IVYS WINE SPARKLES IN MARES OPEN 

The smiles seen – other than that of Bill Boden -- last Friday belonged to members of the B.C. Standardbred Breeders Society.

The teeth flashing followed the staging of the fillies and mares open event at Fraser Downs. A field of eight battled for the winner’s share of the $11,000 purse and when the dust had settled Ivys Wine, the lone entrant foaled in B.C., had registered an upset.

It won’t go down in the records as that because Ivys Wine was part of a 7-5 favored entry. The five-year-old daughter of Barnett Hanover was teamed with Carson Jane, another horse owned by Boden.

Carson Jane had dominated the open since the start of the meet. So much so that Jane was assigned the outside eight hole. However, under tough track conditions, Jane went for the lead off the gate and paid the price. She did not clear into the lead until in front of the clubhouse and eventually fell back to finish seventh.

When the action started behind the tired Jane Ivys Wine was most prominent. Driver Jim Marino started a first-over trip from fifth and never stopped. They cleared into the lead just after the ¾ pole and used a 30.1 last quarter to win the mile in 1:58.3, 2¾ lengths ahead of Armbro Beachbaby. The latter made a slight break just before the start but managed to come back strong.

Rustle For It, the 3-2 second choice just returned from racing in Ontario, held the early lead but got boxed in for a time and had to settle for third.

Concrete Angel, who was a surprise and impressive winner of the open the previous week, was sixth.

Ivys Wine is trained by Dave Hudon and was foaled at B.C.’s Ross Ridge Farm. The others for the record were foaled in Ontario, Illinois, New Jersey, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

Ivy, who had a tough time in 2005 with only two wins in 21 starts, now has nine career wins and earnings of more than $171,000.  

AUSTIN KEEPS MOTORING: Austin Carr just keeps on motoring.

The classy 13-year-old son of Falcon Seelster raced to his second win in four starts in 2006 for driver/trainer Rick White. More importantly the good old boy’s victory was the 50th of his career and pushed his lifetime earnings to more than $400,000. Carr is owned by Elevtherios and Georges Georgeopoulos and was bred in Kentucky.

The hottest of the hot at the Downs is Sues Delema, a six-year-old daughter of Freedoms Pass.  Starting from the rail, she dropped as far back as third before coming on to win by a head. The victory stretched her winning streak to four (along with a second) in 2006. Moving her up to the $8,000 claiming racks did not slow her pace for driver/trainer Barry Treen.

What a difference a new year makes as Luckys Lil Dude made it three victories in a row for driver/trainer Tim Brown last Saturday. LLD, a four-year-old son of Northern Luck, did not win in nine starts in 2005.

Sonofabay, a four-year-old son of Die Laughing, won his second straight for trainer Laurie Powell and driver Steve Germain.

Despite a track rated off two seconds Red Star Bonsai paced the mile in 1:58.4 Friday for a new lifetime mark for trainer Bob Merschback and driver Dave McKellar.

Red Star Fiddler got his second straight win for new trainer Wayne Isbister and driver Jim Marino. It was the 11-year-old Fiddler’s 35th career victory.

Diamond Teardrop, the eight-year-old daughter of General Star, made it two straight and two for two in 2006 last Sunday for trainer/driver Gord Abbott.

Nine-year-old As Noted, the son of As Promised, just missed his third straight win by half a length for driver/trainer Barry Treen. He has two seconds as well as the two wins in 2006.

Trulyatyrant, a six-year-old son of True Tyrant, made it two successive wins Sunday for driver Doug Moore and trainer Dave Smith.

And, just for fun, check the replay, or a photo, for the finish of the 12th race Sunday. Five horses finished within half a length (the first four separated by a neck).
 

THIS TIME CAFFEINED: Caffeined and Magic Pal still went one-two in the $35,000 claiming event last Saturday. They just switched places.

Caffeined, a five-year-old son of On The Road Again, kept piping hot for trainer/driver Bill Davis, winning his second in three 2006 starts (and fourth of last five starts).

Caffeined is owned by Niele Jiwan.

Caffeined started slowly but pulled before the half and was second outside at the half. He led after three quarters and won by 1½ lengths over Magic Pal. Four-year-old Wild Rumour was third.

Caffeined and Magic Pal have each won more than $15,000 in January. 

FOUR WITH FIVE: Top Downs’ drivers Bill Davis and Jim Marino continue their battle atop the driver standings for the meet but they had to share honors last weekend.

Davis, who leads the meet with 75, and Marino, who is second at 69, each had five victories as did Scott Knight and Tim Brown.

Dave McKellar had three wins – all on Friday – while Jim Burke, Gord Abbott, Rick White, Serge Masse and Doug Moore shared two apiece.

Davis and Knight had four trips to the winner’s enclosure to lead all trainers. Davis now leads the meet with 44, two more than Masse. Tim Brown had three wins on the weekend while McKellar, Bob Merschback, Ann Cooper and White had two each.

Driver/trainer Barry Treen is off to a fine start in 2006 and statistics from Standardbred Canada illustrate so.

Treen leads the country as top driver and trainer in universal rating system stats. He had a .455 URS as a driver and .488 as a trainer as of Jan. 29. Second to him as trainer is Casie Coleman in Ontario at .474.

Davis is also off to his usual good start. He is tied for fourth in driver wins at 29 and fourth in URS at .424. He is tied for third in trainer wins at 16 (Coleman is second at 24) and eighth in URS as a trainer at .408. 

BARRIE IN FINAL: Ian Barrie of Port Coquitlam captured week five of the California Dreamin’ Handicapping Contest last Saturday at Fraser Downs.

Barrie had a total of $411 to top all and receive the $250 weekly prize.

Second to fourth was tight with Syd Bell at $398, Ruth Moffat $395 and Walter Valleau $389 while Ron Bieber took fifth at $352.

Barrie will join Koji Kariya, Tom Mohammed, Len Zurowski, Bob Kosolofski and Art Worsfold in the contest final where contestants will battle head-to-head on Saturday, March 11 in the Homestretch Party Zone.

The contest, which will result in the winner spending a weekend at Santa Anita racetrack in California for the Santa Anita Derby on April 8, runs for 10 consecutive weeks.

Each Saturday until March 4, contestants will be asked to handicap a series of races from Santa Anita. Entry ballots will be made available at Guest Services the morning of each contest day and entry forms must be submitted before the scheduled post of the second race at Santa Anita.

The contest consists of six races from the Santa Anita card, races three through eight, of which three must be handicapped. For each of the three horses selected, a mythical $20 win/place/show bet will be placed.  At the end of each contest day, scores will be tallied and the entrant with the highest total for that contest day will be crowned a finalist and will receive the weekly $250 prize money. 

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