Red River Rebel Breaks Maiden In Frost King Stakes At Woodbine

Two-year-old Red River Rebel defied his odds in the featured $100,000 Frost King Stakes, scoring a maiden-breaking victory on Friday night at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada.

Steve Bahen worked out the winning trip aboard the homebred Reload gelding in the 6 1/2-furlong Ontario Sired Stakes event, which was rescheduled after Sunday's Thoroughbred racing program was cancelled due to extreme weather conditions.

Red River Rebel tracked a trio of early leavers in fourth-place while Forest Survivor established the lead through a :22.76 quarter-mile and was pressed by All Canadian into the turn. Red River Rebel chased along the rail into the stretch and took the inside path to victory, surging by despite Forest Survivor drifting in down the lane.

Making just his second career start, Red River Rebel was victorious in 1:16.05 for trainer Rachel Halden and owners Denny Andrews and Northern Dawn Stables. Forest Survivor finished 2 1/2 lengths behind in second, with Candy Overload overtaking All Canadian, who edged out Bull Page Stakes winner Avoman in a photo finish for fourth-place. The popular Simcoe Stakes champion, Dragon's Brew, finished sixth, followed by Souper Classy, De Only Solution and Blind Trust.

Sent postward at odds of 6-1 after finishing third in his October 23 debut, Red River Rebel returned $14.90 to win.

“He ran real good his first start, but he did get a little tired,” said Bahen. “He came back and he trained real good. I've been galloping him and he's been training really well so I knew he was good today.

“I think he can be any kind of horse; he's just learning now,” added the veteran reinsman. “He was kind of a little silly guy and he's learned a lot since we've had him and he's doing well. He's moving forwardly and hopefully he gets even better.”

In other Friday night action, favorite The Boss Factor ($5.70) was no match for his grey rivals, winning the 2020 edition of the $50,000 Grey Handicap in rein to Patrick Husbands, and giving trainer Martin Drexler back-to-back victories in the event.

Owned by Bruno Schickedanz, the four-year-old gelded son of The Factor opened up an insurmountable 10-length lead down the backstretch in the 1 1/16-mile main track race and cruised home to score in 1:44.26. His leading margin diminished to one length near the wire with Coleyville closing from the backfield in second. Suitedconnected checked in third, another 3-1/4 lengths behind.

The Grey Handicap is for registered grey and roan horses, 3-year-olds and up, that have started for a claiming price of $25,000 or less in 2019-20.

Live Thoroughbred racing continues at Woodbine Racetrack with a super Saturday stakes program, featuring the $175,000 Kennedy Road Stakes (Grade 2), $175,000 Bessarabian Stakes (Grade 2), $125,000 Ontario Derby (Grade 3) and $150,000 Ontario Damsel Stakes. All the action begins at 1:25 p.m.

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More Than 200 Workers At Golden Gate Fields Test Positive For COVID-19

A joint statement from Golden Gate Fields and the City of Berkeley Public Health released on Friday night revealed the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak among workers that forced the Northern California track to suspend racing operations on Nov. 13. A second announcement said racing would not resume before early December. The meet is scheduled to end Dec. 13 and reopen the day after Christmas, Dec. 26.

The joint statement indicated that more than 200 people living or working at the Bay Area track have tested positive for COVID-19. It's believed the backstretch community includes about 500 workers employed by approximately 75 trainers. The number of front-side personnel is not known.

The Golden Gate Fields stable area is located in Berkeley, with the racetrack and grandstand in the city of Albany.

Berkeley Public Health required mandatory tests for all workers when an outbreak among stable area employees became evident last week and racing operations were paused.

Joint statement from Golden Gate Fields and Berkeley Public Health:
City of Berkeley Public Health continues to work closely with Golden Gate Fields on a significant outbreak where more than 200 people living or working on-site at the racetrack have tested positive for COVID-19. 1/ST Racing, which operates the track, is following all of the City's recommendations for testing, quarantine and isolation. The steps they have taken include the following:

Every person living or working on-site has been tested and additional testing will be done.

All those who have tested positive are isolated off-site, following federal, state and City guidelines. The track is assisting with off-site housing for those who have tested positive and has arranged for twice daily food delivery to ensure that those individuals do not have to leave isolation and have the essential items they require.

Golden Gate Fields' on-site medical director, an infectious disease expert, is providing medical consultation to those who live and work at the racetrack.

