EYE ON LIVE

Shocker
40-1 invader nails the two favourites in Escape Clause Stakes

40-1 Labhay surges past Hidden Grace and Miss Imperial to win Escape Clause Stakes (Jason Halstead photo)

The Escape Clause Stakes was billed as a two-horse race with Hidden Grace trying to get even with Miss imperial for ruining her nine-for-nine perfect record.

But trainer Jerry Gourneau had other ideas. The hotter-than-hot trainer--who has more than twice the wins of his closest rival--dropped a Louisiana invader into the race and when Hidden Grace and Miss Imperial started to give way after dueling for almost a mile, that invader, Labhay, surged past them with Richard Mangalee aboard at boxcar odds of 40-1.

Gourneau had already proven he has the best horse on the grounds--male-wise--with Deep Explorer. Now he’s looking to dominate the best female category, too.

There seems little doubt the Year of Covid will go down as the Year of Gourneau. Will the conditioner ever want to remove his mask again?

Melisandre wins first baby race of the season (Jason Halstead photo)

She’s named for the powerful “red priestess” on Game of Thrones and that’s how the 2-year-old Melisandre performed--powerfully--in the first race of her life under reinsman Stanley Chadee Jr. The $25,000 sales topper at last summer’s CTHS yearling sale (Manitoba division) edged away from a couple fierce rivals in the launch of Baby Season at the Downs.

About 50 or 60 will be racing in upcoming races, heading toward the Graduation Stakes and ultimately the Winnipeg Futurity. Handicapper Marshall Posner pointed out on the ASD Live show that she’s a full sister to Hidden Grace (by Going Commando out of High Pioneer) who was nine-for-nine wins until beaten this year as a 4-year-old.
Escape Clause’s baby sister, Reasonable Cause, is somewhat of a hard luck filly. First she suffered severe injuries when spooked by lightning while awaiting a horse sale in Kentucky last fall. And now, after working impressively for her baby debut, she has bucked shins and won’t make her first start during this ASD meet, Sherisse Ziprick told The Insider from Russell, Man. where she was bred.

But she may debut at another track in the fall or winter, Ziprick said. Bucked shins refers to painful inflammation of the membrane surrounding a leg bone. It’s a not-uncommon affliction of young horses just starting out in racing. Murray Duncan is now the filly’s trainer.

HOTTIES OF THE WEEK (Mon-Wed)

Hottest jockey: Antonio Whitehall (7 wins)
Hottest trainer: Jerry Gourneau (7 wins)
Biggest longshot: Labhay $85.60 (Race 3 Wednesday)
Stakes champions: Labhay (Escape Clause Stakes)
Upcoming stakes: Manitoba Oaks (Tuesday), Manitoba Mile (Wednesday)
Carryovers: $194,978 in the Jackpot pick-5; $162,418 in the Super Hi-5 Jackpot (NOTE: Mandatory payout of the Super Hi-5 will happen on Derby Day Monday, Aug. 3)

Larry Liebrecht wins Vegas tourney #2

A BIG SHOUT-OUT to electrician Larry Liebrecht who bet the only two longshots in Monday’s Las Vegas Challenge handicapping tournament to accumulate a bankroll of $103.30 that easily surpassed the other 74 entrants. His acumen earned him a trip to Las Vegas for the Horse Player World Series next spring or $2,500 in cash.

His reasoning behind his picks: “I chose Eye Catching (longest shot at 18-1) in the 4th because I own her with Hardball Stables.  I figured it would be a wide-open race and anyone could win.  She came flying down the stretch (to get second to pay $14.60, $8.50 to place and show). Another half furlong and she might have had it.  At this point, I had about $38. 

“I played it simple in the 5th and took chalk. In the 6th, I figured I needed something big and that would be a horse coming from off the pace.  I tossed around the 2,4,5, before settling on #2 (Peeper at 10-1) at the last moment.  Now I had $85. At that point, I knew I would be close and again played it simple in the last and took (trainer Jerry) Gourneau and (leading jockey Antonio) Whitehall.”

Nice when it comes together that seemingly simply. Congrats, too, to runners-up Janet Gray (bankroll $76.10) and Mackenzie Stewin ($69.70). The next Vegas trip will be given away on Monday, Aug. 17.
                           

THE (LONG, BUMPY) ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY (SEPT. 5)

The overlay of the year?
Huge odds differential between horses who finished first and second in Los Al Derby

UNCLE CHUCK: 6-1
THOUSAND WORDS (finished behind Uncle Chuck): 65-1

Can a horse who finishes second after a long layoff improve enough to beat the horse who beat him? Would you accept 65-1 odds on that to possibly happen?

Of course you would: 65-1 was the closing odds on Thousand Words (my choice to win the Kentucky Derby) in the sixth Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool last weekend. The horse who beat him in the Los Alamitos Derby, Uncle Chuck, was a scant 6-1. You tell me where the value was.

Yes, I added a few more bucks to my future wagers on Thousand Words. The odds were just too juicy to pass up. I took flyers on exactors, too. I was encouraged by his workout last week. He was the 9th fastest of 79 who worked out at Del Mar.

Food for thought: Thousand Words’ best Equibase speed figure, 107, is just two points below the mark set by Authentic in the Haskell Stakes Saturday.

There is one more Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool in the second weekend of August.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

NO CAVEMAN TICKET SO “BIGGER” GROUP GETS SOME MONEY BACK: Because Saturday’s “I won bigger” betting group didn’t buy one huge “caveman” ticket using everyone’s picks in Woodbine’s pick-5 (which is what many players prefer), players got a return of $12.82 on each $20 share because they cashed 19 correct tickets, each worth $50. They lost some share money in the pick-6 and late pick-4. Group play will centre on Woodbine again tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. on the Clubhouse plaza. Bacon beckons. Seriously. Chaotically.

GREATEST MANITOBA GELDING PASSES: In case you haven’t heard, Manitoba’s greatest horse before Escape Clause, Fancy As, died in May at age 22 in retirement at an Alberta farm. Bred by Ed Pawluk, he had been purchased in Manitoba’s yearling sale in 1999 for $3,200 by Albertans who subsequently won the Canadian Derby, B.C. Derby and other important stakes races for total earnings exceeding $670K. In a foray to California he finished third in two Grade 2 stakes.