks (Kawartha, Hiawatha or Georgian). He may have to make that decision based on reports from the staff and the driver as he's heading to the Lexington sales on the week-end.

I couldn't get out of a work commitment on Wednesday morning so regrettably didn't get to see the Minx in action. I should be able to make it out for the qualifiers on Monday as I have to be at the track at 3 pm anyway. Stay tuned for pictures!

Rene also mentioned that Sky Art has also been through one training trip. He was very comfortable in 2:40. If he progresses as expected, Rene hopes to have him ready to race in mid-November.

The long promised financial update is just about ready. I need another few hours to reconcile all the bank statements and hope to get at that first thing in the morning. I do lead an exciting life, don't I?

Holidays are over

I am back in Toronto after surviving 4 days in Delaware, Ohio! That's quite an accomplishment considering the Delaware County Fair's per-capita consumption of red meet, chicken wings, beer... and my lack of willpower when it comes to all of the above. And to make matters worse, I did find a new vice on this trip. It's called Hillbilly Golf. More on that in a future email.

When I was a kid a day at "The 'Ex" marked the end of summer. Now it's 4 days in Ohio for The Little Brown Jug. As hard as it is to believe, the summer holidays are over, kids are back to school, we've got horses back in training, and finally something interesting to write about on the blog. Watch for much more frequent updates over the coming weeks and months.

Rene called while I was in Ohio to say that Sky Art has returned to Mohawk and Justa Minx is back in training. First, the update on Art.

As you may recall, Art would sometimes pin his ears when training and it was often said that he had talent but was somewhat lazy. Rene is confident that Art is over that stage. The explanation? I don't know any other way to say this, but the vet that castrated Art told the farm manager that he had NEVER seen a two-year-old with a set of testicles as large as Art. That's our boy! Apparently he would have been in some discomfort when training and would not have been able to race without issues. Rene remarked that he now looks "fantastic" and seems to have a much better attitude. Let's keep our fingers crossed on this one!

Justa Minx is back in training and seems to be much more energetic than just before she was sent to the farm. She had been hanging her head as she stood in the stall but now is full of life, interested in training and generally much, much better. She has been jogging for a week and trained this past Wednesday. Rene sadi she was well within herself in 2:08. She'll need another week of training before Rene decides if she will be entered at Mohawk or one of the B tracks. I hope to get out to see her train on Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week and after that we can discuss her immediate future.

Random "Jug" Photos

By Ken Middleton, Mike Hamilton

Lucky Charms

The following article was originally posted on the Woodbine Entertainment Group web site.

By MIKE HAMILTON – I can’t count the number of horsepeople who have cited ‘bad luck’ as a reason for refusing to be interviewed before a big race. Terms like “jinx”, “bad karma”, and “kiss of death” are often mentioned. Thankfully the likes of Brent MacGrath and Ray Schnittker don’t buy into this nonsense. Both trainers have bent over backwards to accommodate both the trade and mainstream media – and the result has been unprecedented coverage of their star pupils Somebeachsomewhere and Deweycheatumnhowe.

But that much you likely knew. At this time I’d like to nominate one more name to the list of horsemen who should be recognized for going beyond the call of duty when it comes to dealing with the press. Shadow Play’s co-owner and trainer Dr. Ian Moore made himself available to the media before, during and after the Little Brown Jug despite the fact that he was going through what must have been a gut-wrenching experience.
His star pupil had qualified for the second heat of the Jug but at one point it didn’t look like he was sound enough to make his way to the track let alone win pacing's most coveted prize. If ever a horseman had an excuse to snap "get lost", that was it. Instead Moore remained calm as he explained the nature of the horse’s hoof separation and how the addition of leather pads might alleviate the problem. And thankfully, in addition to being patient and eloquent, he was also right.

Even after the race, as Shadow Play stood on three legs, no doubt wondering why there were three caretakers, a trainer, several vets and a whack of diagnostic equipment in his stall, Dr. Moore continued to go about his work and field questions from the assembled throng.




After about two hours of hands-on care, Shadow Play began to put some weight on his right front and it was evident that he was out of immediate danger. As Moore and his wife Nancy packed up and prepared to leave for a celebratory dinner with their partners, Gail and Ron McLellan and Serge Savard, the last thing they were obliged to do was ask three media-types to join them. But that's what they did. On behalf of Ken Middleton and Greg Blanchard, I’ll take this opportunity to thank them for their generous hospitality.

If there is any question whether Moore’s handling of a delicate situation helped gain widespread coverage of the race, just do a Google search for "Shadow Play + Little Brown Jug”. At last check there were 47,793 hits! That’s invaluable coverage of the race from the likes of ESPN, Fox Sports, Forbes, The Washington Post and Salon.com to The El Paso Times, Sheboygan Press and Orillia Packet.

Within a few hours of the race, Shadow Play’s Wikipedia entry had been updated to reflect his big win and bloggers around the world were, well, blogging away. Thankfully, hundreds if not thousands of sports editors were also devoting space to the results of a harness race that was held on a Thursday afternoon in a field in Ohio.

Harness racing doesn’t get many chances to be front-and-centre, but Moore and partners certainly did their part to ensure that this opportunity was not missed. Thank-you and congratulations!

Fun With Figures (AKA: Hamilton, Get A Life)

The following was originally posted on the Woodbine Entertainment Group web site.
http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/woodbinecolumn/

By MIKE HAMILTON
1,251,661 – Youtube views of The Killer's music video for ‘Shadowplay’ (a cover of Joy Division’s 1979 hit)
250,000 – yearling sale price of Shadow Play’s sire The Panderosa
150,000 – attendance over 8 days at the Delaware County Fair
50,976 – announced attendance for the 2008 Little Brown Jug
45,000 – cost to supplement Art Official to the 2008 Jug
43015 – zip code for the Delaware County Fair
40,529 – hits on the Little Brown Jug web site as of September 24
35,358 – purse for the initial Little Brown Jug in 1946
16,000 – Shadow Play’s yearling sale price
1040 – NHL games played by Shadow Play’s co-owner Serge Savard



Mike Hamilton, Serge Savard, Ken Middleton following Shadow Play's win in the Little Brown Jug.

1000 – volunteers needed to run the Delaware County Fair
560 – total in U.S. dollars that one unidentified Canadian visitor to the Jug lost to trainer Kelly O’Donnell after 8 games of ‘Hillbilly Golf’
400 – pages in the Charles Baxter novel ‘Shadow Play’ as published by Penguin
139.75 – Shadow Play’s $1 odds in his North America Cup elim (finished 8th)
84.20 – Shadow Play’s $1 odds in the Metro Final (finished 6th)
81.00 – Shadow Play’s $1 odds in the Governor’s Cup (finished 7th)
60 – Shadow Play’s odds (cents to the $1) in the second heat of the Jug
178 – years to the day since September 18, 1830 when a horsebeat the first US-built locomotive in a 10 mile race. The locomotive had mechanical problems.
175 – years since the first Delaware County Fair
144 – horses nominated to the 38th Little BrownJug
63 – members of the Facebook group ‘Counting The Days Until The Little Brown Jug’
50 – years between Shadow Wave winning in the Jug in 1958 and Shadow Play in 2008
28 – years to the day since Niatross set a 2-heat world record in the Jug (Sept 18, 1980) when he won in 1:55 and 1:54.4.
26.2 – Shadow Play’s last quarter time in the second heat
26-2 – The 1960s tv show The Twilight Zone featured an espisode titled ‘Shadow Play’. It was episode #26 in the show's second season.
25 – wins in 2008 for trainer Dr. Ian Moore (after Shadow Play’s 2 wins in Ohio)
25 – letters in ‘Delaware County Fairgrounds’
20 – entries for the 2008 Jug (19 started after Deuce Seelster was scratched)
13 – race number for Shadow Play’s elimination
13 – career wins by Shadow Play after he won his elimination (14 after the second heat)
13 – letters in ‘Mark MacDonald’, winning driver in 2006
12 – letters in ‘Jody Jamieson’, winning driver in 2007
11 – letters in ‘David Miller’, winning driver in 2008
10 – letters in ‘Nancy Moore’, Ian’s wife and Shadow Play’s groom for the Jug
10 – letters in ‘Dr. Ian Moore’
10 – letters in ‘Shadow Play’
8 – consecutive starts that David Miller has stuck with Shadow Play
8 – Stanley Cups won by Serge Savard
6 ¼ – Shadow Play’s win margin in the second heat
6 – semi-pro and pro hockey teams that Serge Savard played with throughout his career. (In order: Montreal Junior Canadiens, Omaha Knights, Houston Apollos, Quebec Aces, Montreal Canadiens, and Winnipeg Jets)
06/05/2005 – Shadow Play’s date of foaling
6 – starters in the Jug eliminations raced on Lasix. None made the final.
5 – drivers have handled Shadow Play in his carrer. (Dr. Ian Moore, Paul MacDonell, Rick Zeron, Tim Tetrick, and David Miller)
5 – years to the day since David Miller won 10 races on a Jug-day program (September 18, 2003), including the Little Brown Jug with No Pan Intended. This was also the last time that the Jug was held on the 18th of the month.
3 – trainers have been listed as the trainer of record for Shadow Play (Moore left the horse with Mark Ford and Fred Grant when the horse raced in Pennsylvania.)
3:40.1 – Shadow Play’s 2-heat world record in the Jug (3-year-old pacing colts on a half-mile track)
3.20 – Shadow Play’s win price in the second heat
3.20 – No Pan Intended and driver David Miller’s win price in the second heat of the 2003 Jug
2 – horses in the second heat of the Jug with New Brunswick owners (Shadow Play is owned in part by Ron and Gail McLellan’s ‘R G McGroup Ltd.’ of Bathurst, NB. Giddy Up Lucky is owned in part by Reg Pettipas of Shediac Bridge, NB.)
2 – horses in history have been named Shadow Play. The other, a daughter of Adios, was foaled in 1960, raced until age 11 and retired with earnings of $3,117.
2 – horses that David Miller qualified for the second heat of the 2008 Jug. He wisely chose Shadow Play over the Ohio-owned Lonestar Legend.
1 – Number of Jugs that Dr. Ian Moore had attended prior to 2008. (He saw Nansemond beat Albatross in 1971.)



