Tag: e.p. taylor

Tracy Farmer’s Fev Rover Bests Them All in E.P. Taylor

The trip might have been unusual, but rider Javier Castellano knew what he had under him as Fev Rover (Ire) (m, 5, Gutaifan {Ire}–Laurelita {Ire}, by High Chaparral {Ire}) captured Sunday's GI E.P. Taylor S. at Woodbine. The bay showed the way early from the rail, but was quickly under pressure as 50-1 Rocky Sky (Ire) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) dogged her from the outside through fractions of :25.66 and :50.29. The rest of the field was strung out and just after the half-mile mark, Fev Rover yielded to let Rocky Sky go while she dropped back to third for about three furlongs. She was far from done, however, and switched outside on the turn to come on again.

Entering the stretch, Fev Rover got the jump several paths to the inside of battling Charlie Appleby trainee With The Moonlight (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), a MGSW/MGISP Godolphin homebred, and last year's Queen's Plate winner Moira (Ghostzapper), the reigning Canadian Horse of the Year. She swapped to her wrong lead about a furlong from home, but had the race in hand, prevailing by 2 1/4 lengths while With The Moonlight outgunned Moira. The latter had beaten Fev Rover in their respective last outs, the GII Canadian S. Sept. 9.

Final time for the 1 1/4 miles over the good course was 2:04.20.

“I expected it to be my horse in the lead,” said Castellano. “I felt a lot of pressure outside. I tried to ride a smart race.”

Fev Rover was no slouch before being imported to North America last year. Under the tutelage of Richard Fahey, she had raced in England, Ireland, France, and Bahrain, with her scores including the G2 Ghadwell Prix du Calvados at two and her placings including the G1 QIPCO One Thousand Guineas at three. Fahey, under Musley Bank Stables, consigned her to the 2021 Tattersalls December Mare Sale, where Tracy Farmer picked her up for 695,000gns. Shipped to North American and Mark Casse in 2022, she made just three starts at four, all at Woodbine, defeating Moira in the GII Canadian S. and finishing third via DQ in that year's edition of the E.P. Taylor. She opened her 2023 campaign with guns blazing, starting her year with three consecutive 99 Beyer Speed Figures. With the E.P. Taylor, Fev Rover was adding her second Grade I score following a victory over Gina Romantica (Into Mischief), winner of Saturday's GI First Lady S. at Keeneland, in the GI Beverly D. S. Aug. 12 at Colonial Downs, where she had earned a fees-paid berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf. She also has captured the GII Nassau S. and finished third in the GI Diana S. at Saratoga this summer.

Casse had indicated prior to the E.P. Taylor that Fev Rover was indeed being pointed to the Filly & Mare Turf, which will be contested Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

 

Pedigree Notes:

Fev Rover is the first top-level winner for Gutaifan (Ire), who stands at Haras des Faunes in France. The MGSW & G1SP stallion has four black-type winners total, with Fev Rover the only one venturing to this side of the pond. The Dark Angel (Ire) sire raced solely at two.

The late Epsom Derby and Breeders' Cup winner High Chaparral (Ire), sire of Fev Rover's dam, has 69 stakes winners out of his daughters. Laurelita (Ire)'s last reported foal is a yearling colt by Gutaifan's sire, Dark Angel. From the extended family of GISW Seek Again (Speightstown), she also has a 2-year-old filly named Leveret (Ire) (Invincible Army {Ire}), who has placed in one start in England this year.

