Trainer Brad Cox has several 3-year-olds in his barn who could have a say in the race for the champion of that division before all is said and done in the division. With that in mind, it could be surprising to hear who Cox says is the current leader of the 3-year-old crop on June 11, less than 24 hours after the completion of the 2023 Triple Crown chase at Belmont Park.
Month: June 2023
Lost in the Fog: A Courageous and Dazzling Sprinter
He came, like the fog in Carl Sandburg’s famous poem, silently. For a time he lingered, just long enough for his presence to be acknowledged. And then, like the fog, he moved on, all too soon, leaving everyone to wonder what might have been. His name, of course, was Lost in the Fog.
Kaukokaipuu Wins Queenston, Stamps Himself As Horse To Watch For King’s Plate
Kaukokaipuu rallied impressively to take the $125,000 Queenston Stakes, Sunday afternoon at Woodbine.
Fresh off a 9 ¼-length maiden-breaking win at seven panels on May 20, Kaukokaipuu (a Finnish term meaning 'wanderlust') was equally impressive in his first stakes test, powering by a pair of rivals late to win the seven-furlong feature for 3-year-olds foaled in Canada, and a key race on the road to the King's Plate (August 20).
With Rico Walcott in the irons, the son of Mr Speaker broke alertly and was joined quickly by Paramount Prince and Poulin in O T. It was Paramount Prince who claimed a narrow lead and took his 11 rivals through an opening quarter reached in :23.42. The trio continued to slug it out through a half in :46.44, with Poulin in O T holding a head advantage as the front-runners navigated the turn for home.
Down the lane, it was Paramount Prince who emerged on top, hounded by a game Poulin in O T, as Walcott found himself hemmed in and fifth at the stretch call. With the finish line looming, Walcott and Kaukokaipuu finally found daylight and began to reel in their rivals, getting up to post a 1¼-length win in a time of 1:23.55. Paramount Prince finished a head in front of Poulin in O T for second. One Bay Hemingway was fourth.
“I leave the gates not bad, but Patrick's (jockey, Husbands) horse (Paramount Prince) left pretty sharp too and he was right next to me,” Walcott said. “The horse kind of came over to the rail, so then I was behind him. I was kind of boxed in and I had to wait and wait and wait until the head of the lane and there was still nowhere to go when I straightened up. Halfway down the stretch, I pulled out and he kicked on again and I kept riding him to the pole.”
A champion rider and multiple Sovereign Award finalist, Walcott, who won several riding titles in Western Canada, is hoping the Queenston victory will lead to even bigger things at the Toronto oval.
“It feels really good to get started and get going here,” said Walcott, who celebrated his first Woodbine stakes win. “I just want to get a chance to get a break so I can ride. I do my best and I try hard for everybody I ride for. I will keep doing it until the season is over.”
The Queenston also represented the first stakes victory for trainer Tedston Holder in just his fourth stakes appearance.
“First, I would like to dedicate this race to (trainer) Ricky Griffith, who has paved the way for us to be here. He (Kaukokaipuu) had a good winter. We stopped on him at the end of September, early October, and got him down to Florida, so he had a really good winter. He matured a lot and grew.”
As for Kaukokaipuu being able to stretch out and handle 1 1/4-mile King's Plate distance, Holder will take a wait and see approach.
“If he does, it will be exciting to see.”
Owned by Culpepper Island Syndicate and bred by Sean Fitzhenry from the Mizzen Mast mare Gray Pride, Kaukokaipuu is 2-6-0 from 10 starts. The gray/roan colt was a $10,000 purchase at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, where Keith Lancaster consigned him.
Kaukokaipuu paid $15.50 for the win.
Hey Cue was fifth, followed by Cool Kiss, One for Chap, Philip My Dear, Gran Spirited, Keen Flatter, Opposites Attract and Moon Landing. True Temper was scratched.
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Donk Remembers Woody Stephens And His Record Five Consecutive Belmont Wins
On the 50th anniversary of the immortal Secretariat winning the Belmont Stakes (G1) and the Triple Crown, the spotlight has been on the extraordinary achievement of 'Big Red' and his connections, and rightly so.
Nonetheless, on Sunday morning after the 155th running of the $1.5-million Belmont Stakes the previous day, the remarkable accomplishment of the legendary Woody Stephens training five consecutive Belmont winners–Conquistador Cielo [1982], Caveat [1983], Swale [1984], Crème Fraiche [1985], and Danzig Connection [1986]–is also worthy of note.
That is a record that almost certainly will never be equaled, never be broken.
Trainer David Donk was the assistant to the Hall of Fame horseman from 1985-1990, and remembers him well.
“Woody ate, slept, and breathed horse racing. He was a phenomenal person. It was late in his career when I was around him, but I knew I was working for a legend in his own time,” said Donk. “It was a dream for me to be able to work for him. It was being with the best horses, the best clients, and the best of everything.”
Donk said during his time with Stephens he received an invaluable education, “For a kid that didn't go to college, I went to one of the best universities.”
One of the lessons Donk learned from Stephens was how to deal with the media and how to treat everyone with equal respect, whether he be Daily Racing Form's Joe Hirsch, the late dean of Turf writers, or someone working for the smallest newspaper. Others were those that can only be learned from a legend.
“I will always say in life there's no such thing as the best. But he is one of the best horsemen, undoubtedly,” said his former assistant.
As time goes by events can fade in memory, but icons like Secretariat and Stephens never lose their place in history.
“To explain to someone today how long ago it's been since he won five Belmonts, not just five but five in a row…That's one of the great records, like Joe DiMaggio's or Bob Baffert's [Kentucky] Derby wins,” Donk said. “We talk about Secretariat and it's 50 years, although it doesn't seem like it. But the fact that Woody won all those Belmonts is always going to come up.”
Stephens was as hands on as they come. He knew every inch of each horse under his care.
“It was a different style of training then. Woody only carried 36 horses at one time. We had barns number three and four at Belmont and each barn had 18 stalls. That was size of his stable. It's not the same today as it was 30 years ago,” said Donk, who to this day has only stabled at Saratoga in barn 85, where all five Belmont winners were bedded down. “It was different then. Here at Belmont, there were 18 older horses in barn three and 18 two-year-olds in barn four. That was it.”
Donk said Stephens had an uncanny sixth sense about horses.
“Training was different then. They were a lot harder on horses. They pushed them a lot more,” Donk said. “He taught me detail and to pay attention it, to what you liked and didn't like today, from the time they cleaned up their feed tub, how they acted in the stall, how they were when you pulled them out of the stall. He taught me how to watch how happy the horse is and his demeanor is.”
Woody Stephens once wrote a book titled Guess I'm Lucky, My Life in Horseracing. The title is apropos.
“I guess I'm lucky, too. The biggest break I ever got in my career was to get the job with Woody,” Donk said.
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