triple dead heat: Woodbine: A Champ Retires as Contenders For The Crown Step Forward

Horse racing is a beautiful game in that it's easy to fall in love with its stars. Horses don't demand outrageous contracts, get involved in Twitter scandals or turn their back on the hometown fans. They just go out and run. And that's what Rahy's Attorney did, at the highest level, for six seasons at Woodbine and beyond.

Rahy's Attorney,on Wednesday, with friends Ian Black, Emma-Jayne Wilson and Skippy Bowen

Following a typically determined effort, Rahy's Attorney was retired after a second-place finish in the Sword Dancer at Saratoga. He completes his career with earnings of more than $2.2M and leaves behind six seasons of remarkable memories.

His notable accomplishments, which I will delve into further in another piece, are abundant. Consider the following nuggets of information regarding Rahy's Attorney:

* He has more than 250 followers on Facebook.

* He competed (and I mean competed in the strongest sense of the word) in graded races from seven furlongs to a mile and a half.

* He's the track record holder for a mile and an eighth on the E.P. Taylor turf course winning the G2 King Edward on June 27, 2009 in a time of 1:44_3.

* He won a stake race five years in a row from the Vice Regent in 2007 to the Pan American in 2011.

* He averaged $54,000 per start in 41 lifetime races winning 14 times.

* Of the 28 stakes that Rahy's Attorney started, he was first or second on 19 occasions. This horse loved a battle.

Exercise rider Tyler Gaskin enjoys a gallop with Rahy's Attorney

At Ian Black's barn, Rahy's Attorney is known as, "The Champ". Rightly so! Congratulations on your retirement Champ and thanks for the memories.

Rahy's Attorney wins the 2008 Woodbine Mile

* * *

While Rahy's Attorney gracefully bows out of the game, two young fillies are putting their hoof in the ring as the next big thing from Canada. The precocious Tu Endie Wei, a Kentucky-bred half-sister to 2010 Horse of the Year Biofuel, demonstrated that she had a few different gears in a rollicking half-length score in the Ontario Debutante at Woodbine.

Future Star: Tu Endie Wei

The talented miss duelled for the lead early with Runfor Ro, then dropped back along the backstretch before making a second move to put away Runfor Ro and showed some added determination late in the lane to keep a rallying Northern Passion at bay. Tu Endie Wei keeps her record a perfect two-for-two and the future looks promising for the Reade Baker trainee.

Tu Endie Wei wins the Ontario Debutante

On Saturday, Queen's Plate winning filly Inglorious will leave from post six in the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga. At odds of 6-1, the Josie Carroll trainee offers punters a fair bit of value as the only horse in the field to have tried the ten furlong distance. The Hennessy-Noble Strike filly has five win from seven lifetime starts - - all in added-money events.

When the gates open on Saturday (Race 10, 5:45PM EST), Inglorious will fly the flag for Canadian racing in a tough six-horse field that includes Triple Tiara seeking It's Tricky, Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty, Black-Eyed Susan champion Royal Delta, the impressive Delaware Oaks winner St. John's River and Desert Vixen winner Pinch Pie.

Woodbine's leading rider Luis Contreras will travel to Saratoga to ride the Donver Stable's dual Canadian classic winning filly.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I’m such a fan of the guy,” she said. “I think everybody at Woodbine is. The number of people that sent text messages, congratulations, it was huge. I felt like I had Canada behind me. Nice.” - - Emma-Jayne Wilson talks about the aftermath of winning the Pan American Handicap at Gulfstream Park aboard Rahy's Attorney.

RACE CALL OF THE WEEK

"In tight quarters there is Tee Game, who is just a chip shot off the lead..." - - Dan Loiselle works on his short game as Richard Dos Ramos guides the grey miss home in Wednesday night's second race.

Tee Game puts a wide gulf of space between her and her rivals

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This and That

The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame will induct several new members in a ceremony on Thursday evening in Missisauga. Bev Smith notes that, New horse racing inductees share Sam-Son bond including Dancethruthedawn, trainer Mark Frostad and Tammy Samuel-Balaz:

“I had a great relationship with her,” said Frostad, speaking of Samuel-Balaz, who served as president. “She was a ferocious competitor, loved the game and we had a lot of success together. It was much the same working with her as with Ernie.”

Frostad said Samuel-Balaz “created her own brand,” was a “terrific speaker,” was passionately Canadian and loved her horses.

Few outside the family knew she was ill. She didn’t want to be treated differently. “She was a very private person,” Frostad said. “And she just kept trucking. She was quite a person and a great friend.”

Sovereign Award collector Curtis Stock advises, Post positions set for Canadian Derby:

Terry Jordan has the morning-line favourite — Line Change — for Saturday’s $300,000 Canadian Derby at Northlands Park.

But at Wednesday’s post position draw, the trainer looked like a man who was on his way to a blind dentist for a triple root canal.

“It’s no good. It’s very uncomfortable for me,” said Jordan, his head down.

Jordan wasn’t complaining about being the 5-2 favourite, even though he admitted he was a little surprised given that Line Change, owned by Bob Cheema, comes off a lacklustre sixth-place finish where he was also favoured.

“I hope the oddsmakers know what they are talking about,” he said without a smile.

Just how strong is this year's three-year-old crop? Bowman's Causeway, who finished fourth in the Queen's Plate and second in the Prince of Wales, is eyeing a big prize at Saratoga. The Times-Union reports, Chad Brown eyeing a Travers win:

While most of the Travers attention will be going to Stay Thirsty and Coil and Shackleford, Brown is going to sneak into the starting gate with a colt named Bowman’s Causeway, who is coming off a second place finish in the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie in Canada.
Before that, he was secoond in the Queen’s Plate Trial and then was fourth in the Queen’s Plate. Both of those races were at Woodbine.

“I love the way the horse is training,” Brown said while sitting in his office on a rainy Monday morning on the Oklahoma Training Track. “I don’t know if he is fast enough … he will have to improve. But, he has done nothing but improve every time.”

Still Need More?
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PHOTO FINISH

You can't pass Riley Ripasso!