Page 20 - April 2007 The Game

20 The Game, April 2007 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
- Continued from Page 19 -
Much more pleasing is the prospect of watching his young runners develop. He’s had at couple start so far at Gulfstream.
“We’ve had three starts with two thirds and one horse ran off the board,” he informs. “One Quiet Cat, whom we bought off David Cotey at the end of the year, is a four year old filly running in non winners other than. She ran twice and came third twice. Easter Man, a three year old colt, ran in ‘A’ other than and didn’t get a great trip at 7 1/2 furlongs. He can’t run 7/8ths yet, so he was off the board. We’ve got Grandy’s Glory. She’s a three year old filly that’s training well up at Woodbine. She’s a Stakes winner. Then there’s Another Ascot, an Ontario-sired four year old gelding who won the $126,000 Vice Regent Stakes last September. Hopefully he’ll run in some Ontario Sired Stakes and one of the Sales Stakes.”
There’s a theory in racing when a horse runs a great race. Horseplayers predict a ‘bounce’ or severe regression the next time the horse comes out. DePaulo has every reason to believe that principal won’t apply to him.
“2006 was our best year for sure by a lot,” he says. “We won $1,200,000 in 2005, so we doubled our gross earnings. I have to hope to keep the momentum. We have some nice young horses and some new clients and we’re looking to have even a better year.”
wants to go a distance of ground. His half brother is Dancers Guest who could run long. Just look for him. If everything turns out well, he’ll be a horse for the future.”
Stock-wise, Katryan expects to have about 38 horses for the Woodbine opening, close to the same number he worked with last year.
“For Bruno Schickedanz, I’ve got Biblical Scholar who’s six and his brother Biblical Times, a five year old. They’re two nice horses that I expect to run in the $60,000 range. Susan Duberi has a nice horse with me called Jaishma, an up-and-coming four year old. He finished in an allowance race last year.
Katryan is not especially impressed with his 30 win total in 2006.
“We’re looking for a good year,” he says. “Normally I do an average of 40, 45 maybe 50 wins. That’s what I’m shooting for.”
early. They’ll be running at Keenelend. The one closest to running would be Deep Scarlet, but he’s still a maiden.”
Frostad doesn’t expect to wear out a path to the winner’s circle during the early weeks at Woodbine, but there could be some fireworks from him as summer closes in.
“We’ve got a lot of exciting two years old coming up and you’ll see the first of them probably June or July.”
Roger Attfield (193 25 14 31 $1,442,625)
Veteran trainer Roger Attfield is hoping to bounce back from what he describes as an off year.
“I wasn’t very
happy at all,” he
says over the
phone from
Payson Park in Florida. “I won six Stakes last year. Five of them were graded group races and all of those were in the States. Pellegrino was the only Stakes winner for me in Canada. That was my 300th. Aside from that, it was one of my weaker seasons in many years. We had a lot of breakdowns last year and hopefully won’t have so much bad luck this year.”
With the advantage of a 72 hour entry date, Attfield intends to make a lot of on-the-spot decisions about where to send his horses.
“Now that both Keeneland and Woodbine are polytrack, my approach is a little bit different,” he says. “I take about 27 horses to Keeneland and quite a few of those will just move to the first book or second book at Woodbine. I put them on the van and send them up. It’s only a 12 or 13 hour trip. If you get in and the race goes, you can ship and run quite easily. When it was 48 hour entry, you couldn’t do that. With the horses that I have at Woodbine right now, we can do it the other way. Most of the horses I have down here run 6 to 6 1/2 furlongs, so when they have races for them, they’ll be ready to go.”
Attfield expects to get some mileage out of a few of his older horses.
