Page 8 - August/September 2007 The Game

8 The Game, August/September 2007 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
A Look Back in Time - Continued from Page 7
No Triple Crown winners was a concern. Steps were taken to remedy this situation. The lengthy time frame between races was cut approximately in half. Starting in 1989 a million dollar bonus was acquired from the Bank of Montreal for winning all three legs. Perhaps the most radical change came in 1988 to the Prince of Wales itself. It was switched from grass to dirt and the distance was trimmed sharply to 1 3/16th miles. The first two legs now mirrored exactly the first two legs of the U.S. Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. The only difference came in the third legs with the Belmont on dirt and the Breeders on turf.
Whatever the reason, the new format was an instant success. Starting in 1989 thru 1993, the Crown was won an astonishing four out of five times. In 1989 Kinghaven’s
With Approval took a narrow head decision in the Prince of Wales. As he later proved, turf was really his game and he easily completed the triple in the Breeders. The 1990 winner Kinghaven’s Izvestia was a freak on either surface. His Prince of Wales win was a romping one, not surprisingly after a thirteen length blitzkrieg in the Plate.
In I991 the colors were different but the story was the same. Sam Son Farm’s Dance Smartly actually took it easy on her foes at the Fort, winning by only two lengths unlike eight length runaways in the two Woodbine legs.
After a year’s hiatus, when Benburb shocked heavily favoured Alydeed in the P.O.W., the bank again anted up to pay Earle Mack’s Peteski. He won the Wales by six lengths in the excellent time of 1:54 2/5. The bank had had enough. The million dollar bonus was cancelled.
That did not put an end to top flight winners of Fort Erie’s biggest race. While there was only one more Triple Crown winner, Gustav Schikedanz’s Wando in 2003, other great Canadian runners added their names to the scroll of race champions. These include Horse of the Year A Bit O’Gold, champion three year olds Archer’s Bay, Scatter the Gold and Shillelagh Slew and Fort Erie’s own Le Cinquieme Essai.
It is no secret that Fort Erie is currently struggling through some hard times. Casino revenues have dropped and race dates and features have been cut back. The Bison City Stakes, second gem in the filly Triple Tiara, was transferred to Woodbine this year. It is very important that the same fate does not befall the Prince of Wales. With Woodbine racing over polytrack, having the P.O.W. run just a sixteenth of a mile shorter over the same surface would take all the intrigue out of the Triple Crown. Running the first leg over a synthetic surface, the second over real dirt and the third over grass presents a true challenge that would make future series sweepers deserving of the accolades bestowed for capturing all three events.
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The 2007 Chaplaincy Golf Tournament
Once again, this one came right down to the wire. The 2007 Chaplaincy Golf Tournament produced a triple dead heat between defending champs The Jocks Guild, Team Souter and Team Tharrenos. The result? A post dinner putt-off to determine the winning team.
For 2007, The Race Track Chaplaincy of Canada (Ontario) held its second annual golf tournament fundraiser at beautiful Glen Eagle Golf Course, just north of Bolton, Ontario. Twenty teams comprised of 79 players played on an afternoon of perfect weather. The Chaplaincy provided a Bar-B-Q lunch, golf, dinner and silent auction for each golfer. The numbers swelled to over 110 as those who came for the dinner, silent auction and raffle draw. The highlight of the evening came as the crowd turned its attention to Champion Hall-of Famer George Chuvalo. George enthralled the
crowd with stories of his career a boxer and more recently his campaign against drug and alcohol abuse, having lost three sons to drugs and his wife to suicide. Two standing ovations suggested the crowd appreciated his words more than just a little. (For more information on Chuvalo’s speech, please see Get Tied On in this elsewhere in this edition of the Game.)
Golf Master Tim Orlando sent the three teams out to the putting green after the main course and in the end it was Na Somsanith, best known for the long ball, who nailed it for the Jocks Guild and teammates David Clark, Neal Wilson and Robert Bertrand. The Chaplaincy would like to thank all those who sponsored, participated, volunteered and supported this tournament and the ministry it represents.
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Jockey David Clark, Agent Neal Wilson, Jockey Na Somsanith and Clerk of Scales Robert
Bertrand- theChaplaincyGolfTournament’s Winning Foursome after a three-way tie was decided by a putt-off