Sun: 500K Woodbine Oaks - Unspurned
Jun 14, 2014 14:29:01 GMT -5
Post by Evelyn on Jun 14, 2014 14:29:01 GMT -5
Nice story. She's trained by Attfield so I give her a good chance.
THE FILLY WHO WAS UNSPURNED
by Natalie Voss | Paulick Report
There aren’t many owners who make it to the Woodbine Oaks with their first racehorse, but Jay and Christine Hayden find themselves in just that position this week. Unspurned, a homebred for the Haydens, will break from the outside post position in one of Canada’s most prestigious races for 3-year-old fillies, but the original plan wasn’t to campaign her themselves.
Jay Hayden’s parents had been involved in ownership in Ontario in the 1960s and ‘70s, and Jay had his picture taken a few times. Hayden took over his parents’ farming and water well-drilling businesses as an adult and didn’t dive into Thoroughbred racing himself until 2007, when he took advantage of a depressed economy to pick up a few black-type mares. He had two requirements for his new herd: that the mares have a proven race record, and that they be nice to look at.
Hayden is the type of guy who radiates enthusiasm — about most everything. He drove down from Canada for the Kentucky auctions where his horses were to be sold, checking in at the barn every day and joyfully watching buyers scoop up his homebreds. As much as he enjoyed success in the commercial market, buying mares through Chad Schumer and selling them through Bernard McCormack’s Cara Bloodstock, he hadn’t ruled out the possibility of racing
McCormack warned Hayden he might not have any choice in the matter.
“I said, ‘There will come a time when, breeding them like you are, where one will get hurt on the farm [before a sale] and you’ll be putting a saddle on and racing them … you’d better give some thought to what racing colors you want.’ But it was always kind of a joke,” said McCormack. (The agent spoke on behalf of Hayden, who was superstitious about giving an interview ahead of the big race.)
In 2011, stakes winner Banga Ridge delivered the Haydens a perfect replica of her own athletic form. The copper-colored filly by Lemon Drop Kid had a small bone spur on one knee when she arrived at the Keeneland September yearling sale, but veterinarians didn’t think it would give her trouble on the track. Buyers weren’t as convinced however, and she failed to make her reserve both at Keeneland September and the Fasig-Tipton October sale the following month.
“We basically laughed it off and said, ‘Well, this is the one!’” said McCormack.
The Haydens chose red and white for their silks, and they came up with the perfect name.
“Jay and Christine came up with the name Unspurned, and when I heard it I had a really good laugh because if she turns out, it’ll be a perfect name for their first racehorse,” said McCormack.
Before she became Unspurned, the Lemon Drop Kid–Banga Ridge chestnut was just “Filly” to me. I groomed her for Cara Bloodstock at both her appearances at the yearling sales, where I picked up occasional work during and just after I graduated college. I try to avoid giving horses nicknames so that I don’t get attached to animals that aren’t mine. The strategy did not work well in her case.
She was the type of yearling who would examine an approaching frontloader with calm curiosity, who relished her morning grooming sessions, and who was only grumpy when you got her up from one of her many afternoon naps in the straw. She seemed to see the humans around her as leaders of her own choosing—she would happily do what we asked of her, but wasn’t so enamored with us that she became clingy.
The first stages of falling in love with a horse are the most powerful ones. Everything they do, from a sneeze to an eyeroll is somehow more adorable than when it comes from an unheralded stablemate. You imprint everything about them, from their smell (I swear every horse’s coat has its own, distinct scent) to the location of their whorls to the preferred arrangement of their hay. And, if you’re unlucky enough to fall in love with a horse who’s for sale, you also resist the urge to count the hours you have left with them.
Both walks with her to the sales ring seemed like long ones. I always hope, when the hammer falls, that the horse I’ve cared for in the last few days finds a soft place to land. Each time the Filly went to the ring, my heart was in my throat. In so many cases, I think the names on a horse’s Jockey Club papers matter less than the person at the end of their shank, and I couldn’t stand the thought of someone souring her. I spent a few panicked seconds as the bids rolled in at Fasig trying to decide if there was any way in the world I could have bought her myself (there wasn’t), a thought that had never occurred to me in my years of working sales. I needn’t have worried.
“I think the strength of Jay’s involvement is he hires the right people and lets them make the decisions,” said McCormack, who said Unspurned has always been in caring hands. “It’s a family activity — Christine and the two girls love the foals, and do the foaling themselves.”