Left to Right: Howie Gillis, Fred MacDonald, Curtis MacDonald, Chris Bugala, Aaron Byron, Mike Hamilton, Ken Middleton, Chris Roberts, Chad Winacott. FYI: That's Freshie in the cups and bottles. Honest.

Mike's Little Brown Jug Notebook

For obvious reasons a name like Shadow Play won’t be occupying the #1 spot on many alphabetical lists, but of the 144 horses nominated to the 63rd Jug, Shadow Play checked in at #111. … Dr. Ian Moore had attended exactly one (1) Little Brown Jug prior to 2008. It was 1971 when he took his maiden trip to Ohio to watch Nansemond beat Albatross. In a similar vein, Moore had attended just one Adios Stake prior to 2008, which he won with Shadow Play, and that too was in 1971. … After winning the Adios in 2008, Moore found that he had a single US penny in his pocket. On one side was a black spot, about an 1/8th of an inch in diameter. It looked odd so Moore tried to remove the spot with his fingernail. It wouldn’t budge. Then it dawned on him! That wasn’t a spot – it was a ‘shadow’. When the second heat of the 2008 Jug went to the gate, Moore knew that his pockets were empty save for that one lucky coin. … There have actually been two horses with the name Shadow Play. The first, a filly by Adios, was foaled in 1960. As we mentioned earlier, Shadow Play won The Adios (Stake) in August. But wait, it gets better. Fifty years ago to the day, Shadow Wave won the 1958 edition of the Little Brown Jug. And his sire? Adios, of course. … Shadow Play’s dam was a fairly undistinguished Matts Scooter mare with the strikingly unoriginal name of Matts Filly. She retired in 2002 with 3 wins and $63,606. When Matts Filly made her first appearance in a qualifier, on May 25, 1996 at the Meadowlands, she squared of against another filly that was also making her initial appearance in a qualifier. The photo finish showed that Tsunami Hanover beat Matts Filly by a nose. When her racing career was over, Tsunami Hanover was bred to Little Brown Jug winner Bettors Delight and the resulting foal was Southwind Tempo who went on to be the heavy favourite in last year’s Jugette. ... Here’s something that could be sold at a charity auction. If you had a horse in the 2009 Jug, how much would you bid to have Fred MacDonald (father of Ontario horsemen Mark, Anthony and James and TelePhoto rep Curtis) attend the Jug and root for your horse? Before you answer, consider that Freddie is the ultimate good luck charm! He has appeared in each of the last three winner's circle photos. He joined son Mark and Mr Feelgood in 2006, returned a year later with Mark’s buddy Jody Jamieson and Tell All, and of course he was out to congratulate his fellow Charlottetown native Dr. Ian Moore in 2008. … In closing, a few more anagrams: David S. Miller = Small Divider; and Shadow Play = Pad Was Holy.



Ken Middleton ties on the feedbag at Hoggy's BBQ in downtown Delaware, Ohio (formerly the Brown Jug Restaurant). The menu promised, "If you polish off this entire meal, we’ll give you a free t-shirt of your choice!" Well, better make that a XXL as this meal consists of the following: A 1/2 slab of smoked baby back ribs, a 1/2 lb. of prime rib with horseradish and au-jus, half chicken (the largest I've ever seen), and a 7” marinated pulled pork sandwich. Served with fresh-baked cornbread, side salad and your choice of 1 made-from-scratch side." Apparently Ken's eyes were bigger than his appetite as he didn't get through half of it before hoisting the white flag.

Red Bull and Cheezies

The following was originally posted on the Woodbine Entertainment Group web site:

By MIKE HAMILTON - For many people who work in the harness racing industry, a mid-week trip to Delaware, Ohio has become an end-of-summer tradition. While I didn’t catch the bug until a few years ago, I can’t imagine what it would take to stop me from being at the Delaware County Fairgrounds for the third Thursday in September. I’ve been on longer and more exotic vacations but it’s this annual pilgrimage that I look forward to for weeks. Okay, months. And while I don’t spend months planning the trip, I have compiled the following pre-trip check-list.

#10 – Heads, Pathfinder. Tails, Cherokee

Since I drive a pickup, and two or three of my WEG colleagues will be making the trip with me, I’ll be renting a nice, roomy, SUV for 5 days. Note to self: Figure out how to operate the windows and door locks before you hit Windsor, unlike last year when you got to the Ambassador Bridge and found the US Customs Agent wasn’t in the mood for charades, no matter how hard you tried to roll down the window and how much of the 1970s you spent watching Jack Duffy, Billy Van and Dinah Christie on The Party Game.

#9 – Download ‘Jug Trip’ playlist to iPod

I don’t know about you, but I can’t even think about a six hour overnight road trip without tunes – and since the rental won’t have XM or Sirius, I’ll be taking an iPod with my own custom-made 'Jug Trip' playlist. High on the Jug-themed rotation: Chris Ledoux’s ‘County Fair’, Green Day’s 'Wake Me Up When September Ends', Tom Waits’ 'Warm Beer and Cold Women', and Sammy Hagar’s 'I Can’t Drive 55.' I’d love to be playing Blake Shelton’s “Some Beach” but there’s no use crying over spilled milk. Or forfeited Dan Patch Awards.


#8 – Put the Bull on ice

Some people can work all day and evening and then drive all night without the influence of caffeine. Not I. I’m pretty sure that I know every Starbuck’s, Tim Horton’s and Dunkin Donuts within 10km of the highway, from Milton to Delaware, but I’m not going to chance it on an all-nighter. A six-pack of Red Bull will be on ice before we leave.

#7 – Don’t forget the snacks

For a six hour drive you’ll need at least two big bags of junk food - one for the front seat and one for the back. At least one of them should be good old (Canadian) Cheezies. A hitch hiker once told me that no one will believe that you’ve been on a road trip if you get back and the steering wheel isn’t orange. I think he's right.


#6 – Scrounge for chips

And I’m not talking Humpty Dumpty. If I take a few minutes to look through my briefcase, glove compartment, sock drawer, laundry hamper and under the sofa cushions I’m pretty sure I can come up with at least $50 worth of Casino Windsor chips. You never know, we may have to make a pit stop. (Yes, I know it’s now ‘Caesars Windsor’. I’m just hoping they still accept the old chips.)


#5 – Pick up at least one ‘Ronco Home Cholesterol Test Kit’

It’s safe to say that if I lived year-round in Ohio, I’d tip the Toledo’s at 300 within a few months. And it’s not just ‘Fair food’ that I have to worry about. I can summon up the will-power to pass the funnel cakes, fried dough, fried cheese, bloomin’ onions, and fried bologna sandwiches. But if this trip is anything like the last few, we’ll be passing the first Bob Evans at about 5 a.m. I’d be willing to keep driving but at least one of the boys will insist that a pre-dawn stop at Bob Evans is a tradition. And everyone knows how I’d hate to be the one to break a tradition. Nothing says “Welcome to Ohio” like a 12-inch skillet full of sausage, eggs, home fries and melted cheese, with a side of biscuits and 16 ounces of thick, white gravy. Mmmm.


Greg, Chris and Curtis admiring what's left of a half-eaten "Heart Attack Skillet" at Bob Evans


#4 – Peel that Barack Obama campaign sticker off camera bag

The good ol’ boys who hang out at your average rural Ohio truck stop at 5 a.m. are inclined to discuss politics with complete strangers, like it or not. It never hurts to know the lay of the land before walking into a minefield.


#3 – Try to find the Columbus Blue Jackets jersey that I wear one day a year

I can’t name names, but I can tell you that last year a certain Canadian lead-foot was pulled over by one of Ohio’s finest just outside of Delaware. The trooper walked up to the driver’s window, took one look at the red, white and blue jersey, and said, “You’d best get back on the road before you miss the game. Just slow ’er down a bit.”


#2 – Enforce “no docky, no travel” rule

Passport? Check. Driver’s license? Check. Health Card? Check. This year I will personally check the travel documents of every passenger in ‘my’ vehicle before we leave Mohawk. Last year there was one passenger (who shall remain nameless) who thought he could get across the border with little more than his ORC license and a Shopper’s Optimum Card. But let’s not go there.


#1 – Fourth is Tequila Star. On the outside, OBs Falcon Eddie fifth.

"BJs Reply sixth. What’s the three-quarters gonna be? One-Twenty-Two and Four! And Falcon Seelster opens up… for Tom Harmer… If you’ve never been on your feet, you’d better get up now!" And my point? Well, I’m just easing into Jug trip mode. You have to realize that I’ll be driving down with Greg Blanchard and Ken Middleton and you CANNOT spend six hours in a vehicle with TWO announcers without hearing about a dozen word-for-word re-enactments of Roger Huston’s most famous race call. But for some strange reason, like the trip in general, it never gets tired.

Am I Dreaming in Technicolor?

The following article was originally posted on the Woodbine Entertainment Group web site.

By MIKE HAMILTON - If you haven’t read Greg Blanchard’s September 11 post, “Turning Handicappers Into Stars”, do yourself a favor and read it right now. What I’m proposing here might make more sense if you know what has already been tossed about. Seriously, go read it. NOW!

You’re back? Good. I’ll start by saying that I agree with everything Greg has written. I firmly believe that life’s really big rewards are reserved for those who "dream in Technicolor", as my Uncle Fred used to say. Fred passed away about 25 years ago but when he was alive and operating a gas station on Albion Road in Rexdale, he rarely missed a Saturday afternoon at Woodbine. If he did miss the “runners” in the afternoon, he and my dad would head to the nightly “trots” at Greenwood. Okay, sometimes both. Horse racing has lost more than a few Uncle Freds over the last 20 years. It’s come to the point that horse racing (particularly harness racing) must dream big or it will eventually join the list of failed industries that includes dozens of harness and buggy whip makers, several typewriter manufacturers, and quite possibly the entire recorded music industry and a major auto manufacturer or two. Don't think it can't happen!

I’ve heard countless well-intentioned industry types complain that the lure of the breeding shed has robbed the sport of the few horses that could be marketed as true stars. While Admirals Express is one of the rare older horses that did develop a following, I would argue that his fan-base was largely made up of industry insiders and people who were died-in-the-wool racing fans long before the Grey Gladiator came along. Those people are important but they are also our current customers and we desperately need NEW customers.

