Page 29 - The Game May 2006

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, May 2006 29
Photo Right: Nancy Warner, wife of trainer Robert Warner, leads first race of 2006 winner, Bankerette, back to the barn.
Nancy and Robert also own the 6-year-old mare.
Photo Below:
A crew of Fort Erie jockey valets
Woodbine's 50th:Trading Cards, Northern Dancer and Marilyn Monroe
Opening Day at Fort Erie - April 29, 2006
By Peter Gross
The first fans into Woodbine on Opening Day, 2006, got a taste of what's in store for visitors to the track, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Woodbine opened on June 12, 1956 and that day Air Page won the Canadian Oaks for three-year-old fillies. On April 1 of this year, Woodbine gave out its first batch of jockey trading cards, an idea that got both the fans and the jockeys excited.
Champion rider Emma- Jayne Wilson hadn't even seen the cards when she sat down to give her auto- graph out to the early birds. She held up the session for a moment while she admired her action shot on the front of the card.
"These are
great," she
exclaimed, then
proceeded to sign graciously for all the fans who asked.
Meredith Vlitas, the Marketing Manager for Woodbine Entertainment said the company was looking for something fun to help kick off the 50th season.
"We have done autograph sessions for a number of years and the fans love it", said Vlitas, "and we wanted to do something different for them aside from the head shots. We thought trading cards would be an excellent avenue. A few of us shared the idea internally and agreed it was a good idea."
For the first week of racing, eight cards were printed, and the lucky jockeys to be immortalized on cardboard are Emma- Jayne Wilson, Jim McAleney, Jill Sharfstein, Corey Fraser, Ray Sabourin, Robert Landry, Dino Luciani and Constant Montpellier. As the season goes on, at least thirty jockey cards will be produced.
"We're looking to fill a whole card set," says Vlitas, "Anytime we have autograph sessions during the year, people will be able to get their trading cards and have them signed. We will also issue additional cards for the set after every major race - The Oaks, Queens Plate, Breeders' Stakes, Woodbine Mile, Pattison Canadian International, and The Northern Dancer Breeders' Cup Turf."
That last race, the Northern Dancer Breeders' Cup Turf, will be run on July 23rd, the day on which Woodbine will
officially celebrate its 50th birthday and the track does not expect to come up short of ideas to entice a huge crowd.
There will be autograph sessions with jockeys, Long Run will be parading descendants of Northern Dancer and celebrity look-alikes will be working their way through the crowd.
"So far, we think we've got Marilyn Monroe, Sugar Ray Leonard and Joe Montana impersonators," says Vlitas, "We
also hope to visited by Tom Hanks, Buddy Holly and the Lone Ranger." Oh that's good, because maybe then we can settle once and for all the apparent boast by Silver that he had a romantic tryst sometime in 1961 with Natalma, the dam of Northern Dancer.
In the souvenir department, Woodbine will be giving away a special edition of The International Thoroughbred Digest, which will be filled by the fans' own favourite recollections of moments at the grand old track. After great debate, it was decided to lower the price of the buffet to $20.06. Strangely the price of $19.56 was rejected, and my pro- posal to have the buffet available for just $2.30 (Northern Dancer's win price in the 1964 Queen's Plate) was soundly
overruled.
The quirkiest idea for the 50th
celebrations is the bottle of dirt that fans will be able to purchase.
"Yes, you can own a piece of Woodbine," explains Vlitas, "As you know, our main track is being replaced by Polytrack, so we'll be bottling the old main track and selling these bottles on July 23rd or trading them for a charitable donation to Long Run."
To be sure, that dirt has sure been turned over a few thousand times, but the thought that even a miniscule trace of the DNA of such greats as Northern Dancer, Peteski, Dance Smartly or Awesome Again might be floating in the bottled soil could get a few hearts pumping.
And who knows? Maybe fifty years hence, a Justin Stein rookie card might sell on E-Bay for as much as a Babe Ruth card. Might be a good idea to get to Woodbine the day they give it out for free.
Woodbine Jockey trading cards
Meanwhile on the Backstretch at Fort Erie
Phil Fuller has been grooming horses for the past 17 years at Woodbine and Greenwood racetracks.
Born in Wellington, New Zealand, he immigrated to Canada with his family when he was 8 years old. His father ran the kitchen at Greenwood for 14 years in the 1970’s and early 80’s during which time he owned a few standardbred race horses.
After his father got out of the business, Phil stayed on working with the standard- breds at various racetracks including Mohawk, Garden City, and Blue Bonnets.
He began working with thoroughbreds in 1989 with trainers Donny Campbell, Joanna Hoetzendorfer and Ron Burke and has been with Joanna for the past 10 years. This is the second year at Fort Erie with Joanna after she moved her stable to the border oval from Woodbine and he currently rubs 5 or 6 of Joanna’s 11 horses at the track.
Phil has quite a few favourites in the barn including a pair of geldings, 6-year- old Haliburton Wild and 5-year-old
Groom Phil Fuller
Fortunate Vince. He also owns a piece of a maiden 4-year-old filly, Fare Foxy, with another of Joanna’s owners.
“I’m attached to my horses. I love them.” said Phil when asked about his choice of careers, “Joanna is so nice to work for. I consider her my friend. I love my job. Money isn’t everything as long as I can live and eat and walk around. I enjoy what I’m doing and I look forward to every horse I am running.”
Vern Avery of Brooks Feed Store and Kentucky Equine Research in conjunction with Minor Bros. will be available for consultation every Monday and Tuesday on the Fort Erie backstretch. Vern specializes in livestock nutrition and can help trainers develop a special nutrition management program. He can also help with feeding solutions to special problems such as tying up, weight problems and eating disorders. For more information contact Kevin at Minor Bros. at 905-658-7225
or Vern at 705-928-1288.
Two Furlong Races for 2-year-olds at Woodbine
Although two-furlong tilts for two-year-olds were common at Greenwood in the 1970s, on Saturday, April 15, 2006 Woodbine ran its first two-furlong race in in it’s 50 year history, a maiden $60,000 allowance for two-year-old fillies. The 2-year-old boys also raced for $60,000 at the same distance the following day.
Trainer Gil Rowntree’s homebred, Silver Twine, with Corey Fraser aboard was the fastest filly at 22.65 while the Laurie Silvera trained, Hidden Point Farm owned, Pete’s Wonder, ridden by Emile Ramsammy ran the fastest for the boys in 21.85
After a 22 year career as a jockey, Tyrone Harding is retiring from riding in the afternoons at Fort Erie. “I had a lot of back pain at the end of the year last year.” explains Tyrone of his decision, “I have to be nice to myself and take it easy on myself.” Tyrone will continue to gallop horses in the morning and is working as a jockey valet in the afternoon.
Tyrone began his riding career in his native Barbados and immigrated to Toronto in 1988. He has lived in Fort Erie since 1991 with his wife Sandra and their four children.