Venetian Mask, Snuggles point to Canada Day stakes

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Venetian Mask and Snuggles came out of their wins in the John Longden 6000 and Strawberry Morn last Sunday in good shape and will make their next starts on Canada Day weekend.

Venetian Mask, who earned a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure for his win over Modern in the Longden, is being pointed to the $75,000 Lieutenant Governor’s on July 1.

Snuggles, trained by Dino Condilenios, likely will be favored in the $75,000 Monashee on July 2.

Both horses came close to career-ending injuries in their most recent races.

In the case of Snuggles, the incident occurred in the post parade when she reared up just after leaving the paddock and for a brief moment got both of her front feet over the outside rail.

“Luckily, she went right back up and didn’t get hung up,” Condilenios said. “Who knows what would have happened if she hadn’t reared again? She has a couple of minor scrapes, but she seems fine otherwise.”

Snuggles, the 2016 local Horse of the Year, was also a handful making it to the gate in her first start this year in the Vancouver Sun. The 4-year-old homebred daughter of Rosberg didn’t want to go near the 6 1/2-furlong chute and held up the start of the race by at least five minutes.

“I almost have a heart attack every time I run her,” Condilenios said. “Not many horses run well when they act up like that, and it would be nice to see how good she could be if she didn’t waste so much energy on post parade.”

Despite the antics, Snuggles has compiled a 7-4-0 record from 12 starts, all in stakes; one of the wins for her owners, Swift Thoroughbreds Inc., came in the Grade 3 Ballerina.

Venetian Mask, trained by Mike Anderson, will stay at Hastings for the rest of the year, with the main goal being the Grade 3 $100,000 Premiers on Oct. 9. Last year, he lost the 1 3/8-mile race by a head to Killin Me Smalls.

“He’s fine, but he has a couple of cuts in one of his back legs,” Anderson said. “Not sure where it happened because he was in a little tight going into the first turn and also on the last turn. It just sheered the hair off. A little deeper, it could have sliced a tendon, and that would have been it.”

◗ The 20-year-old apprentice jockey Jose Mariano Asencio will be out indefinitely after suffering a broken back and broken leg when the horse he was riding, McCallum, clipped heels and fell in the fifth race Sunday.

A fund has been set up at Gofundme.com to help with his rehabilitation costs and to bring his mother to Vancouver from Mexico. His middle name has to be used to connect to the link.

“They put a steel rod in his back, and he’s pretty sore,” his agent, Ryan Deyotte, said. “Thankfully, he can move everything though.”