The industry’s professional tub-thumpers also seem to believe that with a bit of spit and polish we could showcase our top trainers and drivers. And to some degree they’re right. Until a few years ago you’d be lucky to find a driver capable of forming a complete sentence once a camera was shoved in his face. Thankfully, that has changed. Most of the top pilots are now quite comfortable on-camera and some even crave the spotlight. While this evolution is undoubtedly good for the game, I wonder if the average 'Joe' on the street will ever look up to these ‘stars’ the same way he might admire or even idolize a Tiger Woods or a Sidney Crosby. I simply don’t think that we can rebuild an industry on the backs of the drivers, no matter how many charismatic Rick Zerons, Jody Jamiesons and Randy Waples we manage to develop over time.

In my opinion, the true stars are the guys (and gals) who lay down the moolah that drives the industry. And if you think that I’m referring to the breeders, owners or racetrack operators, think again. There wouldn’t be more than a handful of industry related jobs if not for two revenue streams: slots and several thousand diehard gamblers. Let me make this perfectly clear: I believe that the bettors are the true stars and the best way to attract more of them is to promote THEM, not the horses and drivers that produce the results they bet on.

If you’re chuckling or perhaps even shaking your fist at me by now, ask yourself what you knew about poker 10 years ago. You may have played Seven Card Stud on a rainy day at the cottage, at a friend’s stag, or down in the basement with some buddies a few times a year. You likely didn’t play Texas Hold’em and you sure as heck didn’t know the names Phil Helmuth, Daniel Negreanu or Chris Moneymaker. And neither did millions of other people who now play the game online, dreaming of one day appearing on any number of televised poker tournaments, and all the while enriching the online gambling companies to the tune of billions. Not millions, as in the combined handle of every racetrack in Canada for an entire year, but billions with a capital B.

If you read Greg’s column, and you’re still with me, you’re probably intrigued by this idea. Sure, it’s little more than a few semi-coherent paragraphs on a screen at this point, but dream along with me for a few more minutes.

It’s the spring of 2010 and you arrive at your local track on a Monday night to find a large Cirque du Soleil-style tent set up in the parking lot. A marquee announces tonight’s main attraction: “Joe vs. Pro: Horse Racing’s $1,000,000 Showdown”.

The game is played at a different track every Monday night, from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm, and airs on a national television network. The tent houses a traveling television studio/set that resembles a combination of ‘Deal Or No Deal’, ‘Hollywood Squares’, ‘Iron Chef America’, Antiques Roadshow, a WWE cage match, your average televised poker tournament and what you might find on the ground floor of any 1970s-era racetrack. That’s quite a cocktail, I’ll admit, but each element has its own appeal and we could draw upon the best aspects of each.

As I see it, a dozen or so ‘Pro’ handicappers occupy spots on a large vertical grid, something like the Hollywood Squares. Off to the side is a huge video wall that serves as the contest scoreboard, the racing toteboard, and the main racing feed. Some of the contestants have returned from the last show while others have earned a spot by winning an online qualifier based on the previous Friday or Saturday’s results at a major track. Not only does this encourage would-be contestants to watch and hopefully wager on real racing, but neophytes can enter and win too, just as they do now on 123Racing.com (where they beat me black and blue every Monday night).

At the end of the 5 race competition the ‘Pro’ with the biggest bankroll is declared the weekly winner. There could be many levels of complexity, just as in Deal or No Deal, but I’ll leave that to the professional game show developers that would be hired to pull this thing off. At the end of 26 episodes the top 10 Pros would return for a lucrative showdown. Each ‘Pro’ would be paired with a ‘Joe’ that was drawn from television / online viewers. The winner of the ‘Showdown’ would be declared the World Champion of Handicapping and he and his ‘Joe’ would split the top prize. Lesser prizes could be awarded down the line, even to the point that hundreds or thousands of television/online viewers would win coupons redeemable at their local track.

We all know a few, ahem, ‘characters’ who hang out at the track. Conventional wisdom says these are the LAST people that we should be grooming for television. It didn’t dawn on me that they may be racing's saviour until I heard the results of a focus group that was funded by OHHA in conjunction with the development of the ‘Get Sulky’ campaign. A team of marketing experts from Launch! asked a focus group comprised of 20 and 30-somethings what they thought of the slightly disheveled, older, somewhat seedy guys they encountered on their outing to a track. Would you believe that the newbies actually idolized the ‘Longshot Louie’ types? They reasoned that they’d have a better chance of winning big bucks at the races if they could just hang out with the pros for a while.

I’ll be the first to admit that this idea is in its infancy. Many stakeholders would have to come together before it could be executed on a scale that would catch the attention of anyone predisposed to gambling. It would have to be an industry-wide endeavor with a huge jackpot and an equal or larger chunk of change set aside for developing, promoting and running the game. I don’t know how it would be funded but I’d suggest that we start by taking a cold, hard look at dozens of initiatives that cost gobs of money but simply aren’t delivering new bettors by the busload. I sincerely believe that a nationally televised game that involves picking winners could do for horse racing what televised Texas Hold’em did for the gaming industry.

Dream big, folks. Dream REALLY big.

It happens to the best of them

Bigtime Ball Scratched Sick From Breeders Crown
CAMPBELLVILLE, ON – Irwin Stable’s Bigtime Ball, a winner of more than $500,00 lifetime, has been scratched sick from the US$500,000 Breeders Crown Pace to be raced Sat., Aug. 30 at Mohawk Racetrack.

The gelded son of Presidential Ball was due to start from post seven. With just 10 entered in the event, there are no also eligibles to move into the race, but the outer post positions can move down one slot.

“I guess he got the virus that has been going around here,” sighed trainer Gord Irwin. “We had half an inkling after he raced last—he was great [Bigtime Ball was second in 1:49.2 last week in an open event] and the day after he had no temperature and was eating good but then in the last couple of days his eye was not good and he hasn’t been eating. Sure enough he has a temperature now of 103 and his pulse rate is up.

“There’s a virus going around or maybe he picked it up in the retention barn , I just don't know”, Irwin continued. “I just won’t do it to any horse, you just can’t race them when they’re off. That’s racing. We’ve had a lot of highs and this is one of the lows, for sure. But, hopefully there are other years!” – Moira Fanning

A visit with Dr. Green

Dr. Powell has concluded that Minx does have some allergies that could be affecting her breathing, particularly late in the mile, but there was more to her last debacle than just the allergy issue. He drew blood the morning after her last race and it showed that her white blood cell count was very, very high. She didn't appear to be sick prior to the race but its obvious now that she was less than 100% and this would have caused her to "tie up" part way through that race.

Rene has mentioned several times that one virus has hit fillies particularly hard this year. In an interview last night on The Score, trainer John Kopas said the same thing and added that it hit about 6 weeks later than normal this year and it simply won't go away. It is affecting fillies particularly hard and is not just confined to Mohawk. Horses on many of the training centres have been getting it as well. You only have to look at the number of scratches on any given program to see that the trainer's aren't making this up!

Dr. Powell feels that the best option is to continue to treat Minx with antibiotics but also to give her some good old fashioned fresh air and green grass. Not too much, mind you. He recommends that she be turned out for one week, and as such Rene sent her to Neil Gibbons' farm on Monday. She'll be outside until next Monday, then return to Mohawk and will need an equal amount of training before she's ready to be entered. Rene says that a general rule of thumb is "one week of training for every week of pasture time".

I agree that some time away from the track can't hurt the filly, and its only a minor setback in her schedule, so there's no harm in taking this approach. Let's give it a week and she how she trains when she returns to Mohawk. After that we can discuss whether she makes her next start at Mohawk or at one of the B tracks.

I am headed to Orangeville on Thursday morning and to the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Mississauga that evening, so there's a good chance that I'll be able to visit Sky Art on Thursday afternoon. I'll keep you posted.

Bits And Pieces

The following was originally posted on the Woodbine Entertainment Group web site.

By MIKE HAMILTON

Heads Up, Waples and MacDonald
Rookie driver Jonathan Drury has won with three of his last four starters. Druryconnected with Kristens John ($16.30) at Flamboro on August 15, followed with Baccarat Stena ($20.90) at Georgian on August 19, and hit WEG paydirt for the first time on August 21 when he drove Eventime ($62.40) to victory from post 10. The three-year-oldgelding had been handled in recent starts by Randy Waples and Mark MacDonaldbut had not hit the board in the last 11 starts dating back to October 28,2007. Welcome to the fast lane, Jonathan, or as he was dubbed by a poster in one chat room, ‘Johnny Leanback.”

Ouch! And I don’t mean the shoulder.
Luc Ouellette returned from a month-long rehab onThursday, August 14 and after one week his numbers are well off his normal production. In the period August 14 – 20, Luc’s WEG record was 30-1-1-1 for a UDR of .063 and just 3% wins. No wonder the top drivers are reluctant to take holidays.

Who’s Hot?
Jody Jamieson has been winning at a 25% clip over thelast 30 days. In the period July20 – August 20, “Double J” went 147-37-23-18 with $798,521 in purses, a UDR of.379 and 25% wins. Believe it ornot, the youngest regular driver on the circuit holds top spot on the “hot list”. Scott Zeron went 4-for-11(36%) in the same period.

It’s called “progress”… I guess.
When Cam Fella won the 1983 Canadian Pacing Derby helowered the stakes record to 1:54.4. When the 2008 Canadian Pacing Derby was contested last week, 87 horseson that night’s program had records faster than 1:54.4 – and the card included two Trot races and three fields of two-year-olds.

Does that come out of the blue, green or grey bin?
I’m all for recycling, but isn’t it a bit too soon tobe re-using the name Dream Maker? Apparently not as a four-year-old mare by that name has been racing at Mohawk on Thursday nights. For therecord, Dream Maker, the first major stakes winner for Bill Robinson, would be 35 if he were alive today.

