Saturday Previews
Last year's dual Derby hero August Rain returns to action in a cracking feature contest on a card that also includes live coverage of the Preakness Stakes
With six wins and a second from eight starts, the remarkable QUEEN OF ATTITUDE was one of the horses of the year last season. She takes on the boys here for her season bow, which won’t be easy, but she’s been working well all spring and represents a barn that has made another fast start. KNOPFLER already has a victory under his belt and, while this is a small step up in class for the nine-time winner, he’ll be in the thick of the action again. Stablemate THERE GOES MY HERO was third on opening day and flies the flag for a Keith Pedersen barn that has hit the board with all nine runners so far.
Among the very best three-year-olds on the premises last season, DIOCLES won over six furlongs on his debut last term and, while his running style brings traffic issues into the equation, he won’t be far away here. LUCKY FORCE, who landed the CTHS Sales Stakes last season in a campaign that saw him crowned Upper Level Claimer of the Year (jointly with Bold Arch), also won first time up last year. SOARINGFORTHESUN also won on his opening foray last season but subsequently lost his way a little. However, he’s been working well in the mornings and, on his best form, remains a potent threat.
OVERLY FAST and DUPLICATION both make their Hastings debuts following winter campaigns at Turf Paradise and, while not easy to weigh up, they both look to have enough speed to be a threat. FINDING WAYS held off BAK TO LIBERTY to make a winning reappearance on opening day and there is little between them, while STANFORD BAY had FINDING WAYS behind him when they met last summer during a season that saw him miss the frame just once.
RIVER THAMES dodged the Kentucky Derby after finishing a close-up third in the Toyota Bluegrass Stales in April. He’ll be fresher than some of his rivals, looks value and can give jockey Irad Ortiz his first Preakness victory. JOURNALISM represents the Kentucky Derby form and will be a warm favourite after his magnificent second to Sovereignty in the Run for the Roses. UK-based trainer Jamie Osborne enjoys tilting at windmills and it will be fascinating to see how his daughter Saffie gets on aboard the international raider, HEART OF HONOUR who, most recently, was runner-up in the U.A.E. Derby.
BOLD ARCH takes on a talented field in the day’s feature event but, over this distance, may be too rapid for his rivals at this stage of the season. With wins in last year’s Canadian and B.C. Derbies, AUGUST RAIN was the leading three-year-old at Hastings in 2024. He’ll be even better when stepping up in distance but is a class act and shouldn’t be too far away on his season debut. The well-bred MASEN, an expensive private purchase last summer, makes his Hastings debut. His most recent morning workout startled the geese and he can be a live contender if adapting to the track.
ANOTHERSUNNYDAY had ICE BREAKER, B C CHRISTIE and MISS THE HYPE behind when the chasing home Don’tpassthepepper on opening day and she could easily go one better this afternoon. She may have most to fear from TRIPLE L’s CUTTER, who, fit from a winter campaign in Louisiana, was gaining ground when third to Rose of Texas and today’s rival TEXAS HUMOR in her first race at Hastings. Any small improvement on that initial foray should see her go close.
DEPUTY’S DANCER went down all guns blazing against Knopfler on opening weekend and, with a run under his belt, is perfectly placed to get off the mark here. EYE BE SEEING YOU wasn’t far behind the selection that day and he’s a consistent sort who represents the fast-starting Rob Maybin barn. TIZ VICIOUS is another who will have benefitted from having had a run. He operated in deeper waters well enough last season to consider him a threat with a race under his girth.
Lisa & Mike’s Selections
Statistics
Brotherly love keeps latest Hastings’ apprentice on the straight and narrow
With help from his elder brother, Hastings Racecourse apprentice jockey is settling in to the family business of riding winners
By Nigel Reid, Staff Reporter
With a $2 million purse up for grabs in Maryland this weekend, the horse racing world turns its attention to Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore for the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes — the second jewel in sports’ original “Triple Crown”.
In a sport where family trees traditionally take on huge importance, this year’s favourite, Journalism, will be bidding to follow in the hoof prints of his father, Curlin, who won the Preakness back in 2007 before eventually becoming a successful stallion.
A future in the breeding paddocks of Kentucky is the ultimate return on investment for owners and breeders. Winners of the very best races are assured a place at stud and connections can earn millions in fees over the length of a successful stallion’s career.
For instance, Seize the Grey, last year’s Preakness winner and now a stallion, currently demands $30,000 for a “date” with a pre-approved broodmare, while a brief assignation with Justify, the most recent winner of all three legs of the Triple Crown, will cost a cool $250,000.
However, the bloodlines are not restricted only to the horses. Saturday’s Preakness lineup sees jockey brothers Irad and Jose Ortiz both on fancied mounts. The Puerto Rican siblings, with more than 7,300 wins between them, are racing’s winningest jockey brothers and their success has not gone unnoticed at Hastings, where Trinidadian brothers Ridge (28) and Richard Balgobin (18) can be found following in the footsteps of their jockey father, Ralph. Richard, a first-year apprentice, or “Bug Boy”, at the east Vancouver track, rode his first winner in Canada last weekend aboard Bluegrass Lent and is catching plenty of attention with eight of his 12 mounts finishing in the first three.
Richard said: “My father, Ralph, was the first Balgobin to be a jockey, so it was him who inspired me to become a professional rider. Seeing my brother and cousin (Keishan Balgobin, who rode 16 winners in Alberta last season) coming to Canada and riding successfully here, made me want to come and see Canada too.”
Backstretch Mornings