Sunday, Woodbine Racetrack
E.P. TAYLOR S.-GI, C$766,000, Woodbine, 10-8, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/4mT, 2:04.20, gd.
1–FEV ROVER (IRE), 124, m, 5, by Gutaifan (Ire)
                1st Dam: Laurelita (Ire), by High Chaparral (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Chervil (GB), by Dansili (GB)
                3rd Dam: Nashmeel, by Blushing Groom (Fr)
(£20,000 Ylg '19 GOFFPR; 695,000gns 3yo '21 TATMA). O-Tracy Farmer; B-Manister House Stud (IRE); T-Mark E. Casse; J-Javier Castellano. C$450,000. Lifetime Record: GISW-U.S., SW & G1SP-Eng, GSW-Fr, GSP-Ire,19-6-4-3, $1,286,834. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–With The Moonlight (Ire), 124, f, 4, by Frankel (GB)
                1st Dam: Sand Vixen (GB) (GSW-Eng, $119,931), by Dubawi (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Fur Will Fly (GB), by Petong (GB)
                3rd Dam: Bumpkin (GB), by Free State (Ire)
O/B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Charles Appleby. C$150,000.
3–Moira, 124, f, 4, by Ghostzapper
                1st Dam: Devine Aida (MSW & GSP, $273,215), by Unbridled's Song
                2nd Dam: Passion, by Came Home
                3rd Dam: Rajmata, by Known Fact
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($150,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables LLC and SF Racing LLC; B-Adena Springs (ON); T-Kevin Attard. C$90,000.
Margins: 2 1/4, 1 3/4, 3 1/4. Odds: 4.05, 2.70, 1.55.
Also Ran: Skims (GB), Kalifornia Queen (Ger), Aspen Grove (Ire), Amazing Grace (Ger), Atomic Blonde (Ger), Consumer Spending, Rocky Sky (Ire).

Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Letter to the Editor: Hugh Mitchell on Woodbine

Horse racing is an honourable sport that is steeped in tradition; built by generations of hardworking and passionate individuals and families. It's an industry that brings people together from all walks of life, and is critically dependent on everyone's contribution to its stability and success. While this diversity of roles and shared passion is racing's greatest strength, it exists within a very complex and challenging business environment that results in constant pressure to plan, adapt, and aggressively fight to secure our future.

At Woodbine Entertainment, we own and operate two racetracks: Woodbine Mohawk Park (Standardbred racing) and Woodbine Racetrack (Thoroughbred racing). If you are reading this with interest, it's important to understand that Woodbine operates as a not-for-profit minded organization. The late, great breeder and visionary, E.P. Taylor, donated a large piece of land in Toronto where Woodbine Racetrack is now situated. His vision was to provide this land, and this racetrack, to the hardworking horse people of Ontario so they would always have a place to race horses and earn a living doing so. Woodbine Entertainment, formerly the Ontario Jockey Club, carries the responsibility, mandate, and obligation to honour his vision. We do not have an owner nor shareholders. We have an independent and committed Board of Directors whose job is to ensure that this mandate is strictly followed. Our executive management team is accountable to this Board.  Every decision we make is to create a strong and sustainable Ontario horse racing industry. That's why Woodbine exists, and for no other reason. Every dollar of profit we make is invested to support the entire Ontario horse racing industry. Our vision and ambition is to support all current industry stakeholders as best we can while also thoughtfully investing to grow the Ontario horse racing industry towards a strong, vibrant, and sustainable future.  It's a very difficult balance requiring judgment and trade-offs. We recognize that not everyone will agree with the decisions we make to achieve this balance, however, we hope and expect that everyone will respect our motivation and purpose to support the present and future of racing in Ontario.

A decade ago, the provincial government in power at the time ended a lucrative funding agreement that was supporting horse racing. This decision almost killed the industry in Ontario. At the time, the only path forward was for Woodbine Entertainment to lead the industry-something that was asked of us by the government, and staying true to E.P. Taylor's vision, we agreed. We worked tirelessly to reach a new long-term funding agreement that is now in place. To this day, we continue to lead the industry at a substantial cost to our operations, and we do so proudly.

While this long-term funding agreement is essential to our industry's existence today, our vision is to develop the property that Woodbine Racetrack is situated on to create new revenue streams that will eventually allow us to not depend on government funding. This will support our mandate to create a strong and sustainable Ontario horse racing industry. Every cent of profit generated from this investment will be used to support the industry. In addition to fueling substantially larger purses, we will be able to invest even more heavily in our racing facilities, people and industry support programs.

We're also investing in other game-changing areas like sports betting and technology-things that will further develop new revenue streams that will be spent back on racing in Ontario. Until we get some of these major initiatives across the finish line, we need to continue to operate prudently and be patient to allow the long-term vision to come to life. At the same time, we understand the challenges that all of our industry stakeholders face today. It's difficult to make a reasonable living, and we must provide as much support as financially possible while building towards a brighter future. We must allocate the dollars we have available today across numerous stakeholders that often have different priorities, issues, and needs.