And Speaking of Names
Dr. Hugh Baird has been at it again. Over the years the Hampton, New Brunswick-based owner has bred (and presumably named) the likes of Social Dis Eeze, Tainted Tuna, Squid Juice, Horse House John, Horse House Madam, and PornoQueen. Baird recently won a Grassroots race at Sarnia with the filly Orally Yours. Her dam, Le Win Skied, is a sister to the $400,000 winner Clinton Debriefed. Over the years Baird has saddled a number of horses with names that would appear to be based on politicians. How many of these can you pair with a politician?: Shark Bait Harper, Shady Martin, P M Mulroney, Quick Grit Charet, Cretien And Copps (sic), First Lady Kim, Hurtin Hilary, Shrieky Shiela, Mare Wayne, and Richard Potfield. The first few are pretty easy. I’m going to guess that Mare Wayne was named after Elsie Wayne who prior to her stint in Federal politics was the first female mayor of Saint John. Baird presumably named the last one on the list after Richard Hatfield, the longest serving premier in the history of New Brunswick.

Trivia Question
What do the movies Wayne's World, Oh God!, Car Wash, and Edward Scissorhands have in common? (See answer below.)

That’s What “Undefeated” Will Do
A poll on the USTA web site recently asked, “Who wouldyou vote for if the Horse of the Year nominations closed today?” The results were 78% for Deweycheatumnhow and 22% for Somebeachsomewhere.

And you thought ‘Deweycheatuymnhow” was a mouthful?
Even if you didn’t know a thing about horse racing you’d probably get the impression that the Queen’s Plate is a pretty special race. Even the North America Cupsounds important. But can you say the same about the Miss Vera Bars, Celais Counsel, Ontario Sired Spring Series (which has the same acronym as the Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society), or the SBOA Stakes? But wait, it gets worse. While several SBOA Stakes were being contested at Mohawk on Friday, August 15, the SSBOA Prairie Pace was held in Yorkton, Sask.. The latter stands for Saskatchewan Standardbred Breeders and Owners’ Association. Okay, so maybe that one DOES need an acronym.

Milestone Watch
Mark MacDonald had 3991 lifetime wins going into the Friday, August 22 program at Mohawk. Several other Ontario-based drivers were on the verge of personal milestones. As of Friday, John Kovacs needed 5 wins to hit 1000 and Luc Ouellette was just 30 wins shy of 8000 lifetime.

Trivia Answer
The movies listed above, along with The Spirit of ’76, Good Burger, Crash, Mask, Cobra, Eyes Of Laura Mars and Miracle Mile all featured at least one AMC Pacer. The iconic 1970s “jelly bean” car has also appeared in television shows like The X Files and That 70s Show.

Okay, where should I start?

Justa Minx raced Thursday night at Mohawk... and let's just say that it wasn't one of her better efforts. Roger got her off the wings quite nicely and she ducked into third, behind the fillies that were 2-1 and 5-1. She stayed there until they headed into the last turn when Roger pulled the right line. I'm sure that she felt good at that point or Roger would not have made a somewhat bold move of taking a 35-1 shot 'first over', especially with the horses that controlled the pace were 2-1 and 5-1. Minx was steady (at best) on the last turn and the early portion of the stretch but clearly spent and not driving very straight by mid-stretch. She lost 10 lengths in the last quarter, faded to 8th in a field of 9, and was individually clocked at 1:56.1 with a last quarter of 30.2. If I sound like I'm being a bit harsh, well, so be it.

My initial thoughts are that she may not yet be 100% healthy, but that alone is not the cause of her struggles. The vet cannot pinpoint anything serious. I'll talk to Rene on Friday and get his take on this race and our options at this point.

On a brighter note, the members of Minx's facebook page have been invited by members of the group "Slinkee Minx" to download a track from their upcoming album. Here's the link as supplied by Slinkee Minx band member, and Justa Minx's online friend, Annamarie Failla:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Slinkee-Minx/9187631013 (click on the music player to listen)

Mike

Back In-To-Go Thursday

If you caught tonight's Race Night on the Score broadcast you will know that Minx has been entered for Thursday. And as a special bonus you would have caught our very own Warren Casely as he sang the praises of the SBOA New Owner's program. I'm not sure how much he was paid to say what he did but it was very complimentary and on behalf of the stable and the program, I thank you, Warren. If you didn't tune in tonight, Warren and Jim Bullock were spreading the word about a 2008 edition of the mentorship program that still has a few open spots. But let's get back to the Minx.

In short, Rene thinks last week's lacklustre effort can be chalked up to the fact that Minx hadn't raced for a month. He was concerned that it might be something more serious so he had the vet check her out from head to tail, including x-rays and a very close examination of her knees. The vet watched her on the track and simply couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. She wasn't running a temperature before or after her last race so it appears that she has dodged what Rene has called "the worst virus in 20 years". Many fillies have had temps of 105 to 106F but Minx is not one of them.

We could have trucked her to Georgian or Kawartha for an 'easy' race but Rene decided that he'd give her one more start at Mohawk since she appears to be healthy and sound, we save the cost of shipping and of course the higher purse. If she finishes up the track on Thursday we will have to reassess the situation. For now, let's hope she's better with one tightener under her belt and a most importantly - a post three start.

I'd like to see Art this week but realistically it will be the week-end or early next week before I have any spare time. Perhaps if I show up about 10 days after his surgery, he won't associate me with what has just gone through.


10 -- Pace, purse $18,000 (EX, P3, TR) FILLIES & MARES, 4 YEAR OLDS & YOUNGER, NW 2 RACES OR $16,500 LIFETIME.
AE: NOT AVERAGING $900 PER START IN 2008. Post time: 10:21 P.M. Lasix: 06:06 P.M.
1 Southwind Morning M Baillargeon J Sugg
2 Onherwaykillean J Moiseyev C Coleman
3 Justa Minx R Mayotte R Laarman
4 Pondo Star Ja Brewer S Charlton
5 Lidia Graham Ra Waples S Gangell
6 Awesum Best Ph Hudon J Curran
7 G G Roulette Ra Waples G Hunt
8 A And Gs Astreos(L) A Byron J Pereira
9 Cant Quit Smiling P Macdonell B Wallace

Finally, a race!

The entries are in and unlike Somebeachsomewhere, the race office staff were able to find enough horses willing to race against Minx to fill a field of 9. She has post 7 in the 11th race on Thursday.

11 - Pace, purse $18,000 (EX, LD, TR)
FILLIES & MARES, 4 YEAR OLDS & YOUNGER, NW 2 RACES OR $15,000 LIFETIME. AE: 4 YEAR OLDS, NOT AVERAGING $1,000 PER START IN 2008. Post time: 10:40 P.M. Lasix: 06:25 P.M.

1 Onherwaykillean J Moiseyev C Coleman
2 Yankee Doodle Sue(L) Ra Waples M Hales
3 Ingrid Hanover M Baillargeon B Baillargeon
4 Dragonali Outofbed(L) Ma Macdonald M Ford
5 General Blitz S Filion D Martin
6 In The Bedroom S Condren M Brealey
7 Justa Minx R Mayotte R Laarman
8 Thebeastfromtheast G Whelan J Whelan
9 Pw Lover P Macdonell P Reid

You Don't Have To Be Kreskin

The following was originally posted on the Woodbine Entertainment Group web site.

By MIKE HAMILTON - If you should ever find yourself in a gathering of horse racing fans and you need to grab their attention, there are several surefire ways to silence even the most raucous of crowds. I’ve found that if you announce that you are about to show a replay of Cam Fella’s gritty comeback to beat Its Fritz in the 1983 Summer Championship or a clip of Artsplace’s amazing win in his two-year-old Breeders Crown, you’ll get the attention of most horsemen and diehard racing fans. If that doesn’t work, try using Falcon Seelster’s world record at Delaware or Niatross’ historic time trial at Lexington. And as of Saturday, July 19, you can add the 2008 Meadowlands Pace to that list.

Years from now many of us will watch the YouTube video of this race and remember the ache we felt when we realized that The Beach’s undefeated streak had come to an end. Others will fondly recall the night that Art Official paced one of the most impressive miles in the history of the game. And if the emails, voice messages, discussion board postings and beer-fuelled arguments that I’ve witnessed are any indication, more than a few observers will be happy to speculate on how the race would have unfolded had they been driving the favourite.

But was Paul MacDonell's decision to tip three-deep at the half really as dumb as the La-Z-Boy pilots would have you believe? I may be in the minority here, but I simply don’t think it was. Yes, in hindsight the move appears to have been a bit premature, and had he not made it MacDonell may have tracked down Art Official later in the mile, but let’s face it – there were a couple other drivers in the race who checked their senses at the paddock gate and I don't hear anyone criticizing them.

I haven’t spoken to Paul MacDonell about this but you don't have to be Kreskin to imagine what he must have been thinking when he glanced over his shoulder at the top of the stretch. It was probably something like, “What the heck is that #$!% still doing on my helmet?” And by mid-stretch, with Art Official at his saddlepad, I’m sure Mac must have thought, “Holy crap, I’m beat.”

The reason I’m willing to cut him some slack is that he had the overwhelming favourite on the lead with a quarter mile to go, 7 of the other 8 appeared to be panting in his wake, and the only horse within striking distance was the same horse that was all-out to stay within four lengths of him a week earlier. And not only did The Beach soundly defeat Art Official in their elimination, but he gave every indication that he actually enjoyed slicing through 30 mph headwinds to score ‘under wraps’.

The way I see it, Paul did what he had to do to take the upper hand. He KNEW there was a 1:47 mile in Somebeachsomewhere and he drove accordingly. What he didn’t know – and I’d argue that no one could have known – was that Art Official had one too, particularly after parking Bullville Powerful to the half in 51.4. Had Art Official staggered under the wire, say 5 or 10 lengths behind The Beach, most people would chalk it up as another head-scratcher of a drive by Ron Pierce. The fact that SBSW lost the Pace had nothing to do with Paul MacDonell’s drive and everything to do with the fact that Art Official somehow came up with the race of the decade.

Prior to the Pace I was less than 100% convinced that SBSW was as good as his connections (and many knowledgeable observers) were saying. After the race, I came away with a whole new level of respect. This, folks, is a great horse. The fact that he came out of the race on the losing end of a neck decision, in world record time, should not be held against the horse or driver. In fact, that one race will likely add to the lore of Somebeachsomewhere.

If you didn’t get a chance to see it, make sure you’re at Mohawk for his encore in the Ontario Sires Stakes or at Flamboro for the Confederation Cup. I’m not going to ‘jinx’ him by saying that it’s the ‘The Beach vs. the clock’ for the rest of his three-year-old season, but I firmly believe that even the Teletimer will be hard-pressed to keep up to this amazing athlete.

