Sunny's Halo - Canada's Derby Champion

It was The First Saturday in May, 1983, and like a beam of light along the rail, Sunny's Halo shone through the stretch to become only the second Canadian-bred to win the Kentucky Derby. Trained by David Cross of Mississauga, Ontario and ridden by Eddie Delahoussaye, the Halo colt defeated a trio of important three year-olds including Desert Wine, Caveat and Slew O'Gold. The Derby victory was a proud moment for Canadian racing even if hope for a Triple Crown would come to quick conclusion with a sixth-place finish in the Preakness when hampered by a mysterious rash and sore ankles.

After a summer of recuperation, Sunny's Halo returned to win the Louisiana Super Derby in track record time by twelve lengths. A re-occurrence of the ankle injury forced his owner David Cross Jr to retire the champion to Domino Stud at a syndication price of $7.5M. It was an area where Sunny's Halo would once again excel siring G1 horses such as Dispersal and Race The Wild Wind.

Even before the Derby win, Sunny's Halo was a racing legend in Canada after an impressive two year-old campaign earned the colt a Sovereign Award thanks to victories in the Colin Stakes and Coronation Futurity. While injuries may have limited the scope of achievements south of the border, one can truly appreciate the brilliance of this rags-to-riches hero through the horses he defeated to win the Kentucky Derby.

Desert Wine, a second place finisher in the Derby and Preakness, made his name the following year by besting John Henry in the Hollywood Gold Cup. The Damascus colt was dynamite in his four year-old season winning both the Californian and Strub Stakes. With impressive lifetime earnings of $1,618,043, Desert Wine was an accomplished and well-regarded horse.

Caveat finished third in the Derby but would go on to win the Belmont Stakes and later become a solid stallion, notably siring Arlington Million winner Awad. Caveat's career was cut short due to a foreleg ligament injury suffered in his Belmont victory and trainer Woody Stephens made the difficult decision to retire the horse. As a two year-old, Caveat's most notable race was a second place finish to Highland Park in the Breeders' Futurity Stakes. Caveat made his way to the Derby by winning the Kentucky Derby Trial and was closing gamely in the stretch at Churchill. Out of 1974 Kentucky Derby winner Cannonade, the colt earned $542,190 on the track.

The fourth place finisher in the Derby was Slew O'Gold, who would become the eventual first stallion for Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky. The son of Seattle Slew was a powerhouse in his 1984 campaign sweeping the Fall Championship Series by winning the Woodward Stakes, Marlboro Cup and Jockey Club Gold Cup before finishing third in the inaugural Breeders' Cup Classic won by Wild Again. The stewards would place Slew O'Gold second when Gate Dancer was disqualified for bearing in and replay evidence makes a plausible case that Slew O'Gold was only denied victory though that interference. It was a defeat which cost Slew O'Gold Horse of the Year honours to John Henry.

While Sunny's Halo never quite earned the fanfare of Canada's other great Derby winner Northern Dancer, his memory lives on in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame where the champ was inducted in 1986. The son of Halo, out of Mostly Sunny died in 2003 and now rests at the Kentucky Derby Museum.

Gone, but not forgotten. Sunny's Halo wins the 1983 Kentucky Derby


***
Kentucky Derby picks are piling up all over the blogosphere with the First Saturday In May only hours away. Post-time for the Kentucky Derby is 6:24PM. At 6:27PM, Twitter servers will explode in a shower of puns and complaints from armchair experts across the universe. Myself included.

I will post my own Kentucky Derby picks Saturday morning.

***
Several key runners will be contesting the Queenston Stakes on Saturday in an important prep race for the Queen's Plate. El Brujo (6-5) is the morning line favourite but my eyes will be on Active Duty (6-1) who returns to Woodbine after a quiet winter in California. As my current stable star in the Queen's Plate Fantasy Challenge, I am hoping to see a sharp response. Details on the field are below.


Woodbine's fifth race on Sunday will mark the first local outing for Ian Black's Southdale who will make an important start in a difficult $69K MSW. Southdale, who wintered with Roger Attfield, made the best of a difficult trip first out to be third at Keeneland. See the chart for the race here. Sunday's test will come at seven furlongs in a jam packed fourteen horse field.

Those of you wagering on the Kentucky Derby from home via HorsePlayer Interactive will want to take note of the following release from Woodbine Entertainment Group.

"TORONTO, April 30 – Advance wagering on Saturday’s Kentucky Derby programme will be available at Woodbine Racetrack, Greenwood and the Champions Teletheatre network.

Most of the pools will be open at 3:00 p.m. The only exceptions are the ‘Pick’ pools (Pick3, Pick4, Pick6), which will be available at the conclusion of the Friday card at Churchill Downs – at approximately 7:00 p.m.

If taking advantage of the advance wagering option, the telephone wagering code is 339 or look for ‘Churchill-Derby Adv’ on the self-serve machines (On Saturday, the code reverts back to 37, the normal code for Churchill Downs).

The first race on the Friday (Oaks Day) and Saturday programs from Churchill Downs is 10:30 a.m. Mutuels will open at 10 a.m. at all sites.

Woodbine fans will also be able to participate in the unique Oaks-Derby double, a daily double wager that pairs the Kentucky Oaks with the Kentucky Derby. The telephone wagering code is 286 or look for KY Oaks Derby Double on the self-serve display and select race 1.

Also note that successful Oaks Future wagers will be paid out on Friday after the running of the Oaks. Successful Derby Future, Derby Future Exactor and Oaks Derby Double tickets will be paid after the Derby."

***
Enjoy your handicapping this evening racing fans. Look for my Kentucky Derby picks to be posted here tomorrow morning.