Some Hastings notes · 30.05.09

El Sinaloense

I’ve been waiting for the return of my favourite two-year-old from last year. El Sinaloense ended last year very much on a down-note as he tailed-off badly after dominating the juvenile ranks over the summer. His connections gave him some much-needed time off, and have been bringing him back slowly this spring.

A 3/8 work on May 3, followed by a half-mile in 48-and-change on May 13, showed that “El Sin” was on his way back. This Sunday he makes his three-year-old debut in a $33,900 allowance going 6 1/2 furlongs. The distance should suit him, although he might need another race before he’s fully race-fit. He’s the morning-line second choice (6/5) behind Almost Time, winner of the Jim Coleman earlier this month (2/5).

Update: According to the Daily Racing Form‘s Randy Goulding, El Sinaloense actually had a bone chip removed during the off-season, which explains why owner/trainer Juan Olmos was bringing him along slowly. Olmos also thought that he might have needed this race to get fully fit. Looks like we were both right — in the replay, “El Sin” vies for the lead with Slickster for the first half, then fades badly as Almost Time takes over and draws off to win easily by over 4 lengths.

Natasha Sihota

While Stephanie Fedora was the leading apprentice last year, Natasha Sihota attracted her share of attention, riding four winners out of only eleven mounts before taking time off to concentrate on exercise riding and going back to school. There was some speculation that she would continue to ride locally, but she decided to head east to Woodbine. Soon after that she broke her leg, and only recently got back in the saddle.

Sihota suffered another setback this past Wednesday when the horse she was riding, filly Go Boldly, appeared to clip heels with another horse while in tight quarters in the stretch and went down. Go Boldly got up quickly and suffered no apparent injury. Sihota, however, lay on the track for some time and later taken to hospital. No news at this time about her condition.

Update: According to DRF‘s Bill Tallon (end of article “Apprentice shaken up in spill”), Sihota was still in hospital on Thursday. X-rays came out negative, and she was due for a CT scan that day — she was reported to be stiff and sore, but otherwise doing well.

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What do you think?

  1. Almost Time, if he keeps maturing as he has, looks like an early favorite for the BC Derby and a POTENTIAL monster the way he dispatched the last field under wraps

    — Dr. TImothy Yatcak · May 30, 08:41 AM · #

  2. The track MUST have taken a parimutuel bath in this race as $50k bet hit the place pool about 25 seconds before post. 65K in that pool as compared to about 32K in the win pool and almost all of it on the winner Almost Time.

    — Dr. Timothy Yatcak · Jun 1, 09:12 AM · #

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