One Of A Kind Excuses From A Blogger...

It's a busy time of year in the TripleDeadHeat household. The Lovely Amy, aka SmittenKitten.Ca is showcasing her quirky, vintage accessories and gift ware at the One Of A Kind Show in Toronto AND Chicago. My home has become a (admittedly, low end) hotel as friends from New York and Montreal arrive to exhibit at the Toronto show. Amy is now on her way to the Chicago show and I've been left in charge of the Toronto gig for the remainder of the week - - all this, in addition to my day job and various writing responsibilities. No complaints though, I like to be busy.

Everything I know about fashion could be typed in a Tweet. Visit Amy's website for details.


This rather long winded opener is my way of providing an excuse for not posting as frequently as usual. Fortunately, in the absence of original content, there are plenty of other folks writing fun, informative and timely pieces on horse racing related matters. Here's a few links to tide readers over until I emerge from this week-long gift extravaganza.

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Blood-Horse.com reports that Prized Mare Tops Canadian Mixed Sale:

The Queen's Stamp, an 8-year-old stakes-placed daughter of Prized, was sold for $63,000 to top the Nov. 27 Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society’s winter mixed sale.

Purchased by Cantium Bloodstock from the consignment of agent Richard Moylan, the mare was sold in foal to Canadian champion Sky Conqueror. The Queen’s Stamp, third in the 2005 Carotene Stakes, had five wins, four seconds, and eight thirds while earning $297,733.

During the one-day sale held at the Woodbine Sales Pavilion at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, 124 horses were sold for a gross of $506,700, down from the $590,100 total paid for 110 horses at the same sale a year ago. The $4,086 average represented a decline of 23.8% from the $5,364 average in 2009.

For more info, check out the CTHS website.

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Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday announces that Woodbine jock Luis Contreras will ride in the Clasico Internacional:

TEENAGE apprentice rider Brian Boodramsing will ride at this year’s Clasico Internacional del Caribe at the La Rinconada Racetrack, Caracas, Venezuela.

He has been nominated by the Trinidad and Tobago Racing Authority to participate in an International Jockeys Challenge on Saturday.

The one kilo claimer got the nod after original choice and eight-time champion Brian Harding declined.

As members of the Caribbean Racing Confederation, the TTRA was invited to name one jockey for the challenge.

The 18-year-old Boodramsing, only in his second year in the saddle, is currently second to Harding on the local jockeys standings, and top apprentice rider with 31 winning rides to his credit.

He will match skills with top Venezuelan jockeys Santiago Gonzales who rode Pride “N” Glory to win the 2008 Trinidad Derby, Emisael Jaramillo and Joel Rosario, of the Dominican Republic, Mexicans Enrique Gonzales and Luis Contreras who rides at Woodbine in Canada, Cornelio Velasquez and Eibar Coa who rides in the United States.

This year’s Clasico will be run off on Sunday at La Rinconada, the first time outside Puerto Rico in ten years.

Luis Contreras sticks his neck out aboard Red Strike


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Handicappers looking for a uniquely Canadian edge might latch onto this scenario from the excellent HorseRacingNation site:

POST TIME 4:57 PM EST -- Over the years, horses coming in from frigid Hastings Park typically move up when arriving at Turf Paradise. #3 We Are One (3-1) supports this observation with useful efforts at Hastings and then a blow out victory in her Turf Paradise debut. It's this observation that brings me to #5 Swapalady (15-1) as my top choice. She defeated We Are One twice before, has ability to get the 6.5 furlong distance unlike many in here. Posted an encouraging local work on 11/18 and picks up a top jock. My only concern is that the Turf Paradise dirt surface plays to early speed and this horse is an off-the-pace type. However, over the past week, the Turf Paradise surface was actually kinder to pressers and off-the-pace types at this distance coming from the outside part of the track.

Hastings vet We Are One paid $6.20 to win. To see the chart, click here.
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Blood-Horse reports that Robert S. Evans' Marsh Side will join the Questroyal Stud stallion roster in 2011 at Silvernails Farm:

Marsh Side wins the Canadian International


Two-time Canadian grade I winner Marsh Side will join the Questroyal Stud stallion roster in 2011 at Silvernails Farm near Pine Plains, N.Y. An introductory stud fee of $2,000 (stands and nurses) is being offered to the owners of the first 50 mares booked to Marsh Side.

Seven-year-old Marsh Side, by Gone West, won all four of his stakes at Woodbine. He captured the Pattison Canadian International Stakes (Can-IT), the Northern Dancer Turf Stakes (Can-IT), the Sky Classic Stakes (Can-IIT), and established a track record in the Valedictory Stakes. In the United States, he ran second in the Woodford Reserve Manhattan Handicap (gr. IT) to subsequent champion Gio Ponti.

Marsh Side at Woodbine


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A sad story from the Toronto Star reports Imported horses face removal or death:

At 18, Carl der Dritte is a horse in his golden years. Yet he’s Adriana Zerafa’s best horse, the one she planned to train and ride in the highest levels of equestrian competition.

But plans for Carl der Dritte have changed.

The dressage stallion was imported from France in early November and has been in quarantine since. And if he isn’t returned to Europe by next Friday, Carl der Dritte will be destroyed. The same is true for another of Zerafa’s stallions, a 7- year-old named Positif de Blonde.

