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Live Horse Racing Shut Down In Ontario; Mohawk Park Suspended, Woodbine Opening In Question

Woodbine Entertainment has announced that live Standardbred racing at Woodbine Mohawk Park will be temporarily suspended following this Friday's (April 2) card due to the Government of Ontario imposing a province-wide “emergency brake” of COVID-19 restrictions, effective Saturday, April 3 at 12:01 a.m.

Live horse racing, without spectators, is not currently permitted during the Government of Ontario's 'emergency brake' shutdown, which will be in place in for a minimum of four weeks.

Woodbine Entertainment continues to engage in discussions with the Provincial Government and Halton Region regarding the request to continue safely operating live racing at Woodbine Mohawk Park during this shutdown or a lockdown situation.

As part of these discussions, Woodbine continues to demonstrate its commitment to safety through its industry-leading COVID-19 Prevention Protocols and a safety record that includes not a single case of on-site transmission of the virus at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

In a statement issued on Thursday afternoon Woodbine Entertainment CEO Jim Lawson indicated that while horse racing will pause on Saturday per provincial guidelines, local health authorities can give the green light for horse racing to resume in their region.

Live racing is schedule to be conducted Friday (April 2) prior to the shutdown. Post time is 7 p.m.

At Woodbine Racecourse, opening day is scheduled for April 17, 2021. The Woodbine backstretch is open and horses are able to train; it is afternoon racing which is currently restricted by the provincial government.

“We have made the argument all along that this is an outdoor activity and we wouldn't be allowing spectators,” Lawson said earlier this month. “Our risk profile in the afternoon is the same as our risk profile in the morning. We should be able to run.”

The Thoroughbred opener could go ahead as scheduled with approval from Toronto Public Health, according to The Battlefords News-Optimist.

“In the coming days, we will continue to discuss our request with Toronto Public Health,” Lawson wrote in a statement to horsemen. “As we head into the long weekend, I am cautiously optimistic about the situation.

“I do fully appreciate the need for a definitive answer so you can plan and prepare accordingly. Rest assured that we are doing everything we can do be able to start our season on time.”

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Triple Crown Winner Returns In Loaded Osaka Hai

A field of 13–including a half-dozen by the legendary Deep Impact (Jpn)–will face the starter for a cracking renewal of the G1 Osaka Hai (2000m) Sunday at Hanshin Racecourse, led by the late stallion's 2020 Triple Crown hero Contrail (Jpn).

Raced by Shinji Maeda and bred by the family's North Hills Co. Ltd., the son of Rhodochrosite (Unbridled's Song) built on an undefeated 2-year-old season with four on the bounce last term, defeating Salios (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) in the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) (2000m) in April and more soundly in the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) (2400m) the following month. The hasslefree winner of the G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai fresh up in September, he completed a sweep of the Triple Crown in the G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger)–albeit narrowly–over a 3000-metre trip that surely stretched him and tasted defeat for the first time when a clear runner-up to Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) in November's G1 Japan Cup (2400m).

“His workload has been good and things have gone as expected with him,” assistant trainer Shigeki Miyauchi commented. “There has been nothing to worry about, and the race distance of 2,000 metres will be just right for him. I'm sure if he gets to run his true race, he'll get a good result.”

Salios, runner-up to Contrail for champion 2-year-old honours in 2019, bounced back from his Derby defeat to easily win the G2 Mainichi Okan in October and was last seen running fifth in the G1 Mile Championship at Kyoto in November.

The winner of the latter event was Gran Alegria (Jpn), a Deep Impact daughter of American multiple Grade I winner Tapitsfly (Tapit), who was adding that event to her barnstorming tally in the G1 Sprinters' S. the month prior. An easy choice for champion sprinter/miler, she stretches out to 10 furlongs for the first time and Christophe Lemaire will try to make best use of her stinging turn of foot in the final stages.

“She's an easy horse to ride, can settle well in a race, and I know what I have to do with her,” the French ex-pat said. “Even though it's her first time at 2,000 meters, I'm sure she'll put in a big run. Speed is also needed over the inner turf course.”

Lei Papale (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) is perfect and untested from her five career starts and gets the litmus test Sunday. The Carrot Farm runner made her most recent appearance over this track and distance, accounting for the re-opposing Bravas (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) in the G3 Challenge Cup in December.

Persian Knight (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}) is winless in over three years, but was runner-up in this event in 2018, is drawn well and can outrun longshot odds if he gets his preferred quick conditions underfoot.

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‘I Don’t Have The Right Words To Describe It’: Jockey Alice Beckman Celebrates First Winner At Turfway Park

In her first race as a licensed jockey on March 20 at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., Alice Beckman finished second by a half-length. Back in the irons five days later, the end result saw the exact same margin between the first and second-place finishers: a half-length. This time, however, Beckman came out on the winning side of the wire.

