Fort Erie stays open; Woodbine trainers getting busy south of the border; and Randy Waples closes in on 5000 wins

Fantastic news for the horsemen of Fort Erie arrived on Thursday afternoon when it was announced that the border oval received an economic boost that will keep the track in operation for a guaranteed three years.

Corey Fraser celebrates winning the Prince of Wales at Fort Erie aboard Gallant


As an added bonus, quarterhorse racing will be added to the mix to entice bettors to the historic racetrack.

Down The Stretch contributor Perry Lefko penned the following piece in today's Toronto Star.

Not only will Fort Erie Racetrack open for its 113th season, starting May 1, it will offer quarterhorse racing for the first time in more than 30 years as a pilot project to entice customers, in particular from south of the Canadian border.

"This is not mean to replace thoroughbred racing, it's meant to augment it," said Jim Thibert, general manager of the Fort Erie Economic Development and Tourism Corporation. "The quarterhorse racing is a new product that will help rejuvenate (thoroughbred racing). Our biggest market is from Buffalo. We've got to get something to get those people back over here. Not only do they come over here, but they come to bet."

More on this story can be found through the following links:

RACING: New plan introduces more racing in Fort Erie

Fort Erie gets new life, new breed


Fort Erie Racetrack given new life for three years

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Woodbine-based Grand Adventure will be the likely favourite in Saturday's Bonapaw Stakes at Fairgrounds for trainer Mark Frostad. Last out, Grand Adventure was a troubled sixth in the G2 Nearctic Stakes at Woodbine.

Grand Adventure in his Woodbine stall earlier this year


Nine horses will go to post in this five and a half furlong turf sprint. Storm Treasure, who won this event last year for trainer Steve Asmussen, will leave from post nine at odds of 6-1.

P# PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 7 Early Return B J Hernandez, Jr. 118 S Margolis 6/1
1A 8 Due Date (KY)J Graham 118 S Margolis 6/1
2 1 Grand Adventure (KY) S J Sellers 116 M R Frostad 5/1
3 2 Grand Traverse (KY) V Lebron 118 T Glyshaw 6/1
4 3 Turfiste (KY) J Theriot 120 T Glyshaw 4/1
5 4 Major Marvel (KY) M Mena 116 W B Calhoun 6/1
6 5 Proud Jefe (KY) J Lanerie 116 T M Amoss 8/1
7 6 Cosmic (KY) C H Borel 118 C P Borel 3/1
8 9 Storm Treasure (KY) S Bridgmohan 118 S M Asmussen 6/1

For more on this race, check out Abram Himelstein's report in the Daily Racing Form.

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Woodbine's Malcolm Pierce sends out No Use Denying at the Fair Grounds on Sunday to contest the Daily Racing Form Distaff Stakes. The four-year-old Pin Oak Stable filly will take on five others including the favoured War Echo trained by Steve Asmussen.

Malcolm Pierce surveys the morning workouts at Woodbine earlier this year


P# PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1 No Use Denying (KY)F C Torres 118 M Pierce 5/1
2 2 Why Wonder Why (KY) J Graham 115 T Glyshaw 10/1
3 3 Pleasantly Blessed (KY)B J Hernandez, Jr. 118 S M Asmussen 7/2
4 4 War Echo (KY) S Bridgmohan 117 S M Asmussen 9/5
5 5 Fighter Wing (KY) C J Lanerie 118 G Geier 8/1
6 6 Unforgotten (FL) S J Sellers 120 D Stewart 5/2

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Plenty of Woodbine-based trainers are busy south of the border over the coming days.

Mark Casse sends out No Joke No Lie in the tenth race at Tampa Bay Downs this afternoon. 5:34PM Post time. Click here for the entries. The Casse trained Chrome Cruiser finished second yesterday in a $50K claiming event.

Scott Fairlie has a pair entered at Philadelphia Park. Heart of Cold will try tomorrow's second race at the $5K claiming level. Sunday's fourth race at Philly Park will see Fairlie's Graceful Gracie take on a group of $15K claimers.

Scott Fairlie (far left) with the now retired blog favourite Cawaja Beach


Mark Frostad is very busy over the weekend at the Fair Grounds with Dream Delight, Seeking Luck, Lucky Lulu racing Friday, Grand Adventure on Saturday and Battle At Sea on Sunday.

More information on the success of Woodbine trainers, jockeys and horses will be passed along via this blog over the dark winter months.

