October, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

After Confidence Builder, Silent Causeway Takes Aim At Ontario Matron

Silent Causeway, trained and owned by Laura Krasauskaite, looks to keep her strong recent form going in the Grade 3 $150,000 Ontario Matron, Saturday at Woodbine in Toronto, Ontario.

The 1 1/16-mile main track feature for fillies and mares, 3-years-old and upward, has drawn 10 starters, including Krasauskaite's 5-year-old dark bay mare.

After a tough start to her 2022 campaign, Silent Causeway has turned things around in a big way, posting two wins and a second in her past three starts.

One of those victories, a seven-furlong test over the Toronto oval Tapeta on Aug. 11, was a roll of the dice for Krasauskaite.

“I am extremely happy with her last three races. The one on August 11, the $25,000 claiming race, I took a big chance there. I needed to race her there because she needed a mind boost, something to get her confidence going. I knew that we would have a huge chance to win the race, but I just gambled by putting her in there. I was a nervous wreck. You have no idea. There were so many people staring at her, and I wasn't sure if someone would enter a claim. But she won and it boosted her mind.”

A head victory the next time out at 1 1/16 miles on the Woodbine main track was followed by a second, just a half-length back of the winner, in a mile trip over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course on October 1.

On Oct. 15, Silent Causeway covered four furlongs in :46.20 on the Tapeta ahead of the Ontario Matron.

“After that 25 claimer, you could see a difference in her. She dragged us home, bouncing and snorting after the race. I thought, 'That's a good sign, finally.' She was back to her old self. I spend every day with this horse, and I can tell when she's down and when she's feeling good. And she's definitely feeling good.”

The fall weather has also put a spring in Silent Causeway's step, but not Krasauskaite's.

“She does not like the heat, not at all. Now, you see how she trains. She's calm, she's focused and she's happy. When the weather is cooler and it happens to be raining, it's game on for her. She's like a rain and cold air child. Me, I want to head south. Her, she wants to stay north.”

Both are primed for Saturday's engagement.

“I breezed her in that last work and she took me on the ride of a lifetime. It was amazing. I know she's ready.”

Other starters include multiple graded stakes winner Our Flash Drive, the 4-year-old Live Oak homebred who comes into the Ontario Matron who returns to Woodbine off two turf stakes appearances at Saratoga, including a victory in the De La Rose on Aug. 7.

Dreaming of Drew, a multiple stakes winner for owner Hoolie Racing Stable, LLC, and Madaket Stables LLC, sports a mark of 4-3-1 from 11 starts. The 4-year-old daughter of Speightster–Dreaming of Liz is trained by Barbara Minshall.

First post time is 1:20 p.m. ET Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com and the Dark Horse Bets app.

FIELD FOR THE GRADE 3 ONTARIO MATRON

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Broadway Lady (S) – Sahin Civaci – Mark Casse

2 – Our Flash Drive – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse

3 – Kate's Kingdom – Antonio Gallardo – Armando De La Cerda

4 – Miss Vancougar (S) – Slade Jones – Nick Nosowenko

5 – Alydiva (S) – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse

6 – Silent Causeway – Justin Stein – Laura Krasauskaite

7 – Peace Seeker – Eswan Flores – Nick Nosowenko

8 – Super Chianti – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Michaela Neubauer

9 – Dreaming of Drew – Kazushi Kimura – Barbara Minshall

10 – Saratoga Vision – Jason Hoyte – Alexander Patykewich

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George Isaacs Elected Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ And Owners’ Association President

George Isaacs, general manager of the historic Bridlewood Farm located in Ocala, was elected president of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association at the board meeting that followed the Oct. 21 annual member meeting. Isaacs said he was grateful to be elected president by his fellow board members.

“I am honored and humbled to be elected by my peers to this important position. Being an active manager of a large Florida breeding operation, I hope to do my part in continuing to bolster the Florida breeding and racing industry, ” Isaacs said.

FTBOA board members Marilyn Campbell of Tyngsboro, Mass., and Joe O'Farrell III of Ocala extended their terms on the board while Jerry Campbell, of Tampa; Mike Hall of Parkersburg, W.Va., and Mary Lightner of Williston were named to the board for the first time. They will each serve a three-year term that will run until October 2025.

