Page 12 - The Game November 2006

12 The Game, November 2006 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Ballycroy Continues to Make Improvements
Owning a farm is a continual work in progress and nobody knows that better than Steve and Kathleen Kemp at Ballycroy Training Centre.
The Kemps have been working with horses for more than sixteen years and have owned their farm just north of Hwy 9 and west of 50 since 1992.
Originally an equestrian centre, Ballycroy has been through a metamorphosis and is now a full service thoroughbred training facility equipped with a terrific 3/4 mile dirt track and a 3 horse starting gate. The immaculate, bright and well ventilated barn is attached to an indoor training arena as well as an indoor Odyssey Performance Trainer. There is an outdoor 150 x 400 ft. sand ring as well as plenty of new 4 board oak paddocks for turn out and a round pen for breaking.
“We have also purchased the track railing from Woodbine when they replaced it this summer.” said Steve Kemp about the finishing touches he is planning for the track this winter.
In a separate area of the farm is a newly refurbished Broodmare barn which provides ample room for foaling as well as 24 surveillance and foal watch.
Returning to Ballycroy Training Centre for the third straight winter will be trainer Lorne Richards and his horses which include millionaire Financingavailablle as well as Ok Nothanksforaskn and My Lucky Strike.
“I like the place and Steve and Kathleen are good people to deal with,” said Lorne when asked to comment on his experience at Ballycroy, “ I am happy with the facility and the horses have done well there.”
The facilities at Ballycroy will not only allow trainers to get their horses ready for the track in the Spring it will provide them with a place to keep their horses fit and ready to
race all season. “We’ve been running our horses off of the farm,” says Steve explaining that trainers can keep their clients horses in training regard- less of the number of stalls they have been allocated at
the racetrack. “They can keep
fit at Ballycroy and rotate them into the racetrack - ready to race.” Says Steve.
Fernandes, Dionne dominate Fort's cup races
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Vern Fernandes has been an owner for 18 years and a trainer for 15, but he's never had as successful a year as he's enjoying this season at Fort Erie.
At the beginning of October, Fernandes was in sixth place among all trainers -- despite having a stable of only four horses. Most of the other "top ten" stables had a dozen to more than 20 Thoroughbreds under their shed rows.
"My wife Pat and I have been very fortunate," said Fernandes. "We have nice horses, capable jockeys, and a great exercise rider in Roy Sanelli, who keeps them under control in the mornings, which is so important."
The stable star is Cold War, winner of three of the four $30,000 cup races at a route distance, two of them within eight days (The fourth route cup race was run on the grass). That gave the five-year-old gelded son of War Deputy a six-race winning streak, making his overall record nine wins in 13 starts and two seconds. Two of his wins were at Woodbine and his overall purse money earned was nearly $140,000.
If that wasn’t impressive enough, his most recent win was a 2 1/2 length victory in a $78,800 allowance race at Woodbine on October 9 which also gave him the honour of being the winningest horse in all of North America with 10 visits to the winner’s enclosure this year. His win streak extending to seven.
Not bad for a "throw in," as Fernandes explained it: "I trained him last year for owner Jean Hawkins. We were running him short and he had just two wins in 18 starts. Unfortunately, Jean died last winter and her husband wasn't able to take care of the horses. We bought a filly from him in January and Cold War was included. The filly never made it to the races. Cold War had quite a few problems and we worked on him every day for six weeks, with a veterinary check every week.
"We babied him along but we weren't sure he'd make it back to the races. His first race was at a $4,000 claiming price. He was only seventh or so, but he was trying. The next start he did better." Then came two wins, at $4,750 and $7,500, a neck loss in a $5,000 starter, a Woodbine win at $19,000, a fourth in another starter allowance, and then the streak of victories, topped by a 93 Beyer rating in the Peace Bridge Stakes Aug. 13.
David Clark rides Cold War at Woodbine and Regina Sealock rode him in his first five Fort starts until being injured. Monique Dionne replaced her and kept the horse's sensational streak of wins going.
"I didn't know anything about him until I worked
him this spring," Dionne said. "I loved him and wanted to ride him in a race. He's just a pleasure to ride. He'll rate for you and pay attention, and when he hears the other horses coming up (Cold War usually is on the lead or close to it) he has another gear -- and so much heart." "He likes to run, we're fortunate to have him," Fernandes added.
With all of Cold War's success it would be easy to overlook Fernandes' second-best horse, who would probably be the "big horse" in almost every other barn, a six-year-old mare named Harvest Singing. A come-from-behind sprinter, the daughter of Dr. Adagio also has one cup win and might have placed in two others except for starting gate problems. But overall she has four wins, two seconds, a third (in nine starts) and $57,850 in purse money.
"We bought her from another trainer when she was a maiden," recalled Fernandes. "She won a couple of races that first year and then we put her away in September after she developed some problems. The next year she won three times but last year she just couldn't win -- five seconds, some by a nose. This year I think she matured. She's stretched out from five furlongs to six or six and a half."
"I rode her late last season," Dionne noted, "but she was kind of nervous. This year we get along bet- ter, but she used to be a handful. She loves to run and has her best speed figures when I've ridden her. She sits close to the pace and has gotten stronger. She couldn't get the longer sprint distances before."
Dionne, who won a fifth cup race (a turf sprint) on Lindsay's Dove for trainer Daryl Ezra, also has been in the winner's circle with Fernandes' Outflanker's Token. Despite the cup success of the Fernandes- Dionne team, Fort handicappers let the horse get away for a $31.90 win price on Sept. 25. The fourth member of the Pat and Vern Fernandes stable is Whatwuzithinkin, a maiden filly.
Fernandes is a native of Guyana, located in the northern part of South America, between Brazil and Dutch Guyana. "It's considered part of the West Indies, although it's not an Island, because it has the same customs, language accents and food," he explained. "Friends of my family and some of our neighbors had race horses. We competed on a dirt track but the grandstand burned down and now they race in the 'bush.'"
Fernandes and his wife Pat ("No experience with horses other than being Irish," she admitted) became owners in 1988. Their trainers included George Bankuti, Candy Warwick and Winston Wilkinson, but Vern always handled the horses in the barns. He became a licensed trainer in '95.
"We've had some nice horses over the years," said Pat Fernandes. "Linda Pinda won 14 races for us. Foreign Currency made $100,000. Magassas Mink was our first good one, a nice sprinter. They're all my favorites." Continued Next Page
BALLYCROY THOROUGHBRED TRAINING CENTRE
• 3/4 Mile Dirt Training Track & Starting Gate • Large Indoor Arena
• Indoor Odyssey Performance Trainer
• 150’x400’ Outdoor Sand Ring
• New 4 Board Oak Paddocks
• Refurbished Broodmare Barn Offering:
• Thoroughbred Training & Lay-ups • Yearling Breaking
• Broodmare Foaling & Care
• Trailering in Air Ride 4 horse Van
BALLYCROY TRAINING CENTRE
Near Hwy #9 & Hwy #50
Call Steve & Kathleen Kemp 519-940-0107