Snip Snip

Here's what I sent to the stable partners after Art's rather disappointing qualifier on Friday morning.


I'm going to assume that you were either at Mohawk this morning or have at least looked up the chart of the qualifying race on the net. If so, you're probably asking, "What happened?" Some of you undoubtedly added two short words to that question?

If you haven't seen the chart (copied below), I can tell you that Art got away mid-pack and let one or two around him before the quarter. He dodged a runner on the backstretch and improved one position to be fifth at the half which went in a slow 1:01.3. Roger asked Art for some speed on the backstretch and he pinned his ears and offered very little. The winner drew off by a country mile and Art wound up 7th, with his own mile in 2:03.4. That doesn't sound very good, does it? In reality, its not THAT bad. Not nearly as bad as it could be, in fact. He was good-gaited and was 100% sound before and after the race. And he's not sick! In fact he was hardly blowing by the time he got back to the barn. Roger said that there's just one issue - maturity.

That was evident in the paddock before the race as Art stood out like a sore thumb. All of the other colts in his race stood in their cross-ties, heads down, as if thinking about what they were going to do to each other on the racetrack. I know, they weren't really analyzing the race, but they WERE relaxed and focused. Art had his ears up and seemed to be paying waaaaay more attention to the other horses, particularly the fillies, as they constantly passed by his stall which was right across from the main entrance. While technically this was Art's first day at "school", I'd liken it to the first day at HIGH school. Some of the kids are relatively mature, particularly the girls, but most of the grade 9 boys are extremely annoying. Of course many of them will go on to be very nice teenagers, young adults, and beyond. But on the first day of grade 9, as they fuss, fidget and giggle through Mrs. Stamitiyou's class (my grade 9 teacher, who we called Mrs. Stan Mikita), you just want to tell them to sit down and shut up!

Thankfully, there is a solution. And with horses, unlike kids, it doesn't take 4 or 5 years of listening to Mrs. Stan Mikita. If you read the title of this email and thought that little Artie might be getting a haircut, well, think again. As they say around the racetrack, "A flick of the knife will change his life." After talking it over with Rene, and on Roger's recommendation, we have decided that on Saturday morning Art will be headed to Charles Armstrong's farm in Brampton. He'll be there for about 6 weeks. Sometime in the first week he will be visited by the farm vet and his assistant. It will only take a few minutes. After the surgery he's free to enjoy the lush fields, roomy box stalls, and plenty of good food. He just won't feel like kicking up his heels for a day or two.

Rene says that he'll stay at the farm until mid-September (about 6 weeks) and then return to Mohawk where he'll go back in training. He should be ready to race in November - just when the racing starts to slow down and the potential champions have long since been weeded out of the maiden class. This development didn't come as a huge surprise to me as it was clear that he's well behind some of the other kids on the block. That's not to say that he won't catch up - its just that he'd be in pretty deep with the monsters from the Jamieson and McIntosh barns right now. In short, there's no point chasing horses that can go in 1:55 when you're struggling to crack 2:00.

Rene suggests that we pay Art into some or all of the late closers that are offered at Woodbine in the winter months as he genuinely likes the colt and thinks that he will be a very useful horse once he grows up!

I have a one-third interest in another colt that is trained by Gregg McNair and we are taking the same route with him.

Sky Art Expected to Qualify on Friday

Rene has decided that Minx will benefit from another week of training before she's asked to go the speeds they are now going at Mohawk. I can fully understand his thinking. Minx appeared to be very fit when she came in from the field but after her last training trip she was "a bit short", according to Rene. He has decided to train her on Friday and again on Monday or Tuesday before entering her for a race towards the end of next week.

Sky Art is a different story. Rene says that he's had enough "schooling" and its now time for him to tell us a thing or two. He'll be entered to qualify on Friday morning at Mohawk. I wouldn't count on him actually going in qualifying time but even if he doesn't, it will be good to see how much he has right now. Rene said that he'll likely need two qualifiers (one week apart) before we decide if he'll make his pari-mutuel debut at Mohawk or perhaps at one of the b-tracks.

I plan to be there for the Friday qualifier and will try to get lots of pictures. The first qualifier is at 10 a.m., in case any of you are starting to come down with something and don't think you'll be able to make it in to work on Friday morning.

Finally, some good news!

The results of Justa Minx's latest blood tests show that she is almost back to normal. Rene reports that her 'AST' is still a bit high but her 'CT' is perfect and her 'differential' is no longer reversed. If that's Greek to you, join the club. I didn't even know that horses HAD differentials. In simpler terms, she's about 95% of her old self and will train a slow mile tomorrow, faster mid-week, and barring any unforeseen setbacks, she'll be entered to race next Sunday at Mohawk. Rene said that she did so much running and bucking in the field that she didn't lose any of her conditioning.

The Count 11 people will be glad to know that Art is also recovering nicely - even if there was a little setback. He was re-scoped last week and still had a considerable amount of mucous so Dr. Powell sent a sample to the University of Guelph for testing. The results showed that it was a much rarer form of virus than originally thought and the best treatment would be a different form of antibiotic. He has been on the new drug for a few days and the results are positive. Rene plans to train him on Monday or Tuesday (depending on the weather, heat, etc.) and then qualify for the first time on Friday. Rene thinks he has schooled enough and is now ready to go in a charted qualifier even if he will almost certainly need two qualifiers before he's ready to race.

July is one of the more exciting months for horse owners, and while we've had a setback with both horses to start the month, it appears that things are turning around.

I doubt that I will be able to make it out to Mohawk for the training trip if its on Monday but I can go on a Tuesday so the odds are even-money that you'll have new photos on Tuesday afternoon.

The 'Modern Arts' Hit The Track

I know I speak for all members of the Count Ten and Count Eleven Stables when I congratulate the two-year-old filly Kesons Avaia who recently made her first pari-mutuel start. The Modern Art - Olive You Best filly is trained by Jason Libby and owned by 10 SBOA-sponsored partners who race under the name "Avaias Dreamers." Glen Smith is the group's mentor.

Kesons Avaia qualified at Mohawk in 2:00.2 on June 21 and again in 2:00 on June 28, but when entered in a OSS Gold Series elimination at Flamboro on Friday, July 11, she found herself in a race with six other fillies from the barns of top OSS trainers Carl Jamieson, John Pentland, Jack Darling, and Murray Brethour, etc. The race went in 1:55.4 with Windsong Filou (Astreos) beating Northern Duchess (Western Terror) by a neck in 1:55.4. Kesons Avaia was fifth, beaten 8 lengths, and timed in 1:57.2.

It looks like Modern Art is off to a good start as a sire. He had 115 live foals from the crop of 2006, of which 43 have appeared in a qualifier and 18 have made at least one pari-mutuel start - and we haven't even hit mid-July yet!

The fastest Modern Art so far is the Casie Coleman-trained filly Arts Star who won a 1:56.4 qualifier at Mohawk on July 12.

Our pride and joy, Sky Art (Modern Art - Winning Skylite) is scheduled to school after the qualifiers on Monday morning. I'll have an update later in the day.

Somebeachsomewhere = Somewheresomebeach?

The following was originally posted on the Woodbine Entertainment Group web site.

By MIKE HAMILTON - Being the self-appointed “trivia guy” of WEG’s standardbred broadcast department, I get asked the odd question that I can answer off the top of my head, even more that I can answer after a few minutes on Google, but I don’t remember the last time that I spent the better part of a day searching for an answer to a viewer’s question – and loving every minute of it!

It all started on North America Cup night when a rather distinguished looking gentleman approached the stage following our “Talking Track” seminar and asked Ron Waples for an autograph. Ronnie chatted with the gentleman for a few minutes before he turned to me and asked, “Are you aware of any great horses whose names are anagrams for Somebeachsomewhere?”

Needless to say, I was stumped. To be perfectly honest, I had to look up the definition of “anagram” before I could even start to do some research. According to wordsmith.org, an anagram “is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase.”

I found a link to the Anagram Hall of Fame where I learned that “Elvis" = "Lives" and “the eyes" = "they see” are considered two of the anagram world's all-time greats. I also found a site devoted exclusively to political anagrams with gems like “George Bush" = "He bugs Gore" and "Election Results" = "Lies! Let's Recount”. But it was "David Letterman" = "nerd amid late TV" that struck me as particularly clever.

While I did find a few racing related anagrams like "horse racing" = "ignore crash" and "slot machines" = "cash lost in 'em", it soon became clear that even the most sophisticated online anagram generator couldn’t get “Dan Patch”, “Niatross”, or “Cam Fella” out of “Somebeachsomewhere". But that’s not to say that there aren’t a slew of perfectly good anagrams based on other aspects of this year’s Cup.

Would you believe that you can rearrange the 20 letters in “Pepsi North America Cup” to get “Circuit Phenoms Appear” or “Picture Rare Champions” or even “Charisma Perception Up”?

The participants in this year’s Cup spawned a few vaguely relevant anagrams. I thought that “Mark MacDonald” = “damn cold karma” and “Casie Coleman” = “a scale income” made a bit of sense.

I soon found that the search for relevant anagrams is greatly aided if you combine several words and avoid the letters q, x, or z. For example, “David Miller and Mucho Sleazy" = "Melodrama unadvisedly zilch” and “Hempt’s Keystone Horatio = I’m a hot post ten key horse”. Other times a simple horse name will yield a real gem. Would you believe that “Deuce Seelster” = “tussle, recede” and “Sand Shooter” = “no rated hoss”?

The list of past Cup winners includes a few that are printable and some that are definitely not. He may not have been the most celebrated winner but I’d never suggest that the anagram “Straight Path” = “Trash That Pig” was anything but a total coincidence. I'm not sure if they're relevant, but “Legal Notice” = “One Call I Get” and “The Panderosa” = “Honest Parade”.

And getting back to Somebeachsomewhere, I did find that “Race Night On The Score” = “Create Schooner Night” and “The Pride of Truro, Nova Scotia” = “Reactivated Hoof Protrusion”. Considering the staggering number of interviews he graciously accepted, the fact that “Trainer Brent MacGrath” = “Migrant Barn Chatterer” seems appropriate. While it’s not too classy, something tells me that the big horse from Truro will long be remembered for his exploits on the track and not the anagram “Somebeachsomewhere” = “whores become same, eh.”