Leaving the board because of term limits as outlined in the FTBOA by-laws were Valerie Dailey, who served as FTBOA president from October 2021 through October 2022, and past presidents Brent Fernung and Phil Matthews, DVM. As past presidents, all remain on the board without voting privileges with as immediate past chair also continuing to serve on the executive committee.

The board also selected the remaining executive committee officers for 2022-'23 with Isaacs as president while George Russell, who owns Rustlewood Farm in Reddick, was named first vice president. Francis Vanlangendonck, who operates Summerfield in Morriston, was named second vice president; and O'Farrell will serve as treasurer. Nick de Meric, who operates de Meric Stables and Sales in Ocala, was elected as secretary.

Isaacs has a long history serving the Florida Thoroughbred industry as an FTBOA officer and serving five terms on the FTBOA board.

He became stallion manager at Arthur Appleton's Bridlewood Farm in Ocala in 1989 before becoming the general manager for Allen Paulson's Brookside South Farm in 1992. In 1996, Isaacs returned to Bridlewood as general manager and currently manages operations there with John and Leslie Malone, who purchased the farm in 2013.

During his tenure at Bridlewood, more than 100 Florida-bred stakes winners and 12 Grade 1 winners have been bred by the farm.

Isaacs is the chair of the Equine Studies Program at the College of Central Florida, is a Horse Farms Forever board member and an AdventHealth Ocala Foundation board member. Isaacs is the chair for the FTBOA Ocala Downtown Thoroughbred Walk of Fame committee and serves on the FTBOA Farmland Preservation Work Group.

Marilyn Campbell, along with her late husband Gil Campbell, established the 600-acre Stonehedge Farm South in Williston in 1988. Since then, the farm has been a perennial industry leader as the top producer of Florida-breds foals annually from 2016-'22. In 2021, Stonehedge was the second leading Florida-bred breeder by earnings with $2.5 million.

Stonehedge has bred 89 black type stakes winners including millionaires Blazing Sword and Marlin and graded stakes-winners Always Sunshine, Well Defined, Ivanavinalot and Me and Mr. C.

O'Farrell is an Ocala native and his passion for Thoroughbreds comes from growing up on the family farm, Ocala Stud, the oldest active Thoroughbred farm in the state. A graduate of Erskine College with a bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting, O'Farrell became a manager of Ocala Stud in 2004, managing the financial side of the farm.

Ocala Stud has been a perennial leading commercial breeder in Florida and has either solely or in partnership bred more than 100 stakes winners including Eclipse Award champion Musical Romance and graded stakes-winners Turbulent Descent, Tackleberry, Rigoletta, Gourmet Dinner and Shadowbdancing.

Jerry Campbell is a veteran banker and longtime Thoroughbred owner and breeder for more than 55 years. He is the chair/CEO of the bank holding company, New South Bancorp, Inc., in Tampa and was founder and has served as chair of HomeBancorop, Inc., and chair and CEO at Republic Bancorp since 1986.

Campbell is also a former officer and director of Frank Stronach's Magna Entertainment joining current FTBOA CEO Lonny Powell at the time.

Among the horses raced by Campbell are stakes-winners Crash Pad, Diamond Gate, Mont Ridge, Post It, Proud Ridge, Sea Legs, Terko Bates, Axe of Courage, I Match Too, This Cats on Fire, Wave Pool, Charlies Fire and Valley Loot. He currently has roughly two dozen horses in training, many of which are Florida-breds.

Mike Hall is the co-owner of the successful racing stable Breeze Easy with partner Sam Ross. Founded in 2016, Breeze Easy has rapidly established itself in Thoroughbred racing, breeding and sales and has campaigned graded stakes winners on both sides of the Atlantic and presented top quality offering at leading weanling and broodmare sales. In just a few years, Breeze Easy horses have visited the winner's circle at both Royal Ascot and the Breeders' Cup.

Mary Lightner is a licensed trainer from a well-regarded, longstanding Thoroughbred family. The Lightner family owns and operates their broodmare farm in Williston and they break and train 20-30 yearlings each year at Oakridge Training Center in Morriston.

Mary established Shooting Star Thoroughbreds, a racing syndicate, with the awareness that there is a growing interest and passion for Thoroughbred partnerships. Shoot Star Thoroughbreds has brought well over 100 new owners to the business.

