Month: April 2021

Paterson Inducted Into Aintree Hall Of Fame

Late Aintree Chairman Rose Paterson, who died last June, was on Saturday inducted as an Aintree Legend. She joins distinguished figures from the jumps racing world including Ginger McCain, Sir Peter O'Sullevan and Jenny Pitman.

Paterson's husband Owen Paterson, MP for North Shropshire, announced the launch of the Rose Paterson Trust, which will raise funds for suicide prevention causes.

“For us it's just a very sad day,” he said. “Normally we'd have come in early and we'd have walked the course and she'd be picking out all the details, and she's not here. But what we've done–and I pay massive tribute to my three children–we've set up the Rose Paterson Trust. Our very simple aim is to raise money for suicide prevention and to publicise that in the next 90 minutes someone will take their life–which is nearly 15 jumbo jets per year. We feel very strongly that this should be talked about more and if we can possibly prevent one single family going through the extreme anguish that we went through.

“The reaction of racing has been quite extraordinary and I'd like to thank everyone who has pledged so far. We will put the money forward to projects and charities which we hope will prevent suicide and might just save that one family.

“Could I thank you all very much for the immensely kind reaction to what's happened. We look forward to coming back for future years and we'll be very proud to see Rose sitting proudly on the wall as an Aintree Legend.”

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Laurel Park: Claudio Gonzalez Making Up For Lost Time With Perfect 5-For-5 Start

After going 33 days between starters at Laurel Park, trainer Claudio Gonzalez is more than making up for lost time.

A 16-time meet champion in Maryland who has led the state in overall wins each of the past four years, Gonzalez has won with each of his first five starters at Laurel's spring meet, delayed to an April 8 opening by an equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) quarantine.

Gonzalez's barn was among those unable to enter races, and restricted to training hours separate from the rest of the horse population.

“It's not a good feeling when we can't train them the way we want. We only had 30 minutes to train all the horses, but it was the same way for everybody in quarantine,” Gonzalez said. “I believe the horses are saying thank you now. They got a little rest and they're feeling really good.”

Leading trainer with 28 wins despite missing the final two weekends of Laurel's 2021 winter meet, which had its last three programs canceled due to the quarantine, Gonzalez won with both his starters Friday – Robert D. Bone's Bear Force Won ($4.60) in Race 1 and Magic Stable's Baptize the Boy ($4.80) in Race 4.

Gonzalez won with all three of his starters on Thursday's opening day program – Marden ($5.20) and Queen of Tomorrow ($5.60), both owned by Bone, and Chetram Bhigroog's Cause to Dream ($6.60). Prior to that, Gonzalez hadn't run a horse at Laurel since winning with two of three starters March 7.

“I feel good, especially for the owners because the owners have bills to pay no matter what, and they lose money when they don't run,” he said. “Now they're happy.”

Gonzalez went 1-for-28 running at Parx in the interim. He has won 10 of the last 11 meets at Laurel dating back to the 2018, sweeping all four Maryland meets in 2020 including the  Preakness Meet at Pimlico Race Course.

Gonzalez nominated 10 horses to Laurel's April 24 Spring Stakes Spectacular program, including stakes winners Miss Leslie for the $125,000 Weber City Miss), Eastern Bay and Lebda for the $100,000 Frank Y. Whiteley, Landing Zone for the $100,000 Dahlia and Completed Pass for the $100,000 King T. Leatherbury, the latter two on turf.

“The horses are ready to go and we were lucky to have the right races go, too. If we get the right races and the horses are ready, it's good. Everything happens for the better,” Gonzalez said. “If we continue like this, we're going to have some good weekends.”

Notes: Jockey Sheldon Russell and his wife, trainer Brittany Russell, teamed up for a pair of popular maiden wins Friday with 4-year-old filly Memphis Mafia ($2.80) in Race 3 and 4-year-old gelding Ratify ($3) in Race 7 … Russell completed a riding triple aboard Shane's Jewel ($4) for trainer Jamie Ness in Race 8 … Jockey Kevin Gomez notched back-to-back wins with Baptize the Boy ($4.80) in Race 4 and John the Bear ($24) in Race 5 … There will be carryovers of $5,396.14 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and $922.76 in the $1 Super Hi-5 for Saturday's nine-race card (12:40 p.m. post). Multiple tickets with all six winners Friday returned $1,002.92.

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