In closing I’ll leave you with the one I won’t live down for some time. After unsuccessfully picking against the chalk, it was akin to rubbing salt in my wounds when I fed one online anagram generator with “Hamilton’s pick: Dali” and it came up with, “omit handicap skill”.

Ouch!

Art Bounces Back; Minx Not So Much

Rene entered Minx on Wednesday - before he had her scoped in mid-morning - and once again she came up less than 100%. She was better than last time they scoped her but still not to the point that he feels comfortable racing her. Needless to say, she will be an early scratch and will not even appear on the program. On Wednesday afternoon Rene had Joanne Colville pick her up and take her to the farm for 5 days. Think "summer camp" for horses! She'll be back in her regular stall at Mohawk on Monday and hopefully a few days away from the track - and other sick horses - will do her some good.

Sky Art is on antibiotics and this treatment seems to be working. Rene will have him scoped on Saturday and if he's 100% he'll be in another schooling race on Monday.

I will be at Mohawk tonight but since I'm not working I hope to get over to see Art.

I'm not even sure where this cartoon came from but it's a bit creepy. I stumbled onto it when I was preparing to write something about Minx's "frustrating" issues with sickness and/or allergies. Hmmmm.

Art Trains. But.

Art was on the track for a Monday morning schooler and came out of safe and sound. But not 100% healthy. He didn't finish off his mile with much interest (2:03 off a half of 1:02) so Rene was pretty sure that he was coming down with the same virus that caused Minx to tie up and next-stall-neighbour Village Mascot to be scratched on the weekend. Dr. Powell scoped Art after the training trip and found that he was "5 out of 10" for mucous. They immediately started a program of antibiotics which should clear things up in a few days. Rene said that he's still on track to school again next week, and could possibly qualify next week, but he'll take a day-to-day approach for the next few days. I told Rene that I'll check in with him on Thursday or Friday... so stay tuned.

Willie Laarman Passes

The following notice was originally published by TROT Insider (with files from the Guelph Mercury).

Willie Laarman Passes
July 2, 2008

Standardbred owner Willie Laarman, the mother of trainer Rene Laarman, passed away Monday, June 30 at the Guelph General Hospital at the age of 78.

Willie, beloved wife of the late Johanes (John) Laarman, was the proud grandma of Amanda, Karen, Christine and Nicole. She was the dear sister of Tina Vlasveld, and Case Remmerswaal both of Guelph.

Willie is survived by several brothers and sisters in Holland and New Zealand. Willie volunteered for many years with Minor Hockey and was a past president of the Mothers Auxilary.

Resting at the Gilbert MacIntyre & Son Funeral Home, Dublin Chapel 252 Dublin St. N., Guelph, where the family will receive friends on today (Wednesday) from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

A Vigil for Willie will be held tonight at 8:00 p.m.

A Funeral Mass will take place at the Church of Our Lady on Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. Interment Marymount Cemetery.

As expressions of sympathy, donations to the St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation or to the Church of Our Lady Restoration Fund would be appreciated by the family (cards available at the funeral home or email info@gilbertmacintyreandson.com).

Minx Misses Another Cheque; Art Schools in 2:04

As I wasn't able to make it to the track for either Minx's race or Arts schooler, I'm relying on Frank Aloise for the eye witness reports. Here's what he had to say about Minx...

"They drew blood this morning to see if she tied up (results later today). Roger mentioned that he would of liked more of a kick down the lane, but she seemed flat. If my math is correct she did her last 2 qtrs in 28.1."

As of this afternoon they still didn't have the results of the blood work, and with Tuesday being a holiday we may have to wait until Wednesday before getting to the bottom of that one.

Frank was back to Mohawk this morning for the schoolers and had this to say about Sky Art...

"Roger said that Art was much better this time around going 2:04 "more willing", unfortunately he did not go 2:01 as planned. Still green and lazy seems to be what I'm getting from the reports, but yet showing improvement which is a good sign. From my clocking he seemed to have gone the last half in a minute both 30 sec quarters. Roger was chasing him all the way down the stretch, but he did look good (seem to be slightly on one line, but the report was NO - very sound). When I went to the barn this guy was hardly blowing in fact I really don't think he was blowing at all - a very easy and lazy 2:04. Anyways it seems that Rene would like to do ONE more schooling next Monday and then see if we qualify the following week. For sure he will miss the first OSS gold, but it seems enough time to prep for the BoW."

Them's Fightin' Words

On 25-Jun-08, at 5:32 PM, J Bullock wrote:

Maybe a strong second. My horse INTENDED TO FLY plans on winning!

Jim Bullock

- - - - - - - -

Of course I couldn't let that one go without a reply...

Jim,

You're going to have to earn the win. For the last 2 weeks we had to make sure we didn't totally humiliate the Ray Bednarz filly (Can't Quit Smiling) and now you're expecting us to take a back seat to your filly? No deal!

Mike

This Just In... Minx To Race Sunday

As you know, Minx did NOT draw in to race on Thursday. Rather than sit out an extra week, Rene entered her this morning for a similar race on Sunday and she drew post 8 in a field of 10.

I am not sure if I'll be able to make it on Sunday as I have the night off work and a full day and night planned downtown. I will definitely hit a teletheatre if I don't make it to the track. Based on the birthday card that he sent on Monday, I'm pretty sure that Frank Aloise's skills with Photoshop will be sufficient to get me into a winner's circle picture if there is one. ;-)

Minx Will Wait Another Week

Justa Minx was on the "also eligible" for Thursday but when the final changes were made today (Tuesday) at 10 am, she NOT draw in. Rene will train our girl mid-week but she will not race until next Thursday. The eligibility date system virtually assures us of getting in if the class is written for next Thursday.

Art Schools in 2:04

I wasn't able to make it out to Mohawk to watch Art make his debut behind the starting gate but Rene phoned to give me the details. And no, he didn't break a sulky or snap the wing off the gate and we're not libel for anything. In fact Art was very well behaved, got right up to within a half length of the gate and wasn't the least bit spooked by it. Roger Mayotte drove and they went a mile in 2:04. Today was more about "education" than speed, so next week the aim will be for a mile around 2:01. Roger said that if anything, he was a bit "lazy" and had to be coaxed off the wings. Frankly, I'd rather a youngster have to be coached to leave than the opposite as a "hot" two-year-old spells problems.

If he can handle 2:01 next Monday he'll go into a "baby race" on Saturday, July 5 and a maiden race around July 12. The Battle of Waterloo elims are on July 28. It's waaaay too early to be booking reservations for the dining room at Grand River but at least this will give us something to dream about over the next few weeks. It may not be realistic to even think about this race when others have been considerably faster than Art to this point, but like Rene told me today, he's had many horses that advanced very rapidly in 2 or 3 weeks before qualifying and they made stakes dates that seemed to be a pipe dream just a few weeks earlier.

Those clever kids of ours!

I got home from the track about an hour ago and have been wading through emails and facebook greetings, including this attachment that appears to have been sent by Minx and Art. It came via Frank and Donna Aloise's email account, but I'm sure our kids were smart enough to put this together themselves. At least that's what I WANT to believe. - Mike

She's never been to Buffalo, but Minx really got the shuffle on Thursday

Many of the Count Ten Stable members were at the track tonight, and I'm sure those who weren't have at least had a chance to check the results online, so I won't spend much time "rubbing in" what happened. I thought that Serge summed it up pretty well when he said, "Sometimes the 401 is backed up and you have to take Derry Road. Roger missed the turnoff." It's at times like this that you just have say, "stuff happens" and "look out next week." The good news is that Minx drove straight and appeared to come out of the race in good shape.

What you perhaps didn't hear was that Sky Art trained in 2:05 this past Wednesday. The next step down the long, twisting road to the winner's circle is for him to get acquainted with the starting gate. Rene told me today that he intends to school Art behind the gate on Monday morning in one of the non-charted schoolers that they offer on Mondays. If he behaves, he could be in a charted schooler as early as two weeks from now. It will be interesting to see how he handles himself behind the gate, in the company of other horses, and in the paddock if they take him in there for a look-see. He may also go straight to the track as there will be a number of qualifiers on Monday, so I'm sure Rene will decide that on Monday morning depending on how much of a "zoo" it is around there.

I don't think I can get out of a commitment that I have for Monday morning... but I'm working on it.

Justa Minx will race Thursday

4 -- Pace, purse $18,000 (EX, TR, W4)
FILLIES & MARES, 4 YEAR OLDS & YOUNGER, NW 2 RACES OR $20,000 LIFETIME.
Post time: 08:27 P.M. Lasix: 04:12 P.M.

1 Real Queen/ Ma Macdonald / J Stutzman 6-1
2 Justa Minx / R Mayotte / R Laarman 7-1
3 Roxanna Hanover / Ra Waples / M Steacy 3-1
4 Bubbas Joicey B(L) / R Zeron / R Zeron 6-1
5 Kiss Quietly(L) / P Macdonell / T Osullivan 7-1
6 Age Of Consent / J Moiseyev / J Roegner 15-1
7 Riddler On Theroof / J Jamieson / D Mcginnis 7-2
8 Cant Quit Smiling / M Baillargeon / B Wallace 10-1
9 Twin B Shasta / L Ouellette / K Mcmaster 15-1
10 Torrid Pace / S Weber / J De Chellis 10-1

Can't Quit Smiling vs. Justa Minx

As most of you know, Justa Minx was one of three yearlings that were sponsored by the SBOA in 2006. One of the others was a Grinfromeartoear filly by the name of Cant Quit Smiling. Like Minx, she went through the Forest City Yearling Sale in 2006 and appeared to be a bargain at $19,000. She made 7 starts as a two-year-old, won twice, took a mark of 1:55.1, and banked $17,974 for the Good To Go Stable of Brantford, Ontario. Ray Bednarz is the mentor to that group and Ben Wallace has been doing the training.

