Hastings: Canada D'eh? · 6.07.09

We spent Canada Day, July 1, at our local track, and were treated to a fine day of racing, wagering, and people-watching action. This is one of Hastings’ “Festival Days”, so there were added attractions for kids (pony rides, face-painting, bouncy castle), and a stakes-loaded racing card for the grown-ups. We went with another family with kids — it is becoming our mission to expose other families to Vancouver’s all-time sports/entertainment/afternoon-with-the-kids deal.

The race-card featured four stakes races: the Chris Loseth Handicap for 3-year-olds, the Vancouver Sun Handicap for fillies and mares 3-years-and-older, the Supernaturel Handicap for 3-year-old fillies, and the featured Lieutenant-Governor’s Handicap for 3-years-and-older. Lots of classy horses and competitive racing. The races were fairly formful, with seven out of nine favourites either winning or finishing in the money, and only one winner paying in double-digits. With no likely long-shots, it was a day for experimenting with exotics.

On the down-side, the respiratory virus currently spreading through the barns caused almost a dozen race-day scratches — including several of my picks, forcing me to double-check my second and third choices in the programme. It also forced the cancellation of that week’s “Friday Night Live” racing card, announced over the PA system midway through the afternoon.

Finally, it is possible that some horses that raced that day were actually “incubating” the virus, causing them to turn in sub-par performances (shades of the ’73 Whitney). Most notable of these might have been local favourite Spaghetti Mouse, who went off at 6/5 in the Lieutenant-Governor’s. He pressed the early pace as usual, and while it was fairly sharp (1/4 in 22.75s, 1/2 in 46.54s), The Mouse has survived similar pace scenarios in the past (last year’s BC Cup Classic, for example). However, this time either the pace or the virus did him in — he faded badly to finish fifth in a field of six.

The winner of the Lieutenant-Governor’s, Teide (pronounced tay-dee), was my other win pick besides Spaghetti Mouse, and his score was no surprise. One of nine horses bought by Swift Thoroughbreds from the powerful Darley Stable over the winter, Teide ran strongly last year in optional-claiming and allowance company at Belmont, Keeneland, and Gulfstream Park. If he maintains his form he will be a major force in local racing this year — although we might not see him at Hastings over the summer, as there are no more stakes races open to older non-BC-breds until September. According to trainer Dino Condilenios in the Daily Racing Form, Teide might run next in the Longacres Mile (16 August at Emerald Downs).

Other Hastings news

— Stephanie Fedora, last year’s top apprentice, is out for the rest of the 2009 Hastings racing season. According to the DRF (see bottom of page), she is due to undergo surgery to repair damaged shoulder ligaments.

— This is me jumping off the El Sinaloense bandwagon. The 7th race this past Saturday on paper set up perfectly for him: he has shown in the past that he is at his best in sprints, and the optional-claimer conditions provided for opposition that wouldn’t have warmed him up last summer. But after breaking sharply he dropped back to third, and failed to gain any significant ground in the stretch. El Sinaloense has not won a race since September, and has not been the same horse since having a bone chip removed over the winter. I suspect something more fundamental: an early-maturing 2yo who, now that the rest of his generation has caught up, has nothing else to offer.

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What do you think?

  1. The history of racing is littered with precocious two year olds that never did much after that. Speed is a genetic switch that is turned on or off at birth. STAMINA to go along with that is hooked to the maturity a horse attains over time.

    Speed gets many a baby notoriety: Tasso, Success Express, Talkin’ Man etc. but once the other “kids” catch up to them they have nothing left to go on.

    — Dr. T. Yatcak · Jul 8, 07:23 AM · #

  2. I wondered why Ms. Fedora was not riding with the same aggressiveness as last season. Good rider…

    — Dr. Timothy Yatcak · Jul 10, 12:22 PM · #

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