The horses don’t have the proper paperwork. And the rules and regulations set out by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which oversees the importation of live animals, are clear.

“I just didn’t plan on this,” a devastated Zerafa told the Star from the stable her family recently purchased near Mono. She said she doesn’t know what she’ll do if the horses are put down. “For now I just go day-to-day.”

The CFIA has strict protocol around importing horses to prevent the spread of equine metritis, a contagious venereal disease. It’s never been transmitted in Canada and the regulatory body wants to keep it that way.

This is a difficult story to read...and one feels for the horses and loving owner...and now the Toronto Sun reveals Horse importer had previous problem:

The importer who botched paperwork to bring Adriana Zerafa’s two French show stallions into Canada has run into problems in the past.

Zerafa’s horses are now in quarantine, facing possible destruction.

The importer, Brain Doyle, ran into difficulty in 1998 when he brought three mares from Holland — two of them pregnant — into Canada with papers that had expired.

Those horses faced possible destruction, as well, but the animals escaped that fate when they were permitted to be returned to Holland.

Doyle imported seven horses for Zerafa. One died while in quarantine.

Doyle had papers for the two stallions saying they were only in Canada temporarily for the Royal Winter Fair, which they weren’t as her family had bought a stable in Orangeville.

Doyle, who was paid $60,000, did the paper work properly for five of Zerafa’s horses, including the one that died.

It is not clear how many times Doyle has had run-ins with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which oversees the importation of animals.

When contacted by the Toronto Sun, Doyle hung up the phone.

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Good news for troubled gamblers? CBC reports OLG facial scans to help gambling addicts:

Ontario casinos and slots at racetracks are getting ready to introduce a facial recognition system for people who have identified themselves as gambling addicts, hoping to help them stay out of trouble.

In a project that has received the blessing of the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation will install facial biometric video cameras at the entrance of all 27 of its slots rooms and casinos in 2011.

Starting next spring with the slots at its Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, the OLG cameras will link to a system that alerts staff when someone registered with the service walks through the doors.

The system makes use of an emerging technology called biometric encryption that scans a person's face. When it picks out someone who has registered with the OLG service, it alerts staff and "unlocks" information provided by the registrant.


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I start each day with a visit to the Equidaily.Com This excellent resource is watched over by Seth Merrow and he scours the web posting links to a variety of interesting racing news. Here's a couple links that caught my eye today from the essential Equidaily.

Finley/TDN report: Do we need a sturdier racehorse? Racing grapples with smaller field, fewer starts: Do We Need A Stronger Racehorse?

Science of Horse Training blog: Triple Crown Times Have Not Improved in 70 Years, Why?

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Woodbine-based Fifty Proof kept pace in the early going of the Japan Cup but was wrapped up by jockey Justin Stein once it was apparent the young horse would not challenge the winners. Fifty Proof finished 18th.

Fifty Proof represented Canada at the Japan Cup (Photo courtesy of Janet Black.)


It was a tough race for shippers as Japanese horses dominated the results. Thoroughbred Times reports Rose Kingdom stuns Buena Vista via DQ in Japan Cup:

Buena Vista surged clear in the closing strides of a dominant victory in the Japan Cup (Jpn-G1) that would have cemented her credentials as Japanese Horse of the Year, but following a 24-minute inquiry the two-time champion was disqualified for interference in the stretch.

Rose Kingdom’s jockey, Yutaka Take, was forced to check slightly in tight quarters inside the final 200 meters when Buena Vista drifted in while accelerating past, closing off the running lane between her and Victoire Pisa. Rose Kingdom rallied gamely to edge Victoire Pisa by a nose for second while Buena Vista’s jockey, Christophe Soumillon, celebrated what appeared to be a 1 3/4-length victory on Sunday at Tokyo Racecourse.

The subsequent controversial decision in the 30th edition of the Japan Cup sapped the life out of the 106,322 in attendance, but Japanese racing adheres to strict interpretation of rules regarding interference. Stewards also said 1.90-to-1 favorite Buena Vista was cited for moving into the path of other runners at the top of the stretch; however, she was only demoted to second with Rose Kingdom elevated to first.

Rose Kingdom wins the 2010 Japan Cup


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Sad news to pass along as a Woodbine Media release announced that Frank Passero Jr. passes:

Frank Passero Jr., the man who still holds the record for most wins at one Woodbine meet by a trainer, passed away Tuesday morning in Toronto. Passero, born in Fort Erie, succumbed after a long battle with cancer. He was 77.

Based at Woodbine for most of his excellent career, Passero collected two other Woodbine training titles in 1981 (Autumn meet) and 1992, in addition to his still-standing record mark of 89 wins in 1995. He also recorded five Ontario training championships, including titles at Greenwood and Fort Erie, in 1981, 1982, 1988, 1992 and 1995.

Characterized as the *King of the Claimers* for much of his career, he also won dozens of stakes races, including multiple added-money wins by I Can*t Believe, Fleet Wahine and Wild Zone. He earned his training license in 1965 and finished with 2,061 lifetime scores.

He is probably best known for his remarkable accomplishment of winning a world-record 14 consecutive races at Gulfstream Park in Florida in 1996.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

-30-

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Woodbine Weekend Stakes Results...

Pender Harbour wins the Kingarvie Stakes at Woodbine on Saturday


Tiz Blessed wins the Display Stakes at Woodbine on Sunday


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