Page 25 - April 2007 The Game

Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper The Game, April 2007 25
HBPA
Ontario
Update
Continued
HBPA Skills & Groom School Courses
The HBPA will once again be offering Skills and Groom School Courses at both Woodbine and Fort Erie Racetracks beginning in May. The course fees range from $25 to $75 and applications are now available at both HBPA Backstretch offices. The courses which are being offered include:
Practical Horsemanship / Barn Management:
Duration: 11 week course plus exam, 3 hours per week.
Limited to 10 students per class.
This class is hands-on and teaches the students the proper handling of horses as well as safety procedures, tacking, band- aging and race preparation of horses.
Anatomy and Physiology of the Horse:
Duration: 12 week course plus exam, 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Limited to 18 students per class.
Topics include basic conformation, anatomy, equine systems and their func- tions as well as therapies, shoeing, nutri- tion, leg problems and lameness.
Thoroughbred Racing Business Course
Duration: 12 week course plus exam, 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Limited to 20 students per class.
This course covers the Rules and Regulations established by the Ontario Racing Commission, Woodbine Entertainment Group, Nordic Gaming and the HBPA. Also the CPMA (Canadian Pari-Mutuel Association) schedule of drugs, drug testing proce- dures, ethics and legal issues, race office rules and business administration.
For additional information drop by the HBPA Backstretch Offices or call the Woodbine HBPA Backstretch Office 416-675-3802 or the Fort Erie HBPA Backstretch Office at 905-871-3200, ext. 3249.
Ascot Stud: High Quality Stallions Create Winning Offspring
Journeyman Jockey Arrives At Hastings
By Jackie Humber
Gary Laban’s desire to travel abroad has landed him at Hastings Racecourse. At only 24-years old this rider has already spent three and a half years race riding at the Santa Rosa Track in his homeland of Trinidad. He has amassed an impressive 97 wins so far and is looking forward to riding in Vancouver.
“My friend Anthony Stephen told me so much about Hastings and he helped me so much. I’m looking forward to the season here,” said Laban. Agent, Leilani Collins (who also holds the book for Mario
Velazquez) spent little time signing up this new rider.
“We absolutely need more
riders here, especially a good
one like Gary,” said Collins.
Laban looks as if he is already
popular with the trainers as he
has worked many horses over the past few days. At 5’3” and able to tack 104 pounds, Laban should have plenty of mounts this season.
Hastings newest Jockey Gary Laban with agent Leilani Collins (left)
By Harlan Abbey
"I can remember our mother (Lynne) taking us to Fort Erie
when we were much younger, when the clubhouse buffet was the main attraction for me," recalled Chris Blake, now 25. "My brother Mike (now 28) would be studying the Racing Form, but I'd be coloring pictures."
and ten races," Chris remembered. "We were going to sell her in the November breeding sale, but she was too sore to sell. I worked with her all that summer, trying to get her sounder. She had a lot of attitude, but taught me all about horses and I gradually became more involved." Unfortunately, Showtina
Today, the Blake brothers are totally involved in Thoroughbred racing, operating the Ascot Stud, a breeding operation near Welland, and racing horses in that name and also as Berkshire Stables.
Ascot Stud stands racing millionaire Tejano Run (Tejano - Royal Run by Wavering Monarch), a proven sire of champions and stakes horses; Impeachment (Deputy Minister - Misconduct by Criminal Type), who finished third in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and Swing Lord, by A. P. Indy, who is new to Ontario.
Pictured here at Ascot Stud are owners Mike Blake with the mare Stylize and Chris Blake with her foal by Tejano Run, a colt born February 16, 2007. Stylize is the first mare that the Blake brothers purchased when starting Ascot Stud in 2003.
died while foaling a Captain Bodget colt and the foal also died. Early disappointments did not deter the Blake brothers, who bought a former soybean farm in 2004. It had no stalls or paddocks, but now there are three barns, plenty of paddocks, and an
exerciser.
"We're taking slower, more
thoughtful steps," Chris Blake emphasized. "Before, if someone offered to give us a mare, we'd take it in a second. Now, we're more discriminating."
