Forster has pair for Supernaturel

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Dave Forster is looking forward to running Susan’s Day and Ambleside Park in the $50,000 Supernaturel on Wednesday at Hastings. The 1 1/16-mile race is the first middle-distance stakes race for 3-year-old fillies at the meet, and Forster has been looking at the Supernaturel for both horses since the stakes schedule was announced earlier this year.

“I think they both want to go long, and I like the way they are both coming into the race,” said Forster. “I didn’t push them early, and they seem to be really coming around now.”

The bigger goals for Susan’s Day and Ambleside Park are the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks on Sept. 13 and the Grade 3, $100,000 Ballerina on Oct. 12. Forster has won the Oaks four times and the Ballerina five. The local Hall of Fame trainer won the Ballerina three straight years with Magic Code, who started her streak as a 3-year-old in 1998.

“Magic Code would have won the Oaks, but she got wiped out in the race,” said Forster.

Forster has won all of the major races at Hastings, including the Grade 3, 1 3/8-mile Premiers five times.

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“I like money,” he said. “All of the big-money races here are at a mile and an eighth or longer, and I’ve always focused on trying to get my horses to be better route horses than sprinters. If I wanted to be a Quarter Horse trainer, I would have stayed in Southern California. I wanted to be more like Charlie Whittingham. He never rushed his horses, and they usually lasted a long time.”

Susan’s Day will be looking for her first stakes win in the Supernaturel. Ambleside Park’s only win came in the $75,000 Fantasy last year. It was her first and only route attempt. Susan’s Day won her debut in a one-mile maiden special weight race at Presque Isle Downs for trainer Eoin Harty last August.

In their last starts, Susan’s Day forced the pace and held on to beat a determined Ambleside Park in a $25,000 optional-claiming race for 3-year-old fillies going 6 1/2 furlongs on June 13.

Forster said Susan’s Day has been a work in progress since she arrived at Hastings this spring.

“She can be pretty wound up at times,” said Forster. “We have been working hard on getting her to relax, and she seems to be settling in now. I think they both have a fairly decent shot at it Wednesday.”

The horse they will all have to beat is Majestic Presence. She was good enough to finish within three lengths of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Take Charge Brandi in the Grade 1 Starlet at Los Alamitos and in the Grade 3 Delta Downs Princess at Delta Downs.

Majestic Presence hasn’t raced since she finished second in a one-mile, $80,000 optional-claiming race April 17 at Santa Anita. She was trained in Southern California by Jerry Hollendorfer. She had her first work for trainer Troy Taylor on Thursday at Hastings. The final time for the five-furlong work was slow, 1:03.80, but she finished fast, getting the final eighth in 12.20 seconds. It was her second work since her last start.

Majestic Presence is owned by Mark Dedomenico and Glen Todd.

“Jerry said she’s fit enough, and we just wanted to let her run down the lane,” said Todd.

Majestic Presence has been assigned the top weight of 123 pounds, two more than Quatre Cat. Despite impressive wins in the Ross McLeod Stakes and Emerald Downs Handicap with Ryan Pacheco aboard, Quatre Cat will have a new jockey in the Supernaturel. Leading rider Richard Hamel will be aboard the three-time stakes winner.

Trainer Sylvea Gregory made the decision based on “live weight.” Pacheco tacks around 110 pounds. Hamel’s riding weight is usually around 117 pounds.

“Ryan has done a great job riding her, but I don’t like the idea of her carrying a lot of dead weight going a mile and a sixteenth,” said Gregory, referring to the 11 pounds of lead that would be added to Quatre Cat’s saddle bags in order for her to carry her assigned weight.

Pacheco also was Quatre Cat’s groom. However, after being taken off the horse, he has left the barn.

“I am obviously disappointed, but I understand the nature of this business,” said Pacheco. “We are not necessarily severing ties. Let’s just say we are taking a little break.”

Without his duties at the barn, Pacheco could pick up more mounts. He is currently acting as his own agent.