Page 5 - The Game January 2006

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, January 2006 5
Wrapping Up Woodbine
By Peter Gross
This retrospective on the year at Woodbine is not intended to malign the quality of the horses that performed so nobly for so many races. Let's just say that this was the year that human accomplish- ments seemed more impressive than equine ones.
It' s more than likely that, in many years we'll be saying 2005
was when we learned what a wonderful jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson is. After just four wins in 2004, Wilson dominated the jockey scene in Canada with a tour-de- force at Woodbine. Her statistics are documented elsewhere in this edition of The Game, but mere numbers cannot describe what many racing fans saw. In race after race, Wilson showed profession- alism far beyond her limited experience, saving horses on the rail in mid-race and demonstrating remarkable timing to get her mount up in the final stride. There were so many times she looked like anything but an apprentice with an uncanny ability to exactly judge where the finish line was.
Wilson is the first woman to win the Woodbine rider's title; more than that she is the first jockey since Sandy Hawley to generate this kind of buzz around the track.
If not for Wilson, this would have been a stunning year for Corey Fraser. Fraser became a journeyman jock in late summer, losing the five-pound bug that apprentices are allowed, but that proved to be no handicap whatsoever. Fraser's 136 - win season suggests a long and fruitful career
clock starts on her apprenticeship.
You have to give the guys in Woodbine's Media Office credit. Jockey Todd Kabel won his 3000th race on Saturday, October 29th. Since it was Breeders' Cup day, the races had an early post time at Woodbine and when Kabel inspired the Stronach Stables two-year-old filly Sprightly to victory in the second race, it would have been understandable if the moment had been lost to the day's bigger events. Not so. In an instant, a giant sign commemorating Kabel's significant feat was being held up in the winner's circle. This isn't all that surprising. To be sure, Woodbine's Media guys - John Siscos and Chris Lomon - are kind of obsessive
about this kind of thing.
For example on November 3rd they put
out a release announcing that jockey Daniel David was one win short of 1000 for the career. Then on November 4th, they issued the same advisory. In fact, no less than twelve times, the media was apprised of David's impending historic moment. Finally, on November 30th, David obliged, riding the favourite Lake Secret into the winner's circle for the 1000th win of his brave career.
Now to the horses. Quick - name a Woodbine based horse that dominated this year. Tough one, eh? Take the Queen's Plate for example. Well that's exactly what owner Dan Borislow did. He brought in the three-year-old Wild Desert off exactly no wins on the year, then pounded him at the windows
in the Plate field to subsequently win a race was Molinaro Beau who won a race on November 10th. And just what kind of horses did Molinaro Beau beat on that unforgettable day in November?
Maidens. Yeah Maidens.
And this was the year that Woodbine really raised the bar on behalf of its betting patrons. In July the 20-cent Superfecta was introduced. There's at least one fan who is very grateful for that. On the
eleventh race of August 27th, the super paid $37,000 and the only winner was a player who had bet just 20 cents on the outcome.
There wasn't much the track could do about the weather though, Call it Global Warming if you like, but the wind, especially the one prevailing out of the north-west, played a huge role at
Woodbine this year. At least half a dozen cards were cancelled when the jockeys felt the winds made it too dangerous to ride.
"Sometimes it's not actually the wind speed," says Irwin Driedger, spokesman for the jockeys, "It's the direction that the wind is coming from and the way that it's hitting the horses. It's the gusts that are the worst, If it hits a horse and moves it three, four feet and you're on top of heels, then you're in a bad situation."
Actually, Woodbine is doing something huge that might cut down on wind shear in the stretch. The Woodbine Live project that will erect hotels, restaurants and other entertainment structures directly to the north and west of the track just might block the wicked wind of the west.
At least, we can hold a good thought.
ahead. He punctuated a most excellent year with a stunning victory, December 3rd, on Miss Concerto in the Bessarabian Stakes. That one lit up the tote board paying $62.00.
However, no one shocked the bettors more spectacularly than apprentice Michelle Rainford. In the last race of the last day of November, Rainford rallied Diamon Sue from last down the back- stretch to win by a neck over 11 other $10,000 claimers. At odds of 132-1, Diamon sue paid $266.40, the highest win payoff of the year at Woodbine.
"She just kept on coming," said a delighted Rainford about her third lifetime win, "At the top of the lane, I said, we better keep on trying because everyone's falling back and at the last second she made a huge effort to get up and win. It was a shock."
Rainford ended 2005 with four winners, knowing that after her fifth victory the
($15,000 win, place, we're told). Wild Desert won, but Northern Dance isn't exactly spinning in his grave. The replay of the stretch run just looks like slo-mo; a final quarter of over 27 seconds contributed to a time of 207.3 for the mile and a quarter. Borislow's departure from Toronto seemed much faster; in a blink he was across the border with $600,000 in purse winnings and another $100,000 from his betting. Most people go to Woodbine to enjoy a beautiful day at the races. For Borislow, it was little more than a visit to his friendly ATM.
How forgettable were the horses in this year's Queen's Plate? Well the top three finishers in the Plate Trial were 7th, 8th and last in the 9-horse Plate Field. And after the Plate, did these horses travel the continent, bowling over opposition at will, collecting silverware and mega-bucks?
Well, Ablo did splash to victory in the Prince of Wales. But the only other horse
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