HorseRacing Central September 5, 2008

CTHS DOMINATES THE SPOTLIGHT

This is the time of year when the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society of British Columbia takes over centre stage with back-to-back stakes races at Hastings Racecourse followed by the annual Yearling & Mixed Sale at Thunderbird Show Park in Langley on Tuesday, Sept. 9.

To emphasize the importance of the yearly CTHS sale, we need only name the likes of Dancing Allstar, Desert Alf, Napa, Ookashada, Spaghetti Mouse, Suva, Call Me Tomorrow, Remarkable Miss, Star Prospector and Roscoe Pito as part of the graduating classes that went on to stakes stardom as B.C.-bred horses.

The grads from the 2007 CTHS Sale will be in action this weekend at Hastings: Saturday the fillies and Sunday the colts and geldings in consecutive $60,000 stakes races.

The likely favourite Saturday could be first-time starter Ookster, a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Ookashada, owned by the Boylan and TD Stables and trained by Toni Cloutier. Reigning 2-year-old champion El Sinaloense will be the morning line favourite Sunday.

If you want to catch a peak at next year’s racing super stars the CTHS is staging a horses-on-parade preview beginning at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8 with the sale beginning Tuesday at 12:00 noon. Both days are a lot of fun with live entertainment, food and beverage outlets and dust-kickin’ horse owners and wannabe owners more than willing to shoot the breeze. Blue jeans and cowboy boots are the accepted attire.

OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD

True Metropolitan, last season’s Horse-of-the-Year in British Columbia, will be the odds-on choice in the $100,000 Speed to Spare Stakes at Northlands Park in Edmonton Saturday. All runners will carry 126 pounds over a 1 3/8-mile course and only three rivals are brave enough to take “True Met” on at equal weights. His last performance was an unlucky runner-up effort from the 11th post in the $300,000 Longacres Mile. Veteran jockey Quincy Welch will ride True Metropolitan and the race is set for 3:42 p.m. local time, televised on our regular simulcast network.

Big things are happening at Woodbine on Sunday with three graded stakes highlighted by the $1 million Woodbine Mile over the E.P. Taylor turf course. The favourite is reigning Breeders’ Cup Mile champion Kip Deville. There are seven challengers in the “Win and You’re In” for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita.

Also on the program is the $750,000 Northern Dancer Stakes with Better Talk Now – a former Breeders’ Cup champ – part of an evenly-matched field that includes Euro import Quijano, Champs Elysees, Frost Giant and Strike a Deal.

The $300,000 Canadian Stakes for fillies and mares over 9 furlongs on the turf course completes the stakes action Sunday at Woodbine. Sealy Hill – the 2007 Horse-of-the-Year – is the headliner in a field of eleven.

HISTORIC DAILY DOUBLE AT MOHAWK

Mohawk Raceway has come up with a super promotion for Saturday when the two reigning kings of North American harness racing – trotter Deweycheatumnhowe and pacer Somebeachsomewhere – both race in an unprecedented first duel appearance.

Dewey, unbeaten in 17 career starts, will appear in an elimination race for the upcoming $1 million Canadian Trotting Classic. Somebeachsomewhere, winner of 14 of 15 lifetime starts, will race in the Simcoe stakes for 3-year-olds. It’s been billed as “an historic daily double”. Deweycheatumnhowe has banked $2.2 million while Somebeachsomewhere has lifetime earnings of $2.3 million.

CLOSING NOTES AT THE WIRE

Fraser Downs management has officially set qualifiers for Tuesday, Sept. 9 and Wednesday, Sept. 10 with entries being accepted by 9:00 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 15, four days before the season opening on Friday, Sept. 19 … The 2nd annual University or College Student Scholarship Day at Hastings is this Sunday – Sept. 7 – when a total of $5,000 in scholarships will be awarded to a local student with additional scholarships being presented for $2500, $1500 and $1000.

Exclusive Offer to HorseRacing Central subscribers: This month we will make a draw for HRC Members Only eligible to a share of $1,000 just for being a member. The monthly winners will receive $500 cash; $250 as second prize; $150 for third; and $100 for fourth.
You can sign up now – at no charge – to become a HorseRacing Central subscriber. (See Guest Services or join on-line at http://www.hastingsracecourse.com )