Woodbine notes: Top riders skip final weekend of meet

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Three of Woodbine’s top jockeys won’t be in action here this weekend, which includes the closing day of the meet Sunday. Leading rider Luis Contreras is representing Mexico in a jockey challenge in Panama, and Eurico Rosa Da Silva, a clear second in the standings, has traveled to his native Brazil.

Justin Stein missed the final two weeks of the meet due to personal reasons. He ranked third heading into this week, but both Jesse Campbell and Patrick Husbands were breathing down his neck after each of them found the winner’s circle Wednesday night.

Husbands missed almost half of the meet after breaking his foot in a spill in May. He often spends part of the winter riding in Florida but said that won’t be the case this time.

“I’m taking the whole winter off,” Husbands said. “I want to get my foot to heal. The cold weather has been bothering me. When I came back, I really went at it too hard. The doctor told me” it’s a hard place to heal.

Husbands has been on a tear since returning to competition in mid-September and has won at a superb 26 percent clip at the meet.

“At least I had my supporters backing me, the trainers,” Husbands said. “That’s the key because when you come back, you’re so far behind everybody. I was playing catch-up, but everybody still had the respect. I tip my hat off to everybody who rode me.”

Contreras won the jockey title for the third year in a row by a 168-143 margin. However, Da Silva nosed him out for the most money won at the meet by about $5,000, even though he had 220 fewer mounts than Contreras. Contreras registered 11 fewer stakes scores than Da Silva’s meet-leading total of 27.

“I didn’t win many stakes races, but at least I had the most winners,” Contreras said.

Contreras plans to ride at Gulfstream Park throughout the winter.

Da Silva said he will return to riding in January at Oaklawn, where trainer Mark Casse will have a large string. Casse and Da Silva combined for seven stakes victories at this year’s Woodbine meet.

“I’m very happy with my year,” Da Silva said. “My agent [Tom Patton] did a great job for me.”

Soft spot for Urban Forester

Urban Forester, who was claimed for a bargain $20,000 by owner Bruno Schickedanz in June, should be heavily favored in the eighth of 13 races Sunday, a $25,000 starter allowance going 1 7/8 miles.

Trainer Norm McKnight said he had several options for the flashy chestnut on closing day, including the Valedictory Stakes, but opted for the easiest spot. Urban Forester has won five of seven starts for Schickedanz and McKnight, who said he had no revelation regarding the 5-year-old’s transformation from a mid-level claimer to a stakes performer.

“We put him basically on the same program that we have all our horses on, and he’s just done well,” McKnight said. “He’s progressed. He was highly thought of when he was a 3-year-old, so maybe he’s just gotten better with age. After we claimed him and went over his form, I really thought that his best races were longer.”

McKnight said he was thrilled with Urban Forester’s head loss to Ultimate Destiny on Dec. 4 in the restricted Sir Barton Stakes, in which the gelding earned a big 97 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He ran a monster race,” McKnight said. “That’s a pretty nice horse that beat him, and he had to work to beat him, too. The way he came out of it, you’d never know he ran. He’s been like a bear since. We didn’t do much with him in between his last race and this one. I know it had to take something out of him, but you sure wouldn’t know it by the way he’s acting.”

◗ Nominations for the 2014 Canadian Triple Crown and the Woodbine Oaks close Feb. 3. For more information, contact Woodbine stakes manager Julie Bell. With no racing scheduled for Fort Erie in 2014 at this juncture, it seems inevitable that the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes, will be contested here in the future. The Prince of Wales has been run at Fort Erie since 1959.