JANE WINS CAMCRACKER
It seems only appropriate that on a day
when Camcracker is saluted a relative also grabs the
spotlight.
Camcracker, who won more than $1
million and paced a lifetime mark of 1:49.3 in his career,
is now standing stud as a nine-year-old in Langley. His
owners, Aubrey Friedman of Burlington, Ont. and Brian Nixon
of Centerport, N.Y., and his trainer Mark Harder of New
Jersey, decided to publicly announce his arrival by offering
a prize to the winner of the weekly fillies and mares open
at Fraser Downs.
Camcracker, Nixon and Harder watched as
Carson Jane, a daughter of Cambest (also the daddy of
Camcracker), dominated in winning the open by 3 1/4 lengths
last Sunday at Fraser Downs.
In addition to the regular purse
winnings ($4,000), Bill Boden, the owner of the triumphant
mare received a blanket - and a free breeding to Camcracker
(the fee is $2,250) for any mare of his choice.
Boden was a happy man. He is an owner
who is quite interested in bloodlines and already was
planning.
"I've got one (a mare) Dal Reo Santoy,
who I am thinking about. I will have to check the back
breeding."
Nixon was a happy man (despite leaving
his New York home early Sunday morning and flying to Seattle
and then driving to the Downs for his first visit).
"We have sent him (Camcracker) here to
give him the best opportunity as a stallion. It has been a
good day for us and I think a good day for harness racing
here."
Harder, a former B.C. trainer, who now
tops the North American standings, was a happy man.
After parading his fine athlete before
the fillies and mares' race, Harder said of Camcracker, "He
was always very consistent and he took on, and beat, some of
the top horses (Gallo Blue Chip for one). He wasn't always
first but he always tried."
Carson Jane, who struggled in her
previous outing, also showed much try Sunday.
With trainer Dave Hudon in the bike,
the 4-5 favorite raced to the front from her four post and
was never caught. She won, turning back a late last-turn
challenge from Lunar Princess, in 1:57.
Princess Jessica, never far from a win
in recent starts, came on for second with Lunar Princess
third and Dal Reo Millee fourth.
Carson Jane, a five-year-old with a
nifty lifetime mark of 1:53, now has four wins and two
seconds in eight starts in 2005 with more than $17,000 in
earnings for the year and more than $91,000 for her career.
NECK ENOUGH IN EIGHTH:
Betterfrombehind still has not been beaten - eight starts,
eight wins.
But last Friday's victory at Fraser
Downs in her Delta Pace elimination was a little different
as a rival finished within a length. Betterfrombehind went
gate-to-wire but Concrete Angel made it interesting, using a
perfect-two hole trip for a late challenge. The margin of
victory was a neck.
In the second of two six-horse
eliminations, Betterfrombehind, co-winner of the B.C.
two-year-old filly pacer of the year in 2004, extended her
win streak for trainer Alan Anderson and driver Bill Davis.
The Downs' top driver was not in the sulky for
Betterfrombehind's first win at Cal-Expo in California but
has piloted her impressively in all the others.
Davis rated the three-year-old daughter
of Kents On Nuke through quarter fractions of :29.2, :59.1
and 1:28.2 before coming home in 29 seconds en route to a
1:57.2 triumph. It was her first start of 2005.
Red Star Ginny was 4 1/4 lengths back
in third and Mcmoney was fourth.
The B.C.-bred Betterfrombehind now
sports career earnings of $67,434 for owners J J J Stables
of Aldergrove, Alan Anderson of Willows, CA, and Mark
Anderson of Sacramento, CA.
A charge to the lead from the rail was
the key to gaining the winner's circle for
Alldressedinvelvet, who won her elimination (they each had a
purse of $6,750).
Alldressedinvelvet (Richess Hanover)
paced fractions of :28.4, :59.1 and 1:27.4 en route to a
three-quarter length decision in 1:58 for trainer Brett
Currie and driver Barry Treen. Velvet upset the odds-on
favourite, Jimmy Jams Jubilee with Anything Anytime taking
third. Red Star Marlene was fourth.
It was the first win of the season for
the three-year-old filly, who now sports lifetime earnings
of $29,132 for Crimson Racing Stable of Langley.
The $33,900 final of the Delta Pace for
three-year-old fillies is scheduled for this Saturday.
Shannons Scoobydoo won the draw Tuesday
between the fifth-place finishers, the other was Bunny
Ridge, for the last spot in the final and will an entry-mate
of Jimmy Jams Jubilee, who got the rail. That made them the
7-2 third choice in the morning line.
Despite getting the five and six spots
on the gate, Betterfrombehind and Concrete Angel are the 8-5
and 3-1 top choices respectively.
THE BRUSTER IS THE ONE: The
Bruster rarely hurries off the gate. He also rarely falls
too far behind. He also rarely fails to make a couple of big
moves. All that rare adds up to well done as he often wins.
That's what he did last Sunday in the
winners-over (invite) event at Fraser Downs. The
four-year-old son of His Mattjesty captured the feature for
the second time in the last three weeks, this time by 1 1/2
lengths.
The Bruster, the 4-5 favorite, started
from the three-hole on the gate and was back in fifth (it
seems to be his favorite spot) at the quarter (7 1/2 back)
and half (6 1/2 back). But first a strong backstretch move
put him third after three quarters and the patented late
kick (29.2 last quarter) pushed him to victory.
