De Paulo gets 50th stakes win on 50th birthday

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – While his 50th birthday didn’t start off exactly how he had envisioned, trainer Mike De Paulo recorded his 50th career stakes win when Pender Harbour recovered from a slow start in Sunday’s $125,000 Steady Growth Stakes.

“We had started off with a bad day when Justin fell off,” De Paulo said. “But then Pender came through. He was something else.”

In Sunday’s fourth race, De Paulo’s Queen’s Plate prospect, Athenian Guard, ducked in sharply after making the lead at the top of the stretch, unseating jockey Justin Stein. Both horse and rider appeared to be okay, as Stein rode all of his remaining mounts on the card.
De Paulo said the Queen’s Plate is still possible for Athenian Guard.

“We’re going to have to re-evaluate what’s going on,” he said. “We’d still like to go if we can, if the horse is okay. So far, it looks pretty good.”

Despite a slow start in the Steady Growth, Pender Harbour bided his time at the back of the pack under jockey Luis Contreras. He closed in the far turn and struck the front just inside the eighth pole, crossing the line in 1:42.39 for 1 1/16 miles. He earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.

Pender Harbour has now won two of his three starts this season. Through the Ontario-bred and Ontario-sired bonuses earned in his previous two starts against open company, Pender Harbour has already banked $167,780 in 2014 and improved his career earnings to $1,549,386.