“Going into it I thought the horse had a chance, so I tried to mentally prepare myself,” Beckman explained. “But you just can't prepare yourself for that feeling. It was so fun, and I don't have the right words to describe it, really.”

Both horses, Crown the Prince (1st on March 25) and So Caught Up In U (2nd on March 20), are trained by Beckman's boyfriend of the past several years, Keith Kinmon. The two-person team operates a training, breaking, and breeding business about 45 minutes away from Turfway in Northern Kentucky, doing all the work themselves on anywhere from 20 to 30 horses at a time.

“He's been so supportive of me wanting to ride races,” said Beckman, 28.

Beckman acknowledges that she's a bit later to the game of race-riding than most of her peers, despite growing up around horses in Ohio.

“It's always kind of been in the back of my mind, that I want to be a jockey,” she said. “I remember in kindergarten, the teacher had us write down what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wrote down three choices: a trick rider in the circus, a cowgirl, or a jockey.

“I'd always been drawn to the racetrack, so when my college plans to go to vet school weren't really working out like I'd hoped, I made a new plan. My advisor was so great, he asked me, 'Taking away all the expectations of others, what's your dream job? What do you want to do every day?' The answer was simple: be a jockey.”

That advisor got Beckman into the Kentucky Equine Management Internship Program, and she spent several years working for Juddmonte Farm before heading to Payson Park in Florida to work with young racehorses. She loved the high-paced atmosphere of the racetrack, and so when she moved home to Ohio, Beckman started freelance exercising full time.

Beckman met Kinmon at Belterra Park in Cincinnati when he asked her to gallop a few horses one day. They've been inseparable ever since, working overtime to take care of their eight horses at Turfway and another 15-20 at the farm. Beckman couldn't have been more thrilled that her first win as a jockey came on a horse he both owns and trains.

“Have owned a few racehorses myself, it's always fun to be in the winner's circle,” said Beckman. “But when it was him and me in there, and I was on top of the horse, it was a whole different level.”

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Champion Gamine Returns, Towers Over Field Of Four In Sunday’s Las Flores

Idle since winning the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint Nov. 7 at Keeneland, Bob Baffert's brilliant 4-year-old filly Gamine towers over her competition going six furlongs in Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000 Las Flores Stakes at Santa Anita.

Supplemented at a cost of $2,000, owner Michael Lund Petersen's Gamine will face three rival fillies and mares in what will be her first start at Santa Anita since she aired by 6 ¼ lengths in her 6 ½ furlong debut on March 7, 2020. A winner of both the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes going a one turn mile at Belmont Park on June 20 and the Grade 1 Test Stakes going seven furlongs at Saratoga Aug. 8, Gamine, who was purchased for $1.8 million at the Fasig Tipton Mid Atlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale in May, 2019, has four wins from six starts with earnings of $883,000.

A disappointing third and subsequently disqualified to last in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks Sept. 4, Gamine and John Velazquez bounced back with a huge effort in a return to sprinting, as she sat second turning for home en route to a 6 ¼ length score as the even money favorite in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

With Velazquez set to ride for the fifth consecutive time, Gamine has been favored in all six of her starts—five of them as the odds-on choice. By Into Mischief out of Peggy Jane, by Kafwain, Gamine is a brilliant talent that will no doubt be pointed to the Breeders' Cup in November at Del Mar.

While Gamine lacks recency, her talented stablemate Qahira, who will be making her third start of the meet, does not and she is the clear-cut second choice. A winner of the 6 ½ furlong Kalookan Queen Stakes Jan. 10, she was subsequently third, beaten 4 ½ lengths by Baffert's Merneith in the Grade 2 Santa Monica going seven furlongs on Feb. 13.

Owned by Baoma Corporation, Qahira has been ridden in her last two starts by the now-departed Joel Rosario, so Flavien Prat has the call on Sunday. A close third going 6 ½ furlongs three starts back in the Grade 3 Chillingworth Stakes here on Sept. 25, Qahira, a 5-year-old mare by Cairo Prince out of the Bates Motel mare Motel Lass, has five wins from nine starts and she'll be seeking her first graded stakes win in the Las Flores.

THE GRADE 3 LAS FLORES WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 2 of 9 Approximate post time 1:30 p.m. PT

Gamine—John Velazquez—124
Qahira—Flavien Prat—122
Hang a Star—Abel Cedillo—120
Biddy Duke—Umberto Rispoli–124

First post time for a nine-race card on Sunday is at 1 p.m. For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

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