On Thursday evening Minx and CQS squared off for the first time. In hindsight we know that Minx wasn't 100% and its easy to speculate that CQS was using that race as a tightener since it was her first race of the year and she was stuck with post eight. But who would have guessed that the two SBOA sponsored fillies would race one mile and finish within a few inches of each other? Minx looked to have fifth wrapped up with a few strides to go but in the end Cant Quit Smiling nosed her out of the last purse cheque. The chart indicates that both fillies were beaten 6-3/4 lengths. It should make for an interesting rematch if they draw into the same race next week. Minx could be better after having her knees treated and CQS should be better with that tightener under her belt. Sounds like a challenge!


8 Cant Quit Smiling 8 9/16Q 9@/14Q 9/9H 7/6T 5/6T 1:55 28.2 M Baillargeon 11.15 B Wallace
2 Justa Minx 2 4/3T 5/5Q 6/5T 6/4 6/6T 1:55 29 R Mayotte 6.05 R Laarman

Paperwork, Knee Issues, and the numbers "2:05"

Rene called during the races on Friday night to say that Minx had a thorough exam this afternoon by Dr. Powell. She was poked and prodded from top to bottom and in the end the good Doc concluded that she would benefit from the same treatment that Art recently received. So, rather than having her knees injected every 4 to 6 months as might normally be the case, she'll get the full treatment every 4 to 6 weeks. She won't miss any time and will be entered on Tuesday for next Thursday. The encouraging thing about her sixth place finish on Thursday was that she drove good and straight, wasn't one one line and wasn't fighting the head pole. She may not beat that bunch every week but if she is driving straight, draws a decent post, isn't short (after not having raced in three weeks, as was the case on Thursday), and her knees aren't bothering her, then I'd expect a much better effort... or a doozie of a new excuse. That's horse racing!

We're still trying to figure out why the membership database doesn't indicate that our partner Mel Melanson is fully paid and licensed (which appears to be the case) but we'll have this straightened out on Monday and there shouldn't be any issue with Minx being entered on Tuesday for Thursday.

I am partly to blame for not being on top of the birthday issue. I had everyone's birthdays entered into the calendar program on my old laptop, but when I bought a new Mac Book Air (on May 15) and ported everything over to the new machine, I forgot to transfer some of the "lists" that were associated with the old calendar. In Mel's defence, he would not have received a renewal notice in the mail as the ORC honors MPHRC licenses and does not send out notices to people from other jurisdictions who are licensed in Ontario through reciprocal agreements. Perfectly clear, eh?

And now for some news on Artie, He trained on Wednesday in 2:08 and was "good" according to Rene. I've come to recognize a few key words and phrases that pop up in Rene's training reports. When Rene says that a horse trained "good" it means that he, well, trained good. Some trainers are too busy to phone us "one and two-horse owners" and others would spend 10 or 15 minutes praising your colt to the point that a less experienced owner would conclude that he had the next Somebeachsomewhere and the Metro Stakes was as good as won. I kind of like Rene's approach. At least at this point when there isn't much to say other than he went as fast as they asked him to go and he did it very professionally.

Rene plans to "spin" Art in about 2:05 next week and hopefully in 2:03 the week after that. If he passes those tests he should be ready to qualify, according to Rene. I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to train a bit faster than 2:03 before qualifying but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, let's make sure we are all licensed and ready to go. Without going through the list name by name (which I will), I think that we have two members of Count Eleven Stable who must still be licensed by the ORC. I'll check this out over the week-end and be in contact with you on Monday if we have to set up a time to meet at the track.

Post 2

Minx finally had some luck at the draw. After drawing the far outside in each of her last two starts, our girl will leave from post 2 in her next assignment. She drew into a 10-horse field that will go as the 7th race on Mohawk's Thursday evening card. Roger Mayotte has been listed to drive both Minx and Rheal Bourgeois' elm Grove Camlady. I am quietly confident that he'll chose Minx but I guess we really don't know. Elm Grove Camlady did qualify for last year's $660,000 Three Diamonds Final. Minx appears to be competitive with this bunch but she's certainly not a standout. Lilbitfasternow is coming off a narrow loss in 1:53.2 and Gabrielles Girl is the one that beat Minx in Windsor. Turning the tables on that one won't be easy, mind you we might have a shot if Minx doesn't try to stand on her head at three-quarters.

I talked to Rene last night and he said that Minx was "very good" when he trained her on Monday morning. She was well in hand in 2:01 and was "100%" according to Rene.

I won't be working on Thursday so I'll be able to relax on the patio and perhaps let Jamie Trott buy me a Sprite or two seeing as I have yet to see the promised cigar and his son is now a month old.

Hottest Day of the Year

Justa Minx: Chillin'



Sky Art: Snackin'



Sky Art: Posing

Where's Art?

Encouraging Signs

Yesterday just wasn't my day. From a later-than-expected start to no gas at my local Esso (how do gas stations run out of gas?) to another 15 minute delay while I returned home and get the camera that I left by the front door, I suppose I just wasn't meant to see Art train. I got to the track about 10 minutes after he got of the track. I did catch Rene as he was taking the next bunch out and I was able to have a good chat even if it did involve jogging alongside a keyed-up two-year-old.

As I said yesterday, everyone at the barn seemed to be very happy with the latest developments. Sky Art went a slow training mile in a jog cart but drove perfectly straight and didn't show the slightest sign that his knees were bothering him. He is wearing a new type of bit (baby bit?) and it appears to be helping but the bigger relief is that that Dr. Powell's treatment appears to have worked. And that brings me to the first mea culpa of the day. Angie notes that I referred to Dr. Powell in a recent email (or two) as Dr. McCall. My bad. Dr. McCall is the ORC track vet at Woodbine and Mohawk. Dr. Powell is the private practice vet that Rene uses. I should know that. I say hi to Dr. McCall just outside our Mohawk studio most race nights and I write a nice cheque for Dr. Powell every month!

Rene also had good things to say about Justa Minx. They changed her bit/bridle and have added a much smaller burr to her head pole. She drove much straighter than she had been when she went her last training mile. Rene will train her early on Monday morning and if there are no complications he has until 10:30 AM to enter her for the #14 class on Thursday: http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/cond/d0612mohsn.html

Finally Some Good News!

Justa Minx wants me to tell you that "she's back." Rene trained her one trip this morning and watched from the rail as one of the assistant trainers (not sure if it was Serge or JJ) went the second trip. His assessment is that she's sound and ready to roll. She'll go a faster mile on Monday morning, and if she's still okay after that, Rene will have the blacksmith put a regular shoe on her early next week and enter he'll her to race at Mohawk on Thursday, June 12. There is a class for "Grassroots starters" on tonight's card and since it filled with 10 starters, its reasonable to expect it will also fill next week. Minx will almost certainly get in (if the race fills) as she has a better preference date than the 10 who will race tonight.

I don't think that I'll be able to make it to Mohawk on Monday morning but I will definitely call Rene around noon and will have a report for you soon after that.

Not to be forgotten, Sky Art has some good news of his own. He has been jogging lightly since having his knees injected and so far this treatment appears to have worked like magic. If he trains well on Saturday he'll be pointed towards a late July debut. I want to caution that things could change with a fast training mile on Saturday, but so far the prognosis appears to be good.

As always, you're welcome to come out to watch Art on the track Saturday morning. He should go his first trip between 7 and 7:30 and back again between 8 and 8:30 for the second trip. I'll check in with Angie and crew before heading to the paddock kitchen area and likely the infield to get some shots of Art on the backstretch.

It could be a LOT worse

I know that most of you have been eagerly awaiting an update and I've been woefully negligent in providing one, but at long last, here it is.

11:37 am
Our partner Susan Gilbart wrote to say that she had just chatted with Rene and had some more info. I was still waiting for Rene's call so this was welcome news.

1:08 pm
After not being able to get in touch with Rene for the past 24 hours, I was glad to hear from him at a little past 1pm. He said that Dr. Powell examined Art on Saturday morning and found some filling in the colt's knees. This is relatively common with two-year-olds at this stage of the game – when they're starting to go serious training miles but not fully developed. The vet's recommendation was that we have the knees injected with Hyaluronic acid (HA). This sounds harsh but in reality it's a very common treatment with a high success rate - somewhere around 70% - 80%. Rene said that he will train Art on Saturday morning and if he's sound, then we can continue to prep him for the early two-year-old events. If he is no better than he was last week when he made a break in his 2:13 trainign mile, the recommendation would be to lay him off and turn him out in a field for about 8 weeks. He would miss most of the two-year-old stakes in that case but could be prepped for a number of "late closers" in late fall and throughout the winter.

Here's something I clipped from Wikipedia regarding the treatment Art received...
"Hyaluronic acid (HA) naturally occurs, and is identical, in all animals. It is made by chondrocytes and the synovial lining of a joint, and being an unsulfonated glycosaminoglycan, it is a type of proteoglycan (chemicals that make up cartilage, the synovial lining, and joint fluid). HA helps to alleviate arthritis by reducing inflammation within the joint, allowing it to produce better synovial fluid, and may help to heal the joint by supporting the connective tissue. HA was originally injected into the joint of the horse, but one product is labeled for intravenous use. Before injecting intra-articularly, some veterinarians drain some of the excess joint fluid. Although HA may be expensive, it is considered very safe to use and it has proven to be a very successful drug. Brand names include Legend, Hyalovet."

Rene said that Minx's foot is already growing out quite nicely and he's confident that she'll be albe to race at Mohawk on Thursday, June 12. The condition sheet for this Thursday (June 5) includes a race for "ONTARIO SIRED 3 YEAR OLD FILLIES WHO ARE GRASSROOTS STARTERS." It carries a purse of $17,000 and the condition states that the entries "MAY BE DIVIDED BY EARNINGS." We're hoping that this race fills regularly, but if it doesn't fill this week it will almost certainly fill the following week – right about the time that Minx is ready to return. Keep those fingers crossed.

4:20 pm
I stopped in to see Art and Minx after my pre-show meeting in the grandstand. Art was glad to see me and performed his "light switch trick" several times while I tried to snap shots of his knees. For some reason, I couldn't get the lighting just right and the photos didn't turn out very well.

Minx, on the other hand, was occupied when I walked up to her stall. I found her playing with a very affectionate tabby cat who was laying down in the stall. Make that "a very trusting" tabby cat. Once the cat got up and left, I had Minx's full attention for about two minutes. Her interest in me waned noticeably when she realized that I didn't bring any carrots. She was two inches deep in fresh shavings and I couldn't hold her foot up AND snap photos, so those will have to wait until later this week when I get out for a morning visit.