Red Star Admiral, 3-2 second choice, as
usual did a ton of work, clearing into the lead after the
quarter and opening up a five-length lead before falling to
the bruising finish of the Bruster.
The winner's late heroics stole the
attention from Infinite Dreams and Coyote Hanover, who came
from eighth and seventh to finish third and fourth.
The Bruster, owned by Bruce Larway and
Spud McCormac, trained by McCormac and driven by Jim Marino,
now has four wins, three seconds and a third in nine starts
in 2005.
He pushed his earnings to more than
$31,000 for the year and more than $123,000 for his career.
MARINO-DAVIS: Jim Marino and
Bill Davis continued to lead the way in the driver derby at
the Downs. Marino used four wins Sunday and Davis used a
grand slam on Friday to top all with six wins apiece.
They are one-two for the meet, which
started last September.
Serge Masse has made his presence felt
as he chalked up four victories. Tim Brown was next with
three while Glenn White, Jim Burke, Dave Hudon, Andy
Arsenault and Clint Warrington had two each.
Davis and Masse were the leading
trainers with four each while Mike Glover had three and Rick
White, Hudon and Barry Treen deadlocked at two.
Jerry Nelner and Boyd Burke each
registered their first driving wins of 2005 while Billy
Davis (junior) harnessed his first winning horse as a
trainer when Itsallaboutthemoney captured the fifth race on
Friday.
WAY TO GO WOODY: Marian and Bill
Young's pride and joy (OK, one of), Woodmere Windrop, paced
to the 50th win of his career last Saturday at the Downs.
Woody, an 11-year-old P.E.I. bred by
Drop Off out of Stylish Winner, has been with the Youngs for
many years. He was claimed off them a few months back but
they bought him back recently - eying the possibility of
that big 5-0 win.
Racing in a $4,000 claimer event (Bill
was worried that he was embarrassing all including Woody),
the veteran gelding, driven by Jim Burke, used one of his
strong finishes (29.3 second last quarter) for a five-length
margin.
It was the first win of 2005 for
Woodmere Windop who has won more than $260,000 in his
career.
BOLTON GETS ONE LEG: Armbro
Bolton won in style in one of last Saturday's Borden Park
eliminations at Northlands Park.
Armbro Bolton, who was sent off as the
4-5 favorite, went gate to wire in his leg for
trainer/driver Larry Micallef winning by 5 3/4 lengths in a
clocking of 1:56.3.
The four-year-old son of Matts Scooter
defeated Pete Plumsted and Allamerican Dakota and improved
his 2005 record to 4-2-2 in eight starts.
The J J J Stables of Aldergrove and
Alan Anderson of Willows, CA, are owners of the winner
$52,439 to date.
Those owners were close to a sweep as
Dal Reo Revolt was second by a length in the other elim to
Close The Deal who won in 1:57.4.
Meanwhile, Armbro Bach was second in
last Saturday's winners over at Northlands.
The four-year-old son of Village Jiffy,
trained by Ray Gemmill who turned 75 last Sunday, was half a
length behind surprise winner Fort Apache.
BCSA ELECTION: Three new people
were successful in the B.C. Standardbred Association board
of directors' recent election -- Brett Currie, Sten Ericsson
and Dave Jungquist.
A total of 187 ballots were counted for
a fairly healthy return rate of 35 per cent in this year’s
recent.
Seven candidates were vying for the
five available seats. The newcomers joined the board at the
annual general meeting on March 22. Two incumbents, Paul
Harrison and Wendell Smith were re-elected for another
two-year term. The two candidates not elected were Gar
Campbell and Fred Zaitsoff while Rod Therres, whose term had
also expired, had chosen not to seek re-election.
The five elected members will joint the
five directors entering the second year of their terms. They
are Jim Vinnell, Scott Knight, Robert Linford, Bill Pambrun
and David Woolley.
Meanwhile, Brett Currie and Rick White
were elected after all the ballots had been counted for the
2005 B.C. Standardbred Breeders Society board of directors
election.
However, the successful candidate for
the third and final seat remained undecided when Bill
Pambrun and Bob Chadwick had an equal number of votes.
As both the BCSBS bylaws and the
Society Act are silent on how ties are to be dealt with, the
Society sought legal advice.
The opinion given was that there was a
choice of redoing the election, having a runoff between the
two tied candidates, or deciding the question through a
random process such as drawing lots or picking a number. The
question was put to the six directors who were not involved
as candidates in the election. They felt that the decision
was too important to leave to a random process and decided
to have an election runoff between the two tied candidates.
Ballots have been mailed out and those
returned will be tallied on Monday.
MORE MONEY: The Nat Christie
Memorial, Western Canada Pacing Derby and Northlands Filly
Pace, the marquee stakes events annually in Alberta, will
each receive significant purse increases this year.
Horse Racing Alberta announced that
additional monies, primarily from the slot machine revenues,
allows for significant purse increases for a number of major
stakes races for both the standardbred and thoroughbred
sectors.
Stampede Park's signature event, the
Nat Christie, will offer a purse of $250,000 total this
year, up $50,000 from 2004. Northlands Park's Western Canada
Pacing Derby and its filly counterpart the Northlands Filly
Pace, will each have increases of $25,000 to $175,000.
-30-