Formed in 2019, Shooting Star Thoroughbreds campaigned Florida-bred champion 2-year-old Chance It, a dual winner of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes. Chance It currently stands at Journeyman Stallions in Ocala.

Other returning FTBOA board members include Fred Brei, T. Paul Bulmahn, Laurine Fuller-Vargas, Bobby Jones, Milan Kosanovich and Dr. Fred Yutani. Lonny Powell enters his 11th year at the Association helm as the CEO and executive vice president.

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Morello Returning To Graded Company, Seeking To Vanquish Older Foes In Kelso

Graded stakes-winning Aqueduct specialist Morello will make a return to graded stakes company when facing elders for the first time in next Saturday's one-mile Grade 2, $300,000 Kelso at Belmont at the Big A.

Owned by Blue Lion Thoroughbreds, Craig Taylor and Diamond T Racing, the 3-year-old son of Classic Empire was a force to be reckoned with on the local Road to the Kentucky Derby over the winter, capturing the Grade 3 Gotham on March 5 following a win in the Jimmy Winkfield one month earlier at the Big A.

Arriving at the Grade 2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino as the undefeated lukewarm favorite, Morello finished sixth behind eventual American Classic heroes Mo Donegal and Early Voting and replicated that result in the next out G1 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun on June 11 at Belmont Park.

The two distant efforts garnered a break for Morello, who returned to the work tab at Belmont in early August under the watchful eye of Toby Sheets – the Belmont-based assistant for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen – before scoring at allowance level two weeks ago at Laurel Park, travelling six furlongs.

Despite breaking a step slow, Morello had enough class to earn an easy 2 3/4-length triumph after making a five-wide move in upper stretch under Sheldon Russell.

“He's been training lights out,” said Dave Lyon of Blue Lion Thoroughbreds. “Obviously, we made the decision to give him the summer off after the buildup of heading to the Kentucky Derby. We got hit with a string of bad luck in the Wood Memorial and then the Woody Stephens. At that point, I think Toby and Steve and the team made the right decision to shut him down, give him some time off and let him be a horse.”

Lyon said an Aqueduct edition of the Kelso is a perfect fit for Morello, who boasts a 4-3-0-0 local record.

“We wanted to run him here in New York for his comeback race, but it didn't fill so we sent him down to Laurel and he ran very well there after a slow start,” Lyon said. “He looked good doing it and came out of the race great. The Kelso is the next step here, but we're taking it one race at a time like we always do with Morello. We're not going to get ahead of ourselves. We're going to just go from there, but we feel pretty confident that he's back.”

Lyon continued to speak volumes of the job done by Sheets and Asmussen, adding that the G1 $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap on Dec. 3 could be a viable option should Morello run well enough in the Kelso.

“Just like any other horse we've had, they need to take some time off and we need to give it to them. Toby and Steve have done a masterful job of managing his career,” Lyon said. “It's disappointing we had to miss Saratoga, but if we can get this horse to win a Grade 2 next weekend, and then maybe the G1 Cigar Mile as the next goal, no one on my team is going to complain.”

Bred in Kentucky by Robert B. Tillyer and Dr. Chet Blackey, Morello is out of the Congrats mare Stop the Wedding and was purchased for $250,000 from the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, where he was consigned by Sequel Bloodstock.

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Gulfstream Park: Friday’s Rainbow 6 Hit For $80,364

There was one winning ticket on Gulfstream Park's Rainbow 6 Friday afternoon worth $80,364.94.

The popular 20-cent wager at the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track will begin again Saturday with a $50,000 gross jackpot guarantee.

The carryover jackpot is paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool usually goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

Saturday's Rainbow 6 begins with Race 6, a starter optional claimer at seven furlongs on the main track. There's a 7-5 favorite on the morning line in Sea Trident. Trained by Claudio Gonzalez, Sea Trident was claimed by Gonzalez for $12,500 August 6 and has won each of his two starts since. Sea Trident enters the race off a 6 ½ length victory against similar last out.

Gonzalez has the tepid favorite in Race 7 in Smooth Rico, who was claimed out of his last race for $35,000.

Saturday's featured race, a $51,000 allowance optional claimer at 6 ½ furlongs, drew a field of eight including 9-5 favorite The Distractor, who comes into the race with three wins and two seconds in his last five starts for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.

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