HorseRacing Central October 30, 2009

RACING WORLD AWAITS BREEDERS’ CUP

With the 26th running of the 2009 Breeders’ Cup World Championships set for Santa Anita over two days on November 6 & 7, all major stakes action is on the East Coast this weekend.

Saturday

Of local note at Woodbine, last year’s BC Derby runner-up Wink At The Girls is the 2-1 morning line choice in a first condition allowance (10:57 a.m.) race prior to the $250,000 Princess Elizabeth Stakes (12:24 p.m.) for 2-year-old fillies at a mile and a sixteenth.

Locally-owned former Sovereign Award winner Inish Glora, who raced at Hastings, will have her filly Roan Inish in the field. She is owned by Bob Costigan and daughter Carolyn will be saddling her first horse as a trainer in a $250,000 race. Not a bad place to start!

This is opening weekend for Aqueduct and two stakes are on the agenda. First up is the $150,000 Bold Ruler (10:52 a.m.) for older sprinters at seven furlongs the Unbridled Belle will go off as the heavy favourite in the $100,000 Turnback The Alarm (1:12 p.m.) for fillies and mares at nine furlongs. It’s closing day at Keeneland with the $150,000 Fayette Stakes being the feature event. In the Midwest at Hawthorne, it is Illinois-bred day with six stakes of $100,000 making up the 10-card race.

Sunday

It is opening day at historic Churchill Downs and they have an amazing 11-race program entirely for 2-year-olds. There are two stakes races: the $100,000 Iroquois (1:05 p.m.) colts and geldings going a mile; then the fillies will run the same distance in the $100,000 Pocahontas (2:02 p.m.) At Woodbine, trainer Terry Jordan will send out Tribal Belle in the $150,000 Ontario Fashion Stakes (1:29 p.m.) for fillies and mares at six furlongs. Concluding the major stakes card is the $150,000 Long Island Handicap at Aqueduct for fillies and mares on the grass at a mile and a half.

HASTINGS SCHEDULE

Live thoroughbred racing resumes this weekend with the regular 1:50 starts Saturday and Sunday at Hastings Racecourse. But please note that Saturday, Nov. 7 is not only the final leg of the Breeders’ Cup but also Customer Appreciation Day at Hastings as the local 2009 season draws to a close. Start time on Nov. 7 at Hastings is 1:20 p.m.

To review the Hastings mutuels schedule for Breeders’ Cup Weekend:

BREEDERS’ CUP HPI BONUS POINTS

HPI members can win a share of 500,000 HPI bonus points by picking the winner in each of the eight Breeders’ Cup races on Saturday, Nov. 7. The contestant with the most winning picks will receive a whopping 300,000 HPI points! Second place is worth 150,000 HPI bonus points and third will receive 50,000 HPI bonus points. Contest entry forms will be available at Hastings and Fraser Downs at the HPI Centre or Guest Services on Thursday, Nov. 5 beginning at 10 a.m. They will be available until five minutes prior to the first Breeders’ Cup race on Saturday.

AWARD BALLOTS DEADLINE

Cristan Gossen of the Industry Awards Committee 2009 reminds those voters submitting their ballots for this year’s Thoroughbred Awards that the deadline is today (Friday, Oct. 30). The 2009 Thoroughbred Awards and Hall of Fame Reception will be held on Saturday, Dec. 12 at The Derby Bar and Grill. Ticket information is available at cgossen@gmail.com

CASIE CREATES A STIR

Auction items and donations continue to roll in for Casie Coleman’s special day on the afternoon of Wednesday, Nov. 11 – BC Breeders Classic Day at Fraser Downs.

“Everyone I approach has been anxious to contribute,” Casie told Norm Borg on the Trot Radio national network this week. She credits the staff at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria for saving her life 10 years ago following an accident in the barns at Sandown Park when she was a 19-year-old groom. Casie, born and raised in Surrey and a grad of Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary, was mixing an alcohol-based liniment to warm her horse’s feet when flames ignited and left her with third-degree burns to her legs and right arm as well as first-degree burns to her cheeks and neck.

“Those people at the hospital in Victoria put me back together,” she says. “Now I have the opportunity to give something back to them.”

Proceeds from a silent auction in the Atrium at Fraser Downs on Nov. 11 will go to the Burn Unit at the Royal Jubilee Hospital. Casie herself has been collecting donations from her travels on the Eastern harness racing circuit where she has been recognized with two O’Brien Awards (2005 and 2006) as Canada’s Trainer of the Year.

Anyone wishing to get involved by contributing auction prizes or cash donations can contact Kelly Hudon at kelhud@shaw.ca