Page 6 - The Game April 2006

6 The Game, April 2006 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
Trainer Having a Good Winter at Hawthorne Park
Fort Erie based trainer Ralph Quaranta and his wife Debbie have been having a great winter meet at Hawthorne Race Course and are already making plans to return.
Located in the suburbs of Chicago, Hawthorne Race Course has been home for Ralph and Debbie since October 12, 2005 where they have been training and racing horses for owners Colebrook Farms, Paul Cooper and Jim Wright as well as one of their own.
Ralph recorded 3 wins, 11 seconds and 5 thirds by the time the 2005 meet ended on January 2, 2006.
“The horses I had fit the conditions at Hawthorne. I found after a work over the track, the horses could run.” Said Ralph who admits that he really didn’t know what made him consider the Illinois track for the winter other than a conversation with Racing Secretary Gary Duch who said it sounded like his horses would fit the conditions.
During the winter months they sold a few horses and had a few claimed as well as making a couple of claims themselves. Four-year-old gelding, Sea Scone, by Captain Bodgit out of a Crafty Prospector mare was claimed for owner Jim Wright and partner Debbie Quaranta shortly after the 2006 racing season began in late February. Tom Prado, a 7-year-old gelding by El Prado out of a Woodman mare was claimed for Paul Cooper and Debbie.
Both horses will be coming back fit and ready to compete at Fort Erie when Ralph and Debbie return home on April 5 where they will have 15 stalls for the 2006 season.
“I love Hawthorne,” said Ralph about his winter racing experience, “We were allowed to train on the main track at no charge in between the race meets. They really cater to the horse- men and when my owners flew in, the racetrack people treated them ‘like they were something’. They are a real class act here.”
The 2006 Spring meet at Hawthorne began February 24 with live thoroughbred racing Fridays through Tuesdays. The Spring meet boasts a $1.8 million stakes schedule which includes their feature race, the Gr2 $500,000 Illinois Derby on April 8. The Spring meet ends May 2 and the Fall meet will begin September 15 through to December 31, 2006.
Trainer Ralph Quaranta (right) and his wife Debbie flank Hawthorne Race Course’s Assistant General Manager of Thoroughbred Racing, Jim Miller, at the Chicago area racetrack on March 12.
Woodbine Celebrates 50Years
Woodbine Entertainment Group is planning to mark it’s 50th Anniversary with a special celebration scheduled for July 23 with the feature race of the day being the inaugural running of the Northern Dancer Breeders' Cup Turf Stakes.
The 1 1/2 mile race, which replaces the Niagara Breeders' Cup Stakes, will be run over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course which Chris Evans, VP of Thoroughbred Racing at Woodbine, says is an appropriate surface for the race.
“Northern Dancer’s bloodline has pro-dominated on turf.” says Chris, who confesses that he is passionate about Northern Dancer, his childhood hero, “Every horse in the 2005 L’Arc de Triomphe traced back to Northern Dancer. He is dominant on the turf.”
The late "Dancer" made a name for himself and his country on the world's biggest stage by winning the 1964 Kentucky Derby, the first Canadian horse to do so. He is still, arguably, Canada's and Woodbine's most famous horse racing export.
Woodbine is hoping that this race will be a major attraction during the mid-summer months and will have success in attracting top notch turf horses. While the race will remain at the Niagara’s Grade 2 status, Chris Evans says he can see the race being upgraded to a Grade 1 race in the future.
The $700,000 purse which is offered for the race was funded by a redistribution of the existing purse structure. There was a loss of $508,000 from the CTHS, T.I.P. funding this year and in effect the races in the program that had “added” purses have now been adjusted to be guaranteed races, saving $1 million to be distributed elsewhere. The Ontario Derby Stakes has also been given a boost in purse money to $200,000 in an effort to raise it’s profile in Woodbine’s Stakes schedule.
The winner of the Northern Dancer Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes will be presented with a trophy as well as a blanket of flowers in the turquoise and gold colours of the Taylor family’s Windfields Farm.
Sutherland featured inVogue
Chantal Sutherland has had a few picture-perfect moments in her career, but never anything quite like this.
Sutherland, Canada's champion apprentice rider in 2001 and 2002,
appeared in the April
issue of Vogue
magazine's U.S. edition, captured on camera by high-pro- file photographer Annie Leibovitz. There's also an accompanying feature story.
"Being
photographed by
someone so promi-
nent was exciting and a fabulous experience," said Sutherland, who moved her tack from Woodbine to the United States after the 2004 Toronto oval campaign. "Annie has a strong presence and things just kind of evolved into a moment that she was able
to capture on camera."
Sutherland, who won her first career race on
October 9, 2000 at Woodbine aboard six-year-old Silver Bounty, competed in New York and Florida in 2005, riding for several high-profile trainers, including Hall of Fame conditioner Alan Jerkens and Eclipse Award-win- ning trainer Todd Pletcher. Last year, the 30-year- old captured the 31st running of the Grade 2, $150,000 Tom Fool Handicap with Smokume, giving Sutherland her first
Chantal Sutherland featured in April’s Vogue
graded stakes victory. "Hopefully, the photo comes out the way Annie wanted it to and it will be fabulous," said the native of Winnipeg, who appeared in a 2004 TV commercial for Esquire watches. "I pray that it will be a positive thing for racing and people
will enjoy it."
Did You Know...
That a new travel and information website for sports fans was introduced by ESPN and Orbitz who have teamed up to create ESPN Sports Travel. If you log on to http://sports.espn.go.com/travel/ you can
book flights and hotels through Orbitz without leaving the ESPN.com website which includes information on schedules, stats and news as well as a new sports trip-planner for events such as college basketball finals, the Indy 500 and the Kentucky Derby.
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