Page 18 - April 2007 The Game

18 The Game, April 2007 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Train of Thought:
Woodbine’s Leading Conditioners Reveal What’s in Their Barns for 2007.
As the racing season was about to begin anew at Woodbine, probably the busiest horsepeople were the trainers. The Game hooked up with some of Ontario’s most successful conditioners to give us a feel for the kind of year they’re hoping to have. With each trainer, in brackets, are the totals for 2006 (starts, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Purse Earnings).
Sid Attard (342 78 50 36 $3,487,648)
speaks of Jiggs Coz who, as a two year old, came third last fall in the Coronation Futurity at a mile and an eighth at Woodbine.
“I think he’s going to be one of the favorites for the Queen’s Plate if things go right,” says Attard. “He broke his maiden at 61/2 furlongs on the grass. He won easy. Then after the Coronation, he came back and won the Display Stakes at a mile and 16th. He’ll go long, this horse.”
Attard also speaks optimistically of the horses he’s preparing for owner Bob Harvey.
“I’ve got three horses for Bob Harvey,” he says. “Gantu - he ran twice and finished fourth twice. And Bob’s got a three year old filly named Baker Street. She ran three times and won two. Then there’s another filly, Real Dilemma. She broke her maiden first time out, ran nowhere in her second race and she came back and won her third race easy. It was an allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs.”
As we spoke, Attard was waiting to hear about the Howie Walton owned Like Mom Like Sons, a three year old colt that was expected to be at Woodbine that week.
“He ran twice last year and he won easy both races,”says Attard. “He was in Florida training and he’s coming in tomorrow or Friday (March 9).”
Attard also trains If Moma Aint Happy, a five year old mare who won four races for the Norseman Racing Stable last year and he’s also optimistic about a few residents of Tucci Stables.
“Just Rushing won seven races in a row,” he reminds us enthusiastically. “And Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk won his last couple races at the end of the season.”
Reade Baker (350 76 53 42 $4,170,073)
The changing landscape of racing in North America has had an immediate effect on Reade
Baker.
“I have fewer
horses to start this
year,” he says. “Artificial surfaces are popping up in the States, so some of the horses owned by Americans are staying there. By the end of March, I should be up to the limit of 45.”
Reade Baker
north; a bone chilling February made it that much harder to have local horses ready.
“When it’s that cold, the employees can’t do a proper job,” he says. “It’s always been a great advantage to ship horses in for at least the first month. The shippers always have a huge advantage, especially going long the first time, unless the ones at Woodbine were at a training centre.”
Mark Casse (365 67 52 48 $4,352,591)
Sid Attard
won more races
than any other
trainer at
Woodbine last
year, but suggests
he might not
come bursting
out of the gate
with multiple
winners the first few weeks of the meet.
“Yesterday was so cold and windy,” he said when he spoke with us in the first week of March. “You can’t beat the weather. They’re doing a good job with the track. We’ve breezed only one horse so far. When I come in, I take my time. I want to make sure I get 30 days into them before I start breezing. I like to see them galloping for 30 days before I start breezing. We got all year.”
Attard figures he’ll have about 40 runners.
“I tell you the truth, we got some young horses looking good,” he enthuses. “Some of them are still in Kentucky. Mel Lawson of Jim Dandy Stables has got some nice two year olds and I have some other owners who also have nice two year olds.
When asked to identify some out- standing talent, Attard immediately
Baker sees the winter as the lull before the storm; it’s part of his battle plan to take it easy on his horses.
“I’ve only run six or seven and haven’t had a winner, but that’s normal,” he says about working with his horses in Florida. “I come down here not so much to win, but with the idea of prepping for Woodbine. Ideally, at this time of year, my idea is to get the best from every horse and find a true Breeders’ Cup horse.”
As he spoke with The Game from warmer climates on March 9, Baker was enthusiastic about a couple of his charges.
“I’ve got a three year old horse called Golden Glade. He ran at Gulfstream in the only race of his life and got beaten by 9 lengths. If he goes in the right direction, we can dream he can be a Plate horse. He’s by Gilded Time out of Woodmiss by Woodman. He’s got a great temperament and physically looks like a horse that will go long. I had an excellent third yesterday at Gulfstream with Vestry Lady. She was in a big wide open race, going 5/8ths of a mile. It was super. She was right up there. I’m using it as a prep for the Whimsical Stakes in Toronto at six furlongs.”
Owner Danny Dion of The Bear Stable has entrusted Baker with a full complement of talent.
“I expect to be prominent right from the start with the Bear Stables. There should be ten for Danny Dion and we’re going to get going this year. I’ve got Bear Swan and Bear Bullet – they’re both fillies.”
Baker has a few big money makers ready to make withdrawals from the Bank of Woodbine. He claimed Atlas Shrugs for $50,000 two years ago and that one earned $219,843 last season, and the older mare Bosskiri put $147,019 into her
account last year. Baker understands how difficult it has been for the horsemen this winter up
Reigning Sovereign Award winning trainer Mark Casse talked to The Game from south Florida, where
the wind chill was somewhat less than it was in Toronto.
Mark Casse
Sid Attard
“I’m sitting on my back porch in Ocala in my shorts and t-shirt, smoking a cigar,” he laughs. “We’ve already chartered seven horses to Toronto. We’ve already filled up half the stalls there. We get 45 stalls at Woodbine, that’s the max. There’s four or five trainers that get that many; Reade Baker, Bob Tiller, Sid Attard, maybe Roger Attfield.”
Casse gets into a nice cadence rhyming off the top-notch talent he has under his tutelage.
“We have Seaside Retreat coming back. We have Howaboutrightnow, the filly that won the Maple Leaf. We have a new horse called Luxembourg, a four year old colt who has a lot of promise. He belongs to Will Farish and he was third last year to Bernardini in the Peter Pan Stakes. We’ve got a slew of three year olds coming back. We’ve got Sealy Hill, the filly that was second in the Sovereign Awards. We’ve got Arch Hall coming back to try and win the Sir Barton for the fourth year in row. We’ve got Skip Code, winner of the Grey Stakes, and Topnotch Lady, who won the Grade 3 Bourbonette at Turfway.”
Asked if he can top last year’s season in which Mark Casse trained horses led the money list, Casse gives a tersely competitive response.
“That’s the goal.”
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