5:34
I'm wrapping this up from Stabucks in Milton. Things would be so much easier if WEG allowed us to access blogs from the track but alas, we cannot be trusted to use our time effectively and all such sites are thus blocked.

Mike

Are you sitting down?

I wasn't able to make it to Mohawk for this morning's training trip but Frank Aloise did get there and he has now filed his report. And its not a good one. He said that Rene was on Art this morning and one of the other trainers was on Get Your Drag On. The other colt made a break at the 1/4 and that left Art alone on the lead. He was on one line a bit but going reasonably well until the half when he too made a break. When Frank went back to the barn, Angie, Serge and Rene were checking Art for signs of the trouble. Rene couldn't rule out the possibility that it was something in his mouth (toothache?) or possibly his splints. At any rate, they will have Dr. Powell give him a thorough inspection later today or tomorrow and we'll know more after that. You know how I like to temper the bad news with a bit of good news... In this case the good news is that Art trained in 2:13 with the last 1/4 in 30 seconds despite making a break at the half. All we can do now is hope that Doc Powell can pin-point the problem.

Pet Peeves and Vise-Grips

The following was originally posted on the Woodbine Entertainment Group web site.

By MIKE HAMILTON - When the boss informed us a few weeks ago that the entire stable of on-air "personalities" would soon be writing weekly columns for the web site, it was greeted with, ah, let's say, "varying degrees of enthusiasm."

While most of my colleagues were keen to tackle this new assignment, one muttered under his breath that he'd rather pull out his own wisdom teeth with a pair of Vise-Grip pliers than pen a weekly column. But after thinking it over for a day or two, I changed my mind.

You see, I have the scars to prove my proficiency (or lack thereof) with spring-loaded tools and besides, adding yet another soap box to my collection might be kind of fun. I mean, free rein to say whatever I want, as long as it can be said in about 500 words? Who wouldn't jump at that?

I kick-started the writing process by searching my archived emails for the phrases, "pet peeves", "really steamed" and "Is it just me?" Sure enough, I came across one email with all three phrases and co-incidentally it was one year old to the day. The subject line read, "Hill-Billings Back In Town".

It was something that I had sent a colleague last May 24 regarding the CKG Billings Amateur Driving Series. To say that I was eagerly awaiting their return on May 26, 2008 would be a stretch. The aforementioned self-dentistry option seemed more appealing than watching a bunch of middle-aged guys in white helmets, Wal-Mart windbreakers and Kodiak boots as they raced a motley collection of Iowa bred trotters in single file fashion.

I asked my colleague if he knew why the nation's #1 track was showcasing "amateurs" in a pair of races where the conditions were so broad that almost ANY horse would fit as long as they are qualified on the trot?

But after last Monday's card, I have to say that two guys changed my mind on this topic. (And no, they weren't waiting for me in the shadows of the parking lot after the races.)

Unlike the early years of the Billings Series, the drivers who appeared at Mohawk on May 26 were all wearing clean and attractive 'colours', professionally painted helmets and appropriate footwear. And you know what? The races weren't that bad! Ten trotters hit the track in the first race and not one of them made a break. Horses from post 9 and 10 hit the board, the winner was given a beautiful pocket trip by his "amateur" driver, and the margin of victory was less than a length. The second event had a runaway leader but did require a photo for Show and the very playable exactor came back at $45.60.

The best part was undoubtedly the post-race interviews that my colleague Renee Kierans secured for Race Night on The Score.

Winning drivers Todd "The Downeaster" Whitney and Steve "Never Too Old" Oldford came across as genuinely nice guys who would probably say something like, "There's something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man," if Winston Churchill hadn't already said it. Not only were these two drivers more than competent on the track, professional in appearance, and willing to be interviewed, but they answered Renee's questions with honesty, tact, and a degree of enthusiasm that was nothing short of infectious.

The chronic grumblers in the crowd (and I can be one at times) are quick to point out that harness racing isn't attracting new blood at a rate sufficient to replace those who we lose through attrition, let alone those who walk away from the game for various reasons.

Well, perhaps part of the answer lies in attracting more "amateurs". I would bet that the Billings Series participants travel to more racetracks on their own time (and dime) than most of us "insiders" and if Whitney and Oldford's enthusiasm is any indication, they probably introduce their fair share of family, friends, co-workers and neighbours to the racing game as well.

And to those who complain that the inclusion of two Billings Series races on a program means two less "playable" races, I'd reply that it's only 2 of the 2700+ races a year that we put on at WEG. Surely we can devote THAT much to a program that is introducing new blood to a game that is in dire need of a fan transfusion.

Was that "The Funky Chicken" or "The Bird Dance"?

If you happened to catch Minx's race from Windsor on Sunday night you are probably wondering what the heck happened. I know that I was more than a little concerned until we (Frank and I) got back to the barn where we ran into Jean Guy Belliveau who related what Trevor Henry told him just before leaving for the night. Trevor said that Minx made one bad step about halfway down the backstretch when he was about to pull her three wide. Its almost certain that she lost the shoe at that point. She was then a little crooked in the bike going around the last turn (3-wide to get around bad cover) and eventually so close to making a break that the judges put up the inquiry sign. They ruled that she didn't cause any interference and wasn't technically off-stride, so there was no placing and Minx's number was allowed to stand second.

I walked with Angie while Minx was being cooled out after the races and to my eyes she was 100% sound. Angie and Jean Guy were of the same opinion.

Rene called me tonight to say that Minx is still sound (great news) but that she did knock a piece of her hoof apart when the shoe came off. The extent of the damage is such that they cannot nail a new shoe on her hoof until it grows out a bit. Minx had a glue-on shoe applied on Monday morning and will wear that for the next 10-14 days. That means that she will have a light schedule in June. While clearly a setback, Rene is quick to point out that its not a "serious injury", there should be no long term damage and Minx is not in any discomfort as long as she isn't pounding the track.

In closing, I think we can be encouraged by the fact that Minx beat all but one of the fillies in her division despite a horrible start, dull and gapped cover, a 3-wide odyssey, a lost shoe, and doing something that closely resembled me doing "The Bird Dance" on the last turn. It wasn't pretty but she survived it.

On a more positive not, Rene said that he'll hitch Art to a race bike (sulky) on Thursday or Friday and shoot for a mile in 2:10.

More details to come when available.

Art Hits 2:13

Serge Boulay was in the bike this morning as Sky Art went two training trips in the company of his regular training partner Get Your Drag On (an $80,000 yearling by Dragon Again) who was handled by Rene. There was quite a turnout for the training session as GYDO's owner Ken McDaniel was in attendance and Count Eleven Stable partners Frank Aloise and Doug Clark joined me in representing our interests.

The two colts went an easy 'first trip' in 2:35. After about 45 minutes rest they came back for a second mile which actually required a "restart" as Get Your Drag On made a break just as they were getting underway. Things didn't exactly go as planned in the training mile but in the end Art crossed the wire first and Serge caught it in 2:13. It was about a second slower than they planned to go, but afterward Serge commented that he had lots left and could have driven off on the other colt. Obviously abandoning a training partner is not the plan at this point, but its nice to know that Art wasn't "all out" in 2:13.

I watched from trackside with leading trainer Rob Fellows who commented on Art's great gait and the fact that he won't need any boots. "He's a real looker," said Fellows who seemed to be impressed.

One of the more impressive aspects of the training session was that when they came off the track, Serge brought Art over to where I was standing. He wanted to show me his stopwatch, and to do so he brought Art to a full stop. After just going the fastest mile of his life, Art was so calm and collected that he stood still while Serge and I chatted for a minute. Not all horses would be that relaxed at the end of a training trip.

This was likely the last time that Art will train in a jog cart. Next week he will start using a race bike (sulky) for his training miles. Serge said that he's quite confident that Art could go about 2:05 in a sulky right now, although it will likely be a few weeks before they actually ask him to do that.

All things considered, it was a very encouraging morning.



Above: Sky Art finishing off his mile in "2:13 and change"

Members of the Count Ten Stable will be glad to know that Minx trained exceptionally well on Wednesday. She went out with Going To The Chapel, a three-year-old colt by The Panderosa who was racing at the Meadowlands through mid-April. They were scheduled to train in 2:05 but Angie says that they went "a bit faster". Minx was very game and recovered very quickly. According to Angie, she's going into the Windsor race in fine shape.

And speaking of Windsor, Minx will be hitching a ride with the Tom Artandi crew. Artandi's "main man" Jean (Jack) Belliveau is taking a truck and trailer down so we will simply share the cost and Jack will be available to take Minx out for her warmup. Angie will obviously be making the trip but Serge, JJ, Rene and the rest of the staff will stay at Mohawk as they have three others racing on Sunday night. The horse Minx will be riding down with is I'm Just Special - the 6-5 morning line favouite in the 4th race. She came within a neck of beating Has An Attitude in the Ontario Sired Spring Series final, so obviously Minx is keeping pretty good company.

Frank Aloise and family will be making the trip, as will I, so stay tuned for further updates.

Care (Carrot?) Package

Angie has been arriving at the barn some mornings to find evidence of overnight or pre-dawn visitors. Not intruders, but very welcome visitors. On Saturday morning Angie found a care (carrott) package sitting on a tack box with a note attached. It seems that Count Ten Stable partners Warren and Faun Casely felt guilty that they won't be able to make it to Windsor for Minx's race on Sunday and they didn't want Minx to go without her weekly ration of carrot treats.

Warren is headed to London on Monday and just can't fit both trips into his schedule. Addicted to the slots at Western Fair?
A big fan of Storybook Gardens or the Guy Lombardo Music Centre, you ask? Not exactly. Well, he might be a big fan of Storybook Gardens, but somehow I doubt it. Warren is flying to London, England on Monday - for the third time in four weeks. As director of global supply chain for General Chemical of Parsippany, N.J., Warren gets his fair share of international travel. It's nice to have "worldly" partners, but in this case I'm worried that Warren might start bringing care packages back with him. I don't know if we can afford to have Minx hooked on carrots from Fortnum & Mason or the Food Hall at Harrods.