Rob Landry, Hall of fame jockey and Chiefswood Stables General Manager, shares his thoughts on Gotham Stakes upsetter Weyburn:
Horse: Weyburn
Sire: Pioneerof the Nile
Dam: Sunday Affair
Trainer: Jimmy Jerkens
Owner & Breeder: Chiefswood Stables
Record: 2-1-0 from 4 starts
On Weyburn's Gotham score…
“It's nice to start the year with a win like that. We've always had high hopes for this guy. The plan wasn't really to run in him there – we were going to run him in an allowance race – but as it turned out, it worked out really well. This is what you hope to achieve, to win races like this with good horses. Winning a race like this just solidifies what we're trying to achieve.”
On the dark bay's grit down the lane…
“No, I wasn't surprised. That whole family, Yorkton [a multiple graded stakes winning son of Speightstown-Sunday Affair] was a gutsy-running horse and the same thing with his other half-brother Nipigon [a multiple graded stakes placed son of Niigon-Sunday Affair], who always fought hard. Obviously, seasoning-wise, he's still a big kid, and it was a big step up for him, going from a maiden win to a graded stakes race. It wasn't the plan, but good horses overcome those kinds of things. Jimmy [trainer, Jerkens] was really happy with the way he was training and it all worked out.”
On showing his talent early on…
“He trained really well as a young horse when we had him down in Ocala. He was training well and we were really happy with him. Every foal out of that mare [Sunday Affair] has been a runner. That's always telling too. He was a big, good-looking horse, very athletic and he was showing the signs early. He actually wanted to do more than he was ready to do as a young horse. I'm just happy with our whole team, from our broodmare farm, to our training centre, to our people in Ocala, to Jimmy – it's a team effort. Everyone has done a tremendous job with this horse. I'm just very happy for everyone and the owners.”
On upcoming plans for Weyburn…
“Obviously, I didn't nominate him to the U.S. Triple Crown with the way we were going. We had a couple of minor setbacks with a foot bruise and some other little things that caused us to miss a race. I don't like to force horses somewhere they're not ready to go. He stepped up and we have a little time to make the supplemental payment for the U.S. Triple Crown. I'll talk to Jimmy and Mark and Bob Krembil [Chiefswood] as well.”
“We don't know if that [Queen's Plate] is the direction we'll go with him. If we think he's good enough to compete in the U.S. Triple Crown, being a different schedule, we still do have a shot at being in the Plate. We've nominated him for the Plate, but we do have some others that could potentially run in there as well.”
On similarities between Weyburn and Niigon, the Chiefswood horse Landry won the 2004 Queen's Plate with…
“He does remind me of Niigon. Weyburn is also bred to have the stamina and is built to handle the [1 ¼ mile] distance. This is a really nice horse we have here now.”
The post Weyburn ‘Bred To Have The Stamina And Built To Handle The Distance’ Of U.S., Canadian Classics appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
