Turf racing probably done for season
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Due to the inclement weather in the forecast, Woodbine has announced that turf racing has been scrapped for this week, and probably for the rest of the meet.
The remaining races in the current condition book will be offered at the alternate distance listed for the main track. There are no turf races scheduled in the next condition book, which goes from Nov. 13 to Dec. 1. The meet concludes Dec. 15.
“At this time, there is no turf racing planned for the rest of the season,” Woodbine racing secretary Scott Lane said.
Turf racing concluded last Friday with two 7 1/2-furlong contests over the new $8 million inner course, which was firm throughout the meet due to its superb drainage system.
◗ The controversial new urging trial, which was launched Oct. 18, appears to be going as well as can be expected. Jockeys are allowed to use the whip only underhanded. No contact with the horse with the whip in the cocked position is allowed.
American rider Pablo Morales guided the favored New York Groove in an easy victory in the Glorious Song Stakes here Sunday. He said the new rules are even more difficult to deal with than the previous ones, which stated that a rider can strike a horse only three times in succession and the crop cannot be raised too high.
“I already had trouble whipping the other way when you couldn’t raise your hand above your head,” Morales said. “We’ve been riding a certain way for a long time, so it’s a little bit difficult, but those are the rules. We gotta do what we gotta do, right?”
Rafael Hernandez was fined $900 and received a one-day suspension for “using his crop excessively in the raised or cocked position” on Merveilleux when she finished second in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes on Oct. 26.
◗ British Idiom, victorious in last Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, is out of Rose and Shine, who won the Muskoka and Princess Elizabeth stakes here in 2011 for owner James Sabiston and trainer Ralph Biamonte.
Rose and Shine, an Ontario-bred daughter of the Storm Cat stallion Mr. Sekiguchi, never won after her lucrative juvenile campaign. She was sold for $50,000 as a broodmare prospect at the 2014 Keeneland January sale.
“She was nice to be around, just an uneventful horse,” Biamonte recalled. “I never, ever thought she’d have a baby like British Idiom.”
Biamonte has had a typically good year with his current crop of 2-year-olds, winning maidens with Scocciatore, Zoological, Shotnabeer, Silence Breakers, and Giant Critic.
◗ Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson returns from the sidelines Friday, when she has mounts on six horses on the eight-race card. She suffered hand fractures and a broken clavicle in a spill here Sept. 8.