In the meantime, wagering is Woodbine's primary line of business that can immediately drive significant incremental revenue. This revenue supports the above-mentioned purses and capital improvements. Therefore, healthy field sizes and competitive racing is necessary to provide a product that will drive wagering.

Despite the challenges our industry faces today, we are extremely confident in our future. We are a world-class racing industry with tremendous opportunity in front of us. We are blessed with an incredibly hardworking and talented group of horse people and employees. If we take care of our people today, and provide for a better future for them tomorrow, we will have successfully achieved the future E.P. Taylor envisioned decades ago.

Sincerely,

Hugh Mitchell

Chair, Board of Directors

Woodbine Entertainment

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Moira Confirmed for E.P. Taylor

Moira (Ghostzapper), the dominant winner of this year's Queen's Plate over males, will start Saturday at Woodbine in the GI E.P. Taylor S. It will be her first try against older horses and her first on the turf. Trainer Kevin Attard had also been considering the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S., a turf race at Keeneland restricted to 3-year-old fillies.

“The race is at home and at a distance of a mile and a quarter,” Attard said. “She had a work over the turf course [five furlongs in 1:01.20] on Saturday and seemed to get over it very well and looked comfortable doing it. Those were the factors that played into it. The Keeneland race was very appealing, but we would have had to ship and put her on a van. She does have some quirks, so we weren't too sure about that because no one knows how she would handle shipping or if there would be any negative impact from that. We thought it be a safer bet to stay at home.”

Moira, who is 4-for-5 lifetime, was an easy winner of the Queen's Plate, the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, beating her fellow Ontario-breds by seven lengths. Attard and the owners, X-Men Racing, Madaket Stablkes LLC and SF Racing LLC, decided afterward to pass on the remaining two legs of the series in order to give their filly a chance of winning a Grade I race. In her lone try in graded company, Moira was second in last year's GIII Mazarine S.

Attard acknowledged that the E.P. Taylor will be a tough spot for his filly.

“She's obviously taking a big step up in class and is facing older horses for the first time,” he said. “There is a bit of a weight advantage.

Being a 3-year-old facing older fillies she will get four pounds. But it's always nice to stick to your own age group if you can. At the end of the day there is no such thing as an easy Grade I.”

All five of the filly's starts have come on the synthetic Tapeta surface at Woodbine. Attard is confident the switch to the grass will not be a problem.

“I think she will handle it,” he said. “Her dam is Devine Aida (Unbridled's Song) and she was a stakes winner on the turf. She has a sibling that was a minor stakes winner on the turf. She's bred to handle the turf and she looked good working over it. The forecast looks good for this week, so it looks like we will get a firm turf course. That's something else we factored into it.”

Depending on how she fares Saturday, Moira could return in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

“That is a possibility,” Attard said. “With the E.P. Taylor being four weeks from the Breeders' Cup versus three weeks for the Queen Elizabeth, that played into our decision as well.”

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Bloodlines: Hong Kong Superstar Golden Sixty Bolsters A Global Pedigree

The best racer in Hong Kong is the Australian-bred Golden Sixty, who won the Group 2 Jockey Club Mile, his 15th race in a row, on Nov. 21 at Sha Tin. A multiple Group 1 winner, Golden Sixty, by the measure of consecutive races won, stands even with Bayardo, Buckpasser, Carbine, and Pretty Polly. He is one victory away from the 16-race plateau of such champions as Ribot, Citation, and Cigar.

If he reaches 17 victories in a row, then Golden Sixty would match the winning streak of fellow Aussie racer Silent Witness, a legend in Hong Kong racing.

The 2020 Hong Kong Horse of the Year, Golden Sixty also was named the top miler and middle distance performer in Hong Kong last year, when he won all eight starts, including the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile. In 2021, the bay gelding has won his four starts, including the G1 Champions Mile, Stewards' Cup, and Hong Kong Gold Cup.

Unbeaten since July 2019, Golden Sixty has now won 18 of 19 lifetime starts, earning HK$80.6 million, about $9.8 million.

