Page 22 - January 2005 The Game

22 The Game, January 2005 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
Thoroughbred Racing in Ontario - A Year-End Assessment.
Great Canadian Gaming Purchases Fraser Downs & Sandown Park
By Peter Gross
The Woodbine Entertainment Group has made its pari-mutuel list and checked it twice and pretty well determined that the bettors this year were not at all naughty, in fact they were pretty nice.
True, the overall betting totals of $338,349,998 (couldn't someone have bet another $2?) from 167 cards and 1522 races is off some 2.6% from 2003, but a third of a billion dollars is hardly penny-ante. And there were a couple of trends that the company is delighted with. First of all, the average size of fields increased from 8.1 to 8.8 horses per race. This is good because the more quality horses per race, the more interest can be generated amongst the bettors, the more money will be bet.
To make those bets easier for the horseplayer, WEG introduced an internet wagering site last January. Well before this innovation, the amount of money gambled through internet sites around the world was well into ten figures. With Canadian horseplayers now able to play through their computers, WEG saw its telephone account and internet wagering rise to $66 million for the year, an increase of 20% from the previous 12 months.
On the track, it's possible that The Two Bit's Stable A Bit of Gold is second guessing himself this winter. A Bit of Gold was a close second to Niigon in the Queen's Plate, then won the Prince of Wales and Breeders' Stakes to become the first horse since Runaway Groom in 1982 to win the last two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown. Niigon's Queen's Plate win gave veteran Robert Landry his first Plate victory; Jono Jones was the capable pilot on all of A Bit of Gold's races.
But how many times this winter will A Bit of Gold look in the mirror and ask Why Didn't I Win the Plate?
Probably the most intriguing story of the year had to do with Todd Kabel's relentless assault on Avelino Gomez' 38 year-old stakes winning record. Kabel had a sensational year, running away with the riding title by hitting the winner's circle 156 times, 19 ahead of Patrick Husbands. But the country's best jock found himself in a bizarre real-life plot line that was eerily similar to that of Bernie Mac's film Mr 3000. In that baseball comedy a retired baseball player is living off the fact that he stroked exactly 3000 hits in his career. However, it is subsequent- ly discovered, thanks to inaccurate records, that he only hit safely 2997 times.
Sure enough, when Kabel won the Frost King Stakes with Steve Attard's 2-year-old, Enough is Enough on October 27, he was assured that he had tied the record of 32 stakes victories set in 1966 by the irrepressible Gomez. Turned out Gomez was even more irrepressible; thanks to four wins by El Perfecto in stakes races that are no longer run, it was revealed that Gomez' total was actually 36.
Todd thought it odd that he was clawed back, but Kabel was able (and he had the right stables) - he won the South Ocean Stakes on November 10 with the 2 year-old filly Coastal Fortress, then on November 14, he scored the Jammed Lovely Stakes with a 3-year-old filly Financingavailable. Five year-old mare Brass In Pocket carried Kabel to victory in the Classy'N Smart stakes on December 1 and then on December 12, the final day of the racing season, Kabel brought home the most appropriately named Enough is Enough in the Kingarvie stakes to go into the record books tied with Gomez. (Assuming another audit does not reveal a long lost win for Canada's favourite Cuban rider.) And breaking down Kabel's numbers shows that the guy can hit to all fields - he won 22 stakes races on the dirt and 14 on the grass.
There was another jockey who got to share something with Avelino Gomez. In June veteran Francine Villeneuve was awarded the Avelino Gomez trophy for her long-time contribution to the sport. The trophy is given out annually on the day that the Canadian Oaks is run. Gomez, a four-time Queen's Plate winner died after a three-horse spill in the Oaks in 1980.
pulled off a daily double on September 6 that rivals anything Gomez ever did. After directing Wholelottabourbon to a win in the Silver Deputy Stakes at Woodbine, Villeneuve took a helicopter to Fort Erie where she promptly guided A Nice Splash to victory in the Puss N Boots stakes. And, as is traditional in this race, Villeneuve and trainer Bruce Alexander jumped into the Fort Erie infield lake to celebrate the win. A Nice Splash indeed!
Jockey Constant Montpellier finally scored his 1000th career win but he had company in wishing it had not taken so long. On November 20, a heavy fog had settled over Woodbine Racetrack. In order to call the horses, announcer Dan Loiselle had to resort to plan 'B'.