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On the harness side of the game, driver Randy Waples is closing in on 5000 lifetime wins. The affable linesman, a double O’Brien Award winner as driver of the year, has posted 4996 lifetime wins.

With 10 drives lined up for Friday,December 18 and a further 11 drives on Saturday, December 19,Waples is on track to reach the milestone well before the New Year.

Also approaching a career milestone is veteran driver, Rick Zeron, who has 6984 wins as of December 16 and is gunning for the magic 7000.

Rick Zeron and his son Scott bundled up at a snowy Woodbine


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Finally, the Sovereign Awards have been moved to the swank confines of Ultra Nightclub, in Toronto, Ontario on Friday, January 29th, 2010.

A champagne cocktail reception and hors d’oeuvres begins at 6:00 and will be followed by the presentation of the awards at 8:00. Tickets are $150 and can be purchased by calling the Jockey Club of Canada, (416) 675-7756 or by email jockeyclub@bellnet.ca.

If you're a fan of horse racing, why not come out and mingle with the stars of the racing game.

My Week At Woodbine

On Thursday night, I visited Woodbine's new $11.5M Harness Paddock and Retention Centre - a building whose sole purpose seemed to be blocking the view of the start of seven furlong races. After my visit, I can now appreciate the magic of this new building. On approach, the building rises before you like a cathedral and perhaps a different soul purpose as the backstretch towers provide heavenly lighting. The stable itself houses hundreds of standardbreds readying for the evening's races and the building literally hums with excitement.


(Triple Dead Heat in need of a haircut.)

My task for the evening was to snap photos of Down The Stretch editor Peter Gross wearing Randy Waples colours for the next edition of our paper. We spoke with driver Jody Jamieson who helped us out by providing a horse and bike for Peter as props. Jamieson, with over 4,000 career victories, has won every important race you can name including the Little Brown Jug and the North America Cup - it was great that he took care of us despite a busy card.

On Saturday I watched the races from Woodbine's sixth floor press box and met track announcer Dan Loiselle, who on introduction declared, "Sure...Triple Dead Heat. I've read that, good stuff!" I nearly fell off my chair. Loiselle is a gentleman, full of stories and always smiling. It took some time for me to adjust to listening to Loiselle speak without looking at my program to see which horse might be surging to the wire. The man's voice could make a public reading of the Rules of Civil Procedure exciting.

A nice day of wagering was capped by an exactor of Shut It Down to win the Frost King Stakes at 11-1 on top of Wildcat Fashion for a $109.50 payout. Tyler Pizarro celebrated his brilliant ride with a series of fist pumps. Shut It Down had never been further than two lengths behind the hot favourite Mean Green in two previous outings and was sitting on a big race. Mean Green bounced to finish fourth.

A great weekend was topped off by meeting Sandy Hawley and Laffit Pincay Jr. The two legends spoke at length on Saturday at Woodbine and then made their way on Sunday to Greenwood Teletheatre to do it all over again. A big crowd showed up to both events for the chance to meet a four time Queen's Plate winner (Hawley) and a Kentucky Derby winner (Pincay Jr.)

(15,980 wins - Pincay Jr., Triple Dead Heat and Hawley.)

I surprised both jocks by showing up with a program from the 1988 Rothman's International won by the filly Infamy.



In 1988 I was 14 and already a big racing fan. International Day brought the best jockeys from all over the world to the track and the opportunity for a starstruck kid to collect a few autographs. Some of the legends riding that day included Ray Cochrane, Robbie Davis, Eddie Maple, Angel Cordero Jr., Chris Antley, Jose Santos as well as Hawley and Pincay Jr.

At first Laffit was certain he was not in Toronto for that race, but Hawley pointed to his now 20 year-old signature on River Memories and it all started flooding back. I didn't get to meet Hawley on International day, but Sunday he took the time to sign the program for me while shaking his head in wonder at the names of jockeys he competed against.

To meet heavy hitters like Hawley and Pincay Jr is the equivalent of a baseball fan meeting Joe Dimaggio and Hank Aaron. The energy created by the two friends will do far more to bring the public back to the track than any number of television screens in distant teletheatres.

Well done Woodbine. With some racing luck, next year's Woodbine Oaks day might co-incide with a Legend's Race - and hopefully make a few new fans for a sport where the average age of attendees is 45 and rising.