Bred in Australia by Asco International Pty Ltd, Golden Sixty is by Darley's international leading sire Medaglia d'Oro, who stands in Kentucky at the worldwide operation's Jonabell Farm.

One of 26 G1 winners by Medaglia d'Oro around the globe, Golden Sixty comes from a highly distinguished family, and one that has some intriguingly old connections close up. His third dam is Konafa (Damascus), a foal of 1973 who finished second to Flying Water (Habitat) in the 1976 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Bloodstock legend E.P. Taylor bred much of this family at his Windfields Farms in Canada or Maryland and had purchased Konafa's second dam, Queen's Statute (Le Lavandou), out of the yearling sales at Newmarket. Unraced, Queen's Statute bred a half-dozen stakes winners for Windfields, including Canadian champion Dance Act (Northern Dancer), as well as his maiden-winning full sister Royal Statute.

Royal Statute followed suit as a producer with three stakes winners, including G1 Yorkshire Oaks winner Awaasif (Snow Knight), Akureyri (Buckpasser; G3 Fountain of Youth, second in G1 Florida Derby, first in G1 Remsen but disqualified to third), and Royal Lorna (Val de l'Orne; G3 Premio Bagutta).

Winner of a maiden, Royal Statute was bred to Horse of the Year Damascus (Sword Dancer) when she was a three-year-old and produced Konafa as her first foal. Taylor, through his Windfields Farm consignment, sold Konafa for $57,000 at the 1974 Saratoga select yearling auction.

And Konafa and her close relatives found a home in the select yearling sales that lasted for decades. After retirement, Konafa was sold in foal to leading sire Mr. Prospector for $625,000 at the 1980 Keeneland November breeding stock sale to BBA (England), acting for Stavros Niarchos.

The foal that Konafa was carrying turned out to be Proskona, who became the highweight 3-year-old filly in Italy, with a victory in the G2 Premio Umbria, among others. Konafa subsequently foaled Keos (Riverman; highweight older horse in Germany), the listed stakes winner Carnet Solaire (Sharpen Up), and Korveya, also by Riverman, a winner of the G3 Prix Chloe, and the dam of three classic winners.

These were Hector Protector (Woodman; highweight 2-year-old in France, won the French Guineas, Poule d'Essai des Poulains, and nine of 10 starts), Shanghai (Procida; French Guineas), and Bosra Sham (Woodman), who was highweight 3-year-old filly and highweight older filly. She won seven of 10 starts, including the Fillies Mile at two, then the 1996 English 1,000 Guineas and Champion Stakes. Although Bosra Sham's career was troubled with foot problems, trainer Henry Cecil called her the best horse he had ever trained, and he had already trained multiple classic winners. (Frankel came much later.)

Korveya's classic produce represented a high point in the success and reputation of this family. The mare's other daughters included Gioconda (Nijinsky), who produced Ciro (Woodman). A top juvenile when he won the G1 Grand Criterium at Longchamp, Ciro progressed sufficiently to win the G1 Prix Lupin and Secretariat Stakes at 3. Another daughter of Korveya, Tapatina (Seeking the Gold), became the dam of Internallyflawless (Giant's Causeway), winner of the G1 Del Mar Oaks.

Although Korveya was the star producer from her dam, another of Konafa's daughters, Leo's Lucky Lady (Seattle Slew) ran second in a minor stakes at the Meadowlands and produced seven winners, including G2 winner Gaudeamus (Distorted Humor), who is the dam of Golden Sixty.

Winner of the G2 Debutante Stakes at two in Ireland for Jim Bolger, Gaudeamus was sold privately as a broodmare for the Southern Hemisphere, where Golden Sixty is her third black-type performer and first major winner.

Her son Golden Sixty is carrying the torch for family with his domination of racing in Hong Kong, but in addition, this year's Breeders' Cup juvenile turf winners both descend from Royal Statute. Modern Games descends from Konafa through Proskona, and Pizza Bianca comes from Royal Statute's daughter Victoress (a $1.1 million Keeneland July yearling by Conquistador Cielo) through the Irish-bred Gwynn (Darshaan) and White Hot (Galileo), who is the dam of Pizza Bianca.

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