"It was probably the first time in 18 years I've called an entire race off a monitor. You couldn't see the start of the seven furlong race because of the fog," says Loiselle.
"I'm still calling off the monitor as they come into the stretch and here comes Montpellier and he takes the lead, which I think is a clear lead and I say 'Heart N Solo with the lead. Looks like Montpellier's going to win his 1000th'..and son of a gun flying out of the fog comes this horse and I said something like 'Montpellier's going to win his 1000th - maybe not! Christine's Prize up in time!'"
Four days later on a fog free evening at Woodbine, Montpellier scored with D Girl in Blue for his 1000th win and Loiselle wasn't above poking a little fun at himself.
"As they crossed under the wire, I said, 'and Constant Montpellier wins his 1000th career race-definitely!'"
Stephen Bahen was also shooting for his 1000th win, but was shut out on the final weekend of racing. So Bahen will start the 2005 season needing just two wins to break into four figures.
Now who do you think had the best single day at the track in 2004? We know that one unidentified bettor scored over $1million in the Super seven on Woodbine's trots a few weeks ago, but even that pales in comparison to the day Frank Stronach had.
Mr. Stronach is the owner of Lone Star Park in Texas. It's one of several tracks under the Magna Entertainment banner. On October 30th Lone Star hosted the prestigious Breeders' Cup Races. Not only did the spectacular day of racing come off without the proverbial hitch on a perfect day for racing, but Stronach's colt, Ghostzapper was sensational, leading all the way to win the $4 Million Cup Classic. That would have been a pretty good day at the races in anyone's books, but there was much more for Stronach. Ghostzapper is a son of Awesome Again, the wonderful Canadian stallion owned by Stronach. Awesome Again captured the Cup Classic in 1998, so Stronach has become the first person to win this race with the father and the son (and the Holy Ghostzapper if you want to go trinity on this!). Awesome Again is also the father of Wilco who upset the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Colts at odds of 29-1 and if that wasn't enough, Stronach capped his amazing day by watching his Royal Regalia come first in the stakes race on turf that followed the Breeders Cup races.
It's hard to imagine what it must be like to be Frank Stronach.
Some of us collect salt and pepper shakers, or baseball cards or those snow globes. Frank Stronach collects racetracks. The latest word is he wants to buy Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga and the thing you should know is that when Stronach puts something on his Christmas list, it usually ends up in his stocking.
As for the rest of us, the Woodbine Entertainment Group is planning a full season of Thoroughbred Racing beginning on Saturday April 17. 167 days of racing. More than 1500 races. More than 1500 chances for financial redemption.
Villeneuve, with 17 years race riding under her belt,
Happy New Year!
Great Canadian Gaming Corp., owner of Hastings Entertainment Inc. operator of Hastings Racecourse, reached into it’s apparently deep pockets in December and purchased Orangeville Raceway Ltd. Operators of B.C’s two harness tracks Fraser Downs Racetrack and Casino in Surrey, and Sandown Park in Sydney for a reported $40 million.
Fraser Downs is still in the process of construction of it’s new casino which opened earlier this year while the smaller Sandown Park has just been approved by North Sannich voters to operate 200 slot machines. While the deal is still subject to approval of the regulatory bodies it is expected to
close by January 2005.
The very popular Chuck Keeling will remain as general manager for at least one year. The acquisition of Orangeville makes Richmond B.C based Great Canadian Gaming, also owners of Hastings Park, the largest operator of racetracks in Western Canada. - Jim Reynolds
The Game’s Stacie Roberts and her Grandma, Jean Roberts, attended the Windfields Farm Open House on October 23. Grandma Jean is the namesake of three-year-old filly “Foxy Jean” who com- petes at Woodbine for her son Les Roberts of Wings of Erin Farm. Grandma was excited to meet Whiskey Wisdom who stands stud at Windfields Farm and is the sire of Foxy Jean.
News In Review - The Roger Attfield trained, Smartest Thing, had to be humanely destroyed after breaking down during a workout on the main track at Woodbine in late November.
The promising 2-year-old filly, owned by Roger in partnership with Bill Werner and Mickey and Phyllis Canino, was preparing for the Ontario Lassie Stakes coming off of an impressive maiden breaking win on November 13. She had finished second in each of her previous two starts which included the Princess Elizabeth Stakes.
Regular rider, Gerry Olguin suffered a broken collar bone when he went down hard in the spill.