The Filly went back to Shawhan Place, where she had been prepared for sale and where she had a similarly-smitten exercise rider waiting for her. She worked gradually to her maiden debut at Woodbine last August, at which point I may have shattered a few eardrums on the third floor of Arlington Park while watching her on the simulcast on Million Day.
Since then, McCormack said, she has had some tough breaks. She was sixth in the Grade 2 Natalma after rival Ready to Act threw jockey Rajiv Maragh in her path and she leapt over him. After a second in the Grade 3 Mazarine and a third in the Princess Elizabeth, trainer Roger Attfield gave the filly a winter vacation. After she returned to the track with the intent of starting at Keeneland, she came down with a virus and could only get in one start, an allowance win, ahead of Sunday’s Oaks.
McCormack believes Unspurned will need “the race of her life” to beat the eight accomplished rivals she will face, but she has a legitimate shot.
“The big joke is that we have to get Jay in a suit for Sunday. So if we’re lucky enough to win, you might see him in a suit, because no one ever has,” he said.
When asked whether Hayden is likely to be nervous as the field goes to post on Sunday, McCormack said that the owner is “a pacer” as race time draws near, although he tends to find a remote place in the grandstand to pace so his family and friends can enjoy the scene.
You never know, when they’re yearlings, how a horse is going to turn out. We would joke in the barns that any of the colts could be the next Queen’s Plate winner (a real possibility now, as Cara Bloodstock also consigned We Miss Artie that year), and the fillies could be the next Woodbine Oaks victors.
I’ll be pacing right along with Jay on Sunday from my living room in Kentucky, proud no matter the outcome of the race, but hoping those jokes were prophetic.
Race 10 - Post Time - 5:45 PM First Half Late Double / Exactor /.20 Triactor / .20 Superfecta
Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser
Woodbine STAKES
Purse $500,000. For Three-Year-Old Fillies, Foaled In Canada. Scale Weight 121 Lbs. By subscription of $250 each to accompany the nomination by February 3, 2014 (83 were made eligible). To continue eligibility the following additional payments must be made: Second subscription of $750 by May 1, 2014 and an additional $5,000 when making entry. Horses not originally nominated may pay a late fee of $2,500 on or before May 1, 2014 and an additional $5,000 when making entry. (34 remained eligible Plus 5 Supplements). The purse to be divided 60% to the winner, 20% to second, 10% to third, 5% to fourth, 2% to fifth, 1% to sixth, 1% to seventh, 1% to eighth. (No Canadian Bred Allowance) Final entries to be made through the entry box at the closing time then in effect for overnight events. A supplemental nomination may be made no later than the time of final entry by a non-refundable fee of $12,500 which includes the entry fee. * $100,000 of this purse has been provided through the Thoroughbred Improvement Program. *Plus up to $28,950 Ontario Sired/Ontario Bred Breeder Awards. One And One Eighth Miles. (All Weather Track)
P# PP Horse Virtual
Stable A/S Med Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1 Paladin Bay (ON) 3/F L G Olguin 121 H Ladouceur 2/1
2 2 Llanarmon (ON) 3/F L J Castellano 121 R L Attfield 10/1
3 3 Gdansk (ON) 3/F L J M Campbell 121 N Gonzalez 20/1
4 4 Call Her Karma (ON) 3/F L D Moran 121 A Brnjas 20/1
5 5 Storm Now (ON) 3/F L C Sutherland Kruse 121 R L Attfield 20/1
6 6 Wild Catomine (ON) 3/F L G Boulanger 121 M E Casse 6/1
7 7 Hot and Spicy (ON) 3/F L L Contreras 121 H J Bond 8/1
8 8 Lexie Lou (ON) 3/F L P Husbands 121 M E Casse 3/1
9 9 Unspurned (ON) 3/F J Stein 121 R L Attfield 9/2
Owners: 1 - Jessie L. Ladouceur; 2 - Harlequin Ranches; 3 - Michael James Ambler; 4 - Colebrook Farms; 5 - Robert S. Evans; 6 - John C. Oxley; 7 - William L. Clifton Jr.; 8 - Gary Barber; 9 - Christine Hayden
Breeders: 1 - Ericka Rusnak; 2 - Cavendish Investing Ltd.; 3 - Gustav Schickedanz; 4 - Colebrook Farms; 5 - R. S. Evans; 6 - Anderson Farms Ont. Inc. & Rod Ferguson; 7 - R. Harvey & A. Wortzman; 8 - Paