Eighty Nine Red targets New Providence

Eighty Nine Red got his season off to a winning start for the second year in a row April 18 at Woodbine in the prep for the $125,000 New Providence Stakes, defeating 2013 Canadian champion male sprinter Phil’s Dream in the process, and he will make his next start in the New Providence on May 10, trainer Mike De Paulo said.

Eighty Nine Red recorded his first stakes win in last year’s Achievement and placed in the Queenston and Deputy Minister stakes during the year. If his first start of the season is any indication, he could continue to make an impact in Ontario-sired sprint stakes this season after undergoing a surgical procedure over the winter.

“We did a little throat surgery on him last winter, and maybe that is going to change his life,” De Paulo said. “We’ll take a shot at the New Providence and see where we’re at.”

De Paulo said he doesn’t have a target race in mind for Eighty Nine Red after the New Providence but added that Ontario-sired sprint stakes would be his preference for the son of Bold Executive.

“Anywhere there’s some sprint spots, a foaled-in-Canada or Ontario-sired stake, we’ll be there,” he said. “At some point, we might try him two turns at the Ontario-sired level. I would love to make him a grass horse, but he doesn’t seem to like it.”

The next restricted stakes race for older males sprinting on the main track after the New Providence is the $150,000 Achievement Stakes on July 4, a race that Eighty Nine Red could win for the second year in a row. When Eighty Nine Red won last season’s Achievement, it was restricted to Ontario-bred 3-year-olds.

Ceremony to honor Swatuk

A ceremony to honor former Woodbine jockey Brian Swatuk will be held at the trackside winner’s circle at 11:30 a.m. on June 7. Afterward, a reception will be held in the Munnings room on the fourth floor at Woodbine. Those attending the ceremony will be invited to the reception.

Swatuk died of cancer at age 65 on Dec. 13 at an Ontario hospice.

A winner of 1,074 races between 1976 and 2003, Swatuk won the 1979 Queen’s Plate on Steady Growth. He captured each leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, winning the 1987 Prince of Wales Stakes on Coryphee and the 1985 Breeders’ Stakes aboard Crowning Honors. He also won stakes on Dance Smartly, Wilderness Song, and Meafara.