Bre X and Justice share IGA horse of the month
They share the track record and now
they will share MarketPlace IGA horse of the month for
October.
First Bre X – on Oct. 4 – and then Red
Star Justice – on Oct. 24 – covered the 5/8-mile track at
Fraser Downs in 1:53.2 and earned themselves a share of the
record and the IGA blanket. (Actually they will each receive
a blanket courtesy of the friendly grocer Rob Neufeld.)
Bre X only raced twice, both wins, in
October with the first breaking the track mark he had
established one week earlier on Sept. 26. (In September he
won twice and was second twice, losing both times by just a
neck, and has already chalked up a win in November).
Red Star Justice raced four times and
also won twice (along with a couple of races in which he
struggled) in October.
Bre X, a six-year-old gelding by Dal
Reo Hop Sing out of Punch Line, is owned by Kadence Stables
of Coquitlam and Tante Stables of New Westminster and was
bred by Dal Reo Farms.
Bre X now has 15 wins (and eight
seconds and three thirds) in 27 starts in 2003. He has
earned more than $102,000 in 2003 and $299,066 lifetime.
Justice is a five-year-old ridgling
owned by Kelly Hudon and trained and driven by her husband
Dave Hudon. He is by Just Camelot out of Bradner Helvetia
and was bred by Ernest French, Leslie Godlien and Rick
Lancaster.
He has five wins in 24 starts in 2003
and has earned more than $91,000 lifetime.
FIVE STRAIGHT FOR BRE X: Bre X
won the battle of the big boys by capturing the Invite last
Saturday on Breeders Classic Day.
The six-year-old son of Dal Reo Hop
Sing made in five straight victories, winning the $19,000
event by 1½ lengths over newcomer Infinite Dreams with Nazko
Promise third.
With the increased purse, a full field
of nine (the also drew in after a scratch) decided to try
their luck. But Bre X’s strong roll, which included breaking
the track record twice, continued and he won while covering
the mile in 1:54.
The field included an entry from each
of the Downs’ Big Four stables: Robert Murphy, Lil Dude
Ranch, Bill Boden and Garden Gate.
Meanwhile, Marissa Seelster won the
$15,000 purse fillies and mares open on the msame card.
The four-year-old daughter of Camluck
paced the mile in a rather pedestrian 1:58 but it was good
enough for a 2¼ length win for owners Western Pacific
Stable.
Sing Mitzi For Me was second and Penny
Lace third in the field of eight. My Kinda Cam, a 2-5
favorite, made a break just after the start and finished
well back.
One of the top performances of the day
came from Janstar Master IB in the non-winners of $6,500 in
last six races event, which went for a purse of $14,000.
A seven-year-old son of Master Joke,
Janstar Master IB, owned by Rod Therres, cruised the mile in
a new life mark of 1:55.4 in winning by 3 ¼ lengths over Lo
Siento. Red Star Apache was third. Janstar Master IB paid
$50.70 to win.
DIGGING IT: Digs Girl, a
seven-year-old mare owned by Laurie Davis and the Victoria
Pacing Stable, is finding the present meet at Fraser Downs
much to her liking.
The daughter of Dignatarian has made
seven starts at the meet and won them all. The latest came
Friday in the fillies and mares $4,000 claimer. She now has
10 wins in 24 starts in 2003.
THE DAVIS SHOW: This is a
recording: Bill Davis led the driver/trainer battles again
last weekend.
Davis used four wins in each category
to top the totals with eight as a driver and seven as a
trainer. Tim Brown had four driving victories while Dave
Hudon and Jim Burke had three each. Hudon, with three, and
Ray Gemmill, with two, were the closer conditioner
challengers.
ARNDT IS: Edith Arndt of New
Westminster was the second week’s winner of the Ironman
Handicapping Contest, which runs each Saturday until Dec. 6.
Arndt won $250 for her ‘capping
expertise while Derek Robinson of Surrey was second and won
$150 and Garth Allan of South Surrey third and took home
$100.
Arndt, who had celebrated her birthday
on Friday, had $104 in winnings after picking seven winners
and a second. She narrowly edged Robinson who had all eight
winners but winnings of $97.30. Allan had $79 in winnings.
All patrons have to do is pick a horse
in a designated race from eight different race tracks (such
as Woodbine, Santa Anita, Mohawk, Bay Meadows) and receive
dollars for a win, place or show finish. Each week there
will be three winners.
Entries must be in by 11:30 a.m. each
contest day. Programs for the contest will be available at
the Welcome Centre at noon Friday.
BIG AND FAT: Twelve patrons left
the Downs with big grins and fat wallets after collecting
the prizes in the big Breeders Classic Cash Blowout on
Saturday.
The Downs gave away a total of $15,000
in prize money from the four Classic Breeders Stakes races.
Each race had $3,750 in total: $2,500 for first, $1,000 for
second and $250 for third.
Race 2 winners were: Marjorie Owen of
Burnaby, Cosimo Papaianni of Coquitlam, Cy Daily of Surrey;
Race 4: Robert Lisle of Surrey, Bill Grindlay of Aldergrove,
Gerry Hansen of Blaine, Wash.; Race 6: Jim Hunter of Port
Coquitlam, Derek Peters of Sechelt, Virginia Chruil of
Surrey; Race 8: Don Horkey of Surrey, Dan Traviss of North
Vancouver and Jay Sidhu of New Wesminster.
For each of the four races a
contestant’s name was drawn coinciding with each horse in
the race. The contestant assigned the winning horse won the
$2,500 and etc.
IT’S SALE TIME: Sire names such
as Magical Mike, Camluck, Western Hanover and Shady
Character dot the list of the breeding of the four
broodmares, which will be available at the annual B.C.
Standardbred Breeders Society Yearling Sale.
A record number of yearlings – 136 --
have been entered for the sale on Tuesday, starting at 6:30
p.m., at the Agriplex.
Bill Pambrum, president of the society,
went to the Harrisburg sale in the U.S. and returned with
the four broodmares.
The stallion auction will once again be
held and the popular raffle for a sale credit will also take
place. One lucky person will receive a $2,500 voucher and
another a $1,500 voucher either of which can be used for a
yearling or a broodmare. Tickets for the raffle are on sale
at the SA and SBS office.
DID YOU
KNOW: On Nov. 7, 1970 -- Most Happy Fella, driven
by Stanley Dancer, wins the pacing Triple Crown by capturing
the final jewel, the Messenger Stakes, in 2:00.3 at
Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, N.Y.
MAINMAN’S MOONSHOT: Last week our pick was Try Your Best
but alas it was not to be and the 38-1 shot finished
seventh. We tried. This time let’s go with Isle of Barra, a
10-1 shot in the fifth race Saturday.
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