EYE ON LIVE

Hidden Grace avoids Ericka's Lass Stakes . . .
. . . to crush rivals in an allowance race for Manitoba-breds

The Insider’s prediction last week of a Ericka’s Lass Stakes barnburner on Wednesday quickly fell apart when Hidden Grace entered an allowance race for Manitoba-breds instead (and easily won) and trainer Jerry Gourneau didn’t enter Escape Clause Stakes winner Labhay in the race and scratched his Texas claim Cypress Point from the race. That left only Murray Duncan’s Miss Imperial to dominate the remaining field of five as a 1-9 favourite should.

That’s the danger of relying on a list of nominated horses to determine who will actually run in a race.

HOTTIES OF THE WEEK (Mon-Wed)

Hottest jockey: Shannon Beauregard (5 wins)
Hottest trainer: Jerry Gourneau, Tom Gardipy Jr. (3 wins)
Biggest longshot: Hoochiecoochie Sam $48.80 (Race 7 Monday)
Stakes champions: Miss Imperial (Ericka’s Lass)
Upcoming stakes: Uene (Tuesday)
Carryovers: $10,792 in the Jackpot pick-5; $4,738 in the Super Hi-5

TRAINER PROFILE: Wade Eno, Manitoba Derby winner

A crushed ankle while bull-riding as a teenager . . .
. . . led Eno into racing. Now he's planning a jockey school for indigenous youth

A crushed ankle when he was bull-riding at 19--and being befriended by the trainer of 1954 Canadian Derby winner Treherne--led Alberta native Wade Eno into a life of training and breeding horses and winning the Manitoba Derby.

And now the 54-year-old is working with indigenous leaders and Andy Stronach, co-owner of Derby winner Mongolian Wind, to set up a jockey school for indigenous youth. In fact, he told The Insider, he and Stronach are trying to sell the idea of a reality TV show based on the jockey school.

Wade Eno in the paddock with Shez Wicked Fast, co-bred by Andy Stronach, before Tuesday’s fourth race (Jason Halstead photo)

So that’s why he and Stronach were accompanied into the Winner’s Circle, after winning the Manitoba Derby, by three indigenous leaders -- Chief Calvin Straightnose from Saskatchewan and Brad Baptiste and Jim Bull from Alberta. “We had a meeting the next day to talk about the jockey school,” he said.

Eno’s training and his Derby win is just the tip of an iceberg of what appears to be a very busy business life. On the racing side, besides the 22 horses he has in training at the Downs, he said he has 22 broodmares spread out in Alberta, B.C. and Kentucky.

He said his connection with Stronach, the son of the famous Canadian Stronach family that owns seven race tracks including Gulfstream and Santa Anita, came five years ago at a breeding stock event in Alberta.

They both became enamored with Assiniboia Downs (“We like the people and the atmosphere”) so we can expect Meadow Brook Farms horses (his stable name) to become a staple in Manitoba. In fact, Stronach brought Mongolian Wind to the Downs on behalf of himself and Mongolian business partners (hence, Mongolian Stable) to win the Manitoba Derby.

Mission accomplished. Now let’s see if they get the indigenous jockey school off the ground. It would likely be set up in Osoyoos, B.C. where the weather is milder, Eno said.

ANNUAL YEARLING SALE

Online bidding now possible
CTHS yearling sale, Manitoba division, goes Sunday, Aug. 23 with 29 hips

If you really want to keep a distance at the annual CTHS yearling sale, Manitoba division, a week from this Sunday, you can watch and bid on the yearlings online. See details here.

The sale of 29 yearlings will take place on the Red River Exhibition site behind the ASD grandstand. It begins at 2:30 p.m. and anyone may attend. The yearling sales catalogue is available free at Guest Services in the lobby or for download on the CTHS website here.

COUNTDOWN TO THE (SANITIZED) KENTUCKY DERBY

ASD dining room to open 9:30 a.m. on Derby Day
Derby glasses and merchandise will be available for sale

Will be sold on Derby Day

Celebrate Kentucky Derby Day on Saturday, Sept. 5 by reserving a table in the Terrace Dining Room. The dining room opens at 9:30 a.m. To reserve a table, call 885-3330. The regular menu will be in effect.

