Grooms are appreciated!
The B.C. Standardbred Association, with
the cooperation of Fraser Downs, and MarketPlace IGA
Cloverdale, is holding the fourth annual Fraser Downs
Grooms' Challenge this weekend.
Every groom will be permitted to pick
one horse in his or her barn that will be racing Friday,
Saturday or Sunday. Should a trainer not have a groom
employed, he or she will be able to designate one person who
normally or frequently assists in a groom function with the
stable, for one race only to go into the challenge.
Every groom whose horse wins will
receive an equal share in the $1,000 pot put up by the BCSA.
All grooms in the event will receive
“goodie bags” from Market Place IGA-Cloverdale. Fraser Downs
will give a golf shirt to all winners and a food coupon to
all participants.
The cheques and shirts will be
presented at the Grooms Days Dinner Dance on Saturday, March
6.
The dance climaxes Groom Appreciation
Week in which there will be daily draws in the
kitchen, hot drinks and hot dogs in the paddock on race
nights/days.
Horse owner Gar Campbell has donated a
prime pair of Canucks tickets and the limo has been booked
for the Grooms Grand Draw to drawn at the dance.
Thirty grooms have horses for the
weekend: Friday: Tracie Donnelly, Diva In Demand; Donna
Scrannage, Northern Colors; Colin Baker, Spatz Bad Manners;
Brenda Arsenault, Ask Again; Cathy Bilyk, Emery Flight;
Thalia Bengyik, Southside Royal; Ashley Destobel, Kaiser
Black; David Bilyk, Red Star Master; Jeanne Goulet, Sinister
Force;
Saturday: Caroline Garceau, Burn
Brightly; Kelly Medland, Major Lees Crude; Duane Manary, Red
Star Veronica; Sandra Roberts, I C Q; Bert McNamee, Chute
Again; Don Ulmer, The Color Of Money; Shirley Hedgecoe,
Lildudewithaditude; Archie Caron, Jr., Lil Dude Starrbuck;
Donna Cunningham, Lildudekickinash; Pat Fleming, Evs Spirit;
Frank Otterson, Fox Valley Riddler; Denielle Gisby, Pacing
Odessey;
Sunday: Crystal McKay, Georgia K;
Darren Poloway, Pocket Lane N; Bill Davis, Jr., Red Star
Admiral; Tim Mosterd, Pellegrini N; Janine Therres, Papas
Reflection; Dan Desko, Lil Dudes Keeeper; Sue Allan, Nealies
Deal; Lisa Taylor, Keep Spinning; Alex Fisher, Red Star
Suesue.
Grooms are considered by many to be the
unsung heroes of the industry. They do much of the “grunt”
work such as cleaning stalls, harnessing the horses for
training and races, bathing and brushing the horses and
generally assisting the trainers.
Many come to be both the trainers’ and
the horses’ best friend.
THIS SPIDER HAS BITE: Spider M,
a five-year-old son of Deamons Bell out of Sabrina Legacy,
used a powerful last quarter to capture his first Invite
last Saturday at Fraser Downs.
A 4-1 fourth choice in the field of
seven, which had no clear-cut favorite, Spider M fell to
fifth early from his No. 1 post. Trailing by 7 ½ lengths at
the quarter, he was still fifth, four back, at the head of
the stretch. But he roared down the stretch, covering the
last quarter in a rapid 27.4, to edge favorite Infinite
Dreams by a neck.
Spider M, owned and bred by Ken Dorman
and Janice Wheeler, trained by Dorman and driven by Tim
Brown, paced the mile in a new lifetime mark of 1:54.4.
He now has two wins, two seconds and a
third in seven starts in 2004.
Infinite Dreams, the favorite narrowly
over Haras Colta Cola and Red Star Admiral (all around 2-1),
had won the Invite two weeks ago. He stuck his head in front
of early pacesetter Cola in the stretch but could not hold
off Spider M. Admiral was third.
Arturos Choice made it two in a row in
the fillies and mares open, winning by 1¼ lengths over
stablemate Make Some Noise in a field of five last Friday.
Arturos Choice, driven by Jim Burke and
trained by Bill Davis and owned by Robert Murphy, covered
the mile in 1:56.1. The daughter of Arturo has two wins, a
second and a third in four 2004 starts.
STILL HOT: Dave Hudon remains on
his February flow.
Hudon led the driver and trainer
derbies last weekend for the third straight week.
Hudon had a four-bagger last Friday –
four days after his 40th birthday --to finish with six
driving victories. He now has 21 for the month, eight ahead
of runner-up Tim Brown.
Brown was among six drivers – Bob
Baxter, Rick White, Bill Davis, Jim Burke and Jim Marino,
the others – with three victories.
Hudon was the top trainer with five
triumphant decisions. White and Davis were next with three
and Carol St Amand, Ken Dorman, Marino and Mike Glover each
had two.
MARES LEAD SALE: The three mares
offered by the B.C. Standardbred Breeders Society at its
annual mixed sale last Tuesday brought the highest purchase
prices.
The broodmares, purchased at the recent
2004 Garden State Super Sale in Hanover, Pa., brought an
average of $4,600. Leading the way was Roxette Hanover, a
13-year-old by Kentucky Spur and in foal to Dragon Again,
who was bought by the SW Farms of Aldergrove. Burke LeBouef
of Hinton, Alta. paid $4,500 for Blue Collar Girl, and Fred
Zaitsoff of Aldergrove bought Eicarls El Grande for $4,000.
The top seller in the open section of
the sale was Red Star Marty. The three-year-old son of Cam
Can Do, consigned by Robert Murphy, brought $2,500 from Stud
Muffins of Langley.
Crimson Racing Stable bought Not In The
Mood, a No Nukes broodmare bred to As Promised, from the Lil
Dude Ranch for $1,400 and LeBoeuf purchased One Cool Deal, a
five-year-old mare, for $1,300. The mare, who is still
racing, was consigned by Joe Gray and Kelly Hudon.
Only five of the 24 horses (seven were
pulled out before the sale) consigned were bought back.
During the sale at the Agriplex, Tom
Bourdeau was the successful bidder on the stallion service
offered by Ty O'Neil on his stallion Creative Edge. The
proceeds, $550, will go to the standardbred horse Greener
Pastures adoption program.
JONES KEEPS UP: Wray Jones of
Surrey is the ninth week’s winner of the California Dreamin
handicapping contest at the Downs. Jones used two correct
winning wagers to get the mythical total of $536.
Ian Barrie of Port Coquitlam was second
with $504 and Jim Sentes of Langley was third at $496.
Jones joins Fred Pirgheibi, Ken Dunn,
Josef Eppel, Don Thompson, Kara Cromwell, Ken Compton, Ron
Smith and Lorrie McKay as nine of the 10 finalists who will
battle head-to-head in the CDHC on Saturday, March 6 in the
Homestretch Party Zone. The CDHC champion will attend the
Santa Anita Derby on April 3, courtesy of Fraser Downs.
In the CDHC, which runs weekly until
Feb. 28, contestants are asked to handicap a series of races
from Santa Anita. The contest is based on six races, three
through eight, and on which entrants will handicap three.
For each of the three horses chosen, a mythical $20 win,
place, show bet is placed. At the end of each contest day,
scores will be tallied and the entrant with the highest
total will receive the weekly $250 prize – and be crowned a
finalist.
Entry ballots are available at the
Welcome Centre the morning of each contest day. They must be
returned before the scheduled post of the second race at
Santa Anita.
POOLING TIME AGAIN: The second
half of the $10,000 KENO Harness Pool begins Friday and
concludes on April 4.
The Harness Pool has contestants pick a
stable of horses and each contestant earns points based on
their performance (five for win, three for place and one for
show).
The contest was divided into two
halves, each half six weeks in length. At the end of each
half, the top three contestants will win prize money. During
each half, contestants are permitted one trade. The second
half trading forms will be available on March 12 and the
second half deadline is on March 19.
At the end of the contest, both halves
will be added and the top 40 players, including ties, will
share in the $10,000 prize pool as follows: first $2,500,
second $1,500, third $1,000, fourth to10th $250 and 11th to
40th $75. Prizes will be awarded to the top three players
in the first half and second half as follows: first $250,
second $150 and third $100.
Winners of first half top-three prizes
are not eligible for second half top-three prizes.
John Kusch captured the first half
title with Puggy Singh second and Nobby Mori, Pamela
Percy-Bell, Ryan McDougall and Debbie Chomyn sharing third.
MAINMAN’S MOONSHOT: Last week
the shot was Next Plane Out, a 14-1 post-time line choice
who was eighth. This week we will try Tinkers Magic, a 12-1
morning line selection in the seventh race Saturday.
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