For those close contacts who have tested negative but still need to quarantine for 14 days, the track is providing daily food delivery and access to medical support as well as the means to safely quarantine, including additional bathrooms and handwashing stations.

Golden Gate Fields continues to implement health and safety measures including, strict social distancing, masking policies and regular COVID-19 testing with isolation requirements for any positive cases or identified close contacts.

Both Berkeley Public Health and 1/ST Racing will be closely monitoring the situation to follow all local, state and federal guidelines. Should testing identify more cases, further investigation and tracing will be done by Berkeley Public Health and additional isolation and quarantine will be required.

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Del Mar: Glatt Records 1,000th Career Victory; Chaos Theory Gets Sadler Off Schneid

Folks got a sample of rider Umberto Rispoli's special talents this past summer at Del Mar when the international reinsman rode 49 winners in the 27-day meet, many of them on the turf course, and just missed being its leading rider in his first season at the shore oval.

They got another reminder about just how good he is in the featured race at the seaside track near San Diego, Calif., on Friday when he put on a masterful performance that included slipping up the rail late to tally by a head with Hronis Racing's Chaos Theory in a grassy allowance sprint that went as the day's second race.

On the next race on the program, veteran trainer Mark Glatt registered a nifty milestone when he rung up the 1,000th victory of his career with the speedy gelding Zestful in a nine-furlong allowance affair.

Chaos Theory, who ran his five furlongs in :56.08, bested Rafter JR Ranch, STD Racing Stable or Miller, et al's Texas Wedge, who in turn had a length on Mike Schott's Mikes Tiznow.

The win got trainer John Sadler off the schneid for the meet as he scored for the first time with his 24th starter. Chaos Theory picked up $39,000 from the $85,000 purse and increased his bankroll to $307,054 with his sixth win in his 13th start.

Chaos Theory, the 6-5 favorite, paid $4.40, $2.40 and $2.10 across the board. Texas Wedge returned $2.60 and $2.20, while Mikes Tiznow paid $3.40 to show.

Zestful, who is owned by the Shanderella Stables, Haramoto or Kawahara and others scored in his dirt test by 2 1/2 lengths under Edwin Maldonado in wire-to-wire fashion and paid $6.40 to win. He covered the nine furlongs in 1:50.94.

Glatt, whose father Ron was a longtime trainer in the Northwest, began training racehorses for a living in 1994 in his native Washington State, then moved south to the Bay Area shortly thereafter. In 2000, a client convinced him to try his luck in Southern California and he's been a regular – and successful — member on that circuit since.

He had his best year ever in 2019 when his horses won 73 races and more than $3.3 million in purses. In total, the 47-year-old horsemen has now won 1,000 races, had 932 seconds and 875 thirds for earnings of $32,458,403.

The last trainer to register his 1,000th victory at Del Mar was Peter Miller in 2018.

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COVID-19: Woodbine Seeks Clarification On Ontario Premier’s Lockdown Order

Woodbine Entertainment issued a statement Friday saying it was “working to understand the implications” of an order issued by Ontario Premier Doug Ford that put the Toronto and Peel Regions of the province in a strict lockdown under the government's color-coded system developed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Woodbine is located in the Toronto Region in the city of Etobicoke.

According to Ontario's COVID-19 response system – with five colors ranging from green for prevent to grey for lockdown – horse racing will not be permitted (though training can continue)  when the “grey” lockdown goes into effect on Monday, Nov. 23. The new measures are expected to last a minimum of 28 days, through Dec. 21. The Woodbine meet is scheduled to close Dec. 13.

“The situation is extremely serious and further action is required to avoid the worst-case scenario,” Ford said when announcing the measures. The order also closes restaurants, non-essential retail stores, meeting and event spaces, and indoor sports and fitness centers. Outdoor gatherings are limited to 10 people.

Woodbine issued the following statement after the lockdown order: “Since the beginning of our province's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year, our commitment to public safety has not wavered. We are extremely supportive of the Government's efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 throughout our community. Furthermore, we are very proud of our safety record at Woodbine Racetrack and Woodbine Mohawk Park in this regard.

“To that end, we are currently working to understand the implications this recent news will have on Thoroughbred racing at Woodbine Racetrack and the thousands of people it supports throughout the province.

“We will provide further updates at the appropriate time.”

Racing will be conducted on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's “super Saturday stakes program” features three graded stakes and kicks off at 1:25 p.m. ET.

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