“Here at Payson Park, we have Pellegrino, who won the Chief Bearheart for my 300th Stakes win. He’s catching uptome–he’s9yearsoldnow.Halfan hour after he won that Stake, I won the
Stake at Keeneland with a 6 year old geld- ing called Eccentric. He’s a polytrack specialist and the race was a mile and an 8th. We’ve also got Palladio. He won the Ontario Derby and the Ohio Derby in 2005 when he was champion 3 year old. Last year he fractured his cannon bone in the Ben Ashley Stakes at Keeneland in April and he’s just coming back now. He will be running at the end of March at Gulfstream before he runs at Keeneland and then he’ll be coming home. Those are the only three Stakes horses I have. The rest are babies and you’re always hoping and praying.”
The hoping and praying part may come into play as Attfield searches for a horse good enough to run in the Queen’s Plate.
“I might need a miracle,” he laughs. “We have a couple possibilities. One horse named Include Us ran a very credible third going a mile and a sixteenth. He drew in off the also eligibles and got post 13, which at a mile and a sixteenth, is not a lot of fun. He was third running on, so I saw something positive. Whether he’s going to be some kind of horse remains to be seen. Anything I’ve got that is eligible for the Queen’s Plate, they’re going to have to prove it to us.”
In other words, the only certain thing in this game is the uncertainty. - PG
Abraham Katryan
(22 30 25 29 $784,603)
“It looks good,” he says. “We’ll have forty five stalls.”
To reach full potential in 2007, Frostad may have to get in touch with his feminine side.
“We seem to be loaded up with three year old fillies, but not too many three year old colts,” he says lightly. “We’ve got a lot of returning older fillies from last year: Strike Softly, Count to Three, High Button Shoes and See the Wind.”
That alone is a lovely quartet of estrogen-fueled speed; among them last year, they accounted for ten wins and more than $855,000. But with Frostad, there’s usually more than that.
“We have last year’s two year old champion, Catch the Thrill, and a filly called Dance with Doves. She’s by A.P. Indy out of Dancethruthedawn.”
As for the 2007 Queen’s Plate, Frostad isn’t pointing at any one horse.
“Hopefully something will jump up for the Plate,” he says, just a tad on the uncertain side. “At this stage it’s a little
Mark Frostad
(160 27 20 17 $2,356,881)
Roger Attfield
There is strength in numbers for Mark Frostad, who once again will fill the maximum number of stalls allowed by Woodbine.
Mark Frostad
What makes Abraham Katryan excited about 2007 is that he’s reunited with the Kelynack Stable and owner Glen Harvey.
Abraham Katryan
“I got Quick
Indeed for Kelynack,” he says. “He’s five now. When I had him as a two year old, he won a couple of Stakes early on for me. Harvey is a good guy to work with and I’m happy to be back. We have Gilded Coin who is a five year old colt. I had him for his three year old campaign. I think he’ll be a nice horse in the future. He can run two other than for 40K. Another horse for Kelynack is Play for King, a four year old colt. I think he
Sutherland Returns to Woodbine
Champion jockey Chantal Sutherland, who has been riding in the United States the past two seasons, will return to ride at Woodbine for the 2007 meet, which began on Saturday, March 31.
Voted Canada’s top apprentice rider in 2001 and 2002, the Winnipeg native, who rode at the Toronto oval from 2000-2004, moved her tack to the United States in 2005, competing in Florida and New York.
“I’m really looking forward to coming back,” said the 31-year-old, who has rid- den for several high-profile trainers dur- ing her time in the U.S.
Sutherland began her career in 2000, winning her first race on October 9 of that year, aboard Silver Bounty. Aside from her two Sovereigns, other Woodbine highlights include a 124-win season in 2002, two Queen’s Plate mounts, in 2001 and 2002 and contesting the Grade 1, Pattison Canadian International in 2004, when she became just the third woman to ride in the turf classic.
“I learned a lot riding in the U.S.,” said Sutherland, who has 248 career Woodbine wins. “The biggest things were professionalism and honouring and respecting your peers.”
“I’m really just going to take things day-by-day,” said Sutherland, who will once again have Don Parente as her agent. “I want to stay healthy and work hard. I know I’m stronger than ever before. As long as the people I ride for are happy, then that’s what matters.”
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