Also, a limited amount of Kentucky Derby merchandise will be available in the Clubhouse. Will the unique Derby glass be a prized memento because of the change in dates from the first Saturday in May to the first Saturday in September?

LIMITED GUESTS AT CHURCHILL DOWNS: Under a 65-page listing of health and safety protocols, Churchill Downs is limiting its guests on Derby Day to 14 per cent of its usual crowd. The infield will be closed and those with reservations will be required to wear masks, complete a health questionnaire and pass a temperature check before being admitted onto the grounds.

HANDICAPPING

Betting group plays "caveman" ticket on jackpot pick-5
Why it was okay . . . even though players lost a few dollars

Pick-5 pool grew to almost $2.4 million

“Please, please, please,” the winner of handicapping tournaments emailed me, pleading for the “I won bigger” betting group to play a “caveman” ticket on Tuesday’s mandatory payout of ASD’s Jackpot pick-5.

Quite a few group participants like “caveman” tickets in which every possible horse is put on the same ticket--which, of course, is not something recommended by the pros. But I didn’t mind Tuesday’s caveman ticket--which cost $1,120 for 5,600 20-cent combinations--because the final three legs had “chaos” possibilities because they were races for non-winners of two races. Logical horses often don’t win that condition and, in fact, no favourites won. The win prices were $14.50, $8.90 and $33.20.

The end result was that the caveman ticket was successful, paying just over $1,000, but the group got a return of $15.66 for each $20 share because they needed a “chaos” horse in the second leg in which they took “all” and the $3.90 favourite won. It was worth a stab, anyway. And, as mentioned, there’s quite a bit of group love for caveman-type tickets.


You’ve got to hate it when you find out afterward that a horse that cost the “I won bigger” group $50,000 was loved by a couple players who hadn’t brought that horse to the attention of those making up group tickets.

Going into the last leg of Gulfstream’s mandatory payout pick-6 on Sunday, the group ticket had a single horse keyed which would have won them $34,000. It fell short but if the horse liked by the two players had been added to the ticket, the group would have been sharing more than $50,000. Why was their horse a must-use? See POCKET PLENTY IN ’20 below. It’s all so easy afterward, isn’t it?

All of which should serve as a reminder that if YOU love a horse that should be included on group tickets, please advise.

Our next chance to get it right is tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. on the Clubhouse plaza, discussing Woodbine’s early pick-5. Even emailing program director Sheri at sherig@ASDowns.com will put your views into the hands of ticket-constructors.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

ASD OVERLAY OF THE WEEK: Did you cash the superfecta in the Ericka’s Lass Stakes on Wednesday? Did it feel like stealing? What did you spend? $2? $4? For a $1 superfecta that paid $49.20 and couldn’t have been more logical? In the five-horse field, prohibitive 1-9 favourite #3 Miss Imperial won, obvious #2 More Mo for Me and #4 Kickalittlebooty finished second and third, leaving two longshot horses for the fourth position. Yes, 3-2-4-6 actually paid $49.20 for $1 and that’s why it was the overlay of the week.

Ouch! Travers suffers second achilles rupture

EVEN THE REFEREE HEARD HIS ACHILLES SNAP: “I tried to sidestep the rusher and pushed off my right foot,” said ASD ticket seller Travers Cummings in describing his quarterbacking a touch football team Tuesday. “I felt (and heard) a loud POP! It was loud enough that the ref behind me even heard it.” That’s why Travers--in a cast and using crutches-- deserves our sympathy when we’re buying or cashing tickets in the Clubhouse as he heals from his second achilles rupture in 12 years, the first one to the other foot while playing basketball.

CONGRATS TO JOCKEY SAMUEL FOR FINALLY GETTING OFF THE SCHNEID: ASD jockey Shawn Samuel will probably remember Warren’s Van Gogh, a Maria Stanford trainee, because the horse on Tuesday finally ended his 71-race winless streak at ASD. Coming into the race he was 71-0-11-4. Yet riding last year primarily at Marquis Downs in Saskatoon, he had 15 wins from 90 starts. This win should be a confidence booster.