Two of the best of the eight mares the brothers own are Fappis Cosy Miss (by Fappiano) and Ruvolina (by Caerleon), a half-
Tejano Run and Impeachment
made their Canadian stud debuts in
2006, with the former covering 53 mares and Impeachment getting 31 mares. Tejano Run got 39 of his mares in foal, Impeachment did the same with 27 of his. Their first Ontario- sired foals are just hitting the ground and the Blake brothers are confident that they will make the two stallions even more popular for the 2007 breeding season.
sister to a European champion. Both were bought, in foal, last year. Fappis Cosy Miss was Grade 2 and Grade 3 stakes-placed six times. Their first homebred by their new stallions is a colt by Tejano Run out of Stylize.
When it comes to racing, Mike Blake's runners have carried the Berkshire Stables colors since 1999 and he formed partner- ships with friends beginning in 2004. Chris Blake's Thoroughbreds will run under the Ascot Stud colors.
Berkshire Stables' horses are trained by six-time Fort Erie trainer champion Layne Giliforte. Last season, the stable's runners finished first in seven of 19 starts.
The runners include Shandi Fackler (two songs the brothers both like), by Testimonial (who now stands in British Columbia) out of Stylize, and Mr. Badabouchski ("That comes from our grandfather, who came to Canada from Czechoslovakia" said Chris Blake), sired by Good and Tough.
Others are Sugarcoat, an allowance winner; Drakensberg, who had two wins and a second in three starts after being claimed; Roses Wild Rush; Power Source; Starlex, a three-year- old by Tejano Run, and Borat Badabouchski, a two-year-old.
"They say that if you're in Thoroughbred racing as a business, you shouldn't fall in love with your horses," Chris Blake noted. "But when you breed them and work with them every day, you can’t help it. To me, just standing next to a horse like Impeachment, who was third in the Kentucky Derby, gives me goose bumps. To have him here at our farm is almost as good as owning him when he was on the three-year-old road to the Derby.
"We look at the winner's circle pictures, with all our partners and friends there. It makes for great memories - your colors in front, then in the winner's circle, it all adds up. It's a beautiful thing.
"Those days with a win on the track, or when a beautiful foal is born or seeing a foal jog off for the first time after lying on the ground a few hours before - those are all equal highs. Then you realize why you're devoting your life to this sport."
"We are not aiming at 100 mares for each stallion," explained Chris Blake, "and we may not be the most conveniently-located stud farm in Canada. Breeders coming for the first time won't be impressed by our non-existent white fencing or other 'eye candy'... but by our stallion quality. I'm certain that breeders who booked to them last year will be pleased with their foals."
Both Tejano Run and Impeachment finished high in Ontario sire statistics that ranked stallions by their offsprings' earnings during the 2006 racing season. Tejano Run, who stands for $5,000, finished sixth in the province with $1,752,436 earned by his six crops. Impeachment's three crops put him 16th in Ontario standings with $615,743 in purse money. So far in 2007, the numbers are far more impressive; Tejano Run is second and Impeachment is ranked third according to earnings so far this year.
Tejano Run's runners include Italian Oaks winner Dionsia and three Canadian standouts: three-time Sovereign Award-win- ning older mare One for Rose (15 wins, $1,321,363), Anglian Prince ($677,743) and Shaws Creek ($614,643). Impeachment, who stands for a fee of $2,000, has three stakes-placed horses, all in the United States. He is also the sire of Azira Emria who was the Champion three year old import in the Dominican Republic.
Both Blake brothers are college graduates; Mike was also chosen for an equine management internship in Kentucky. He bought his first Thoroughbred, Hoyo de Monterrey, in 1998 at the Woodbine Sale while he was still attending the University of Western Ontario. The horse had two seconds before being claimed; then he won two in a row. Chris Blake was a fine arts major but knew the profession was at best, a chancy one.
"Mike had claimed a mare, Showtina, a winner of $250,000
Backstretch Offices Now Open
The HBPA Backstretch office at Woodbine is now open 7 days a week from 7am to 3pm.
The Backstretch Office at Fort Erie will re-open on Monday, March 5, 2007 Monday to Friday from 7am to 3pm. The office will open 7 days at week beginning Saturday, May 5.
The HBPA administration office in Toronto is open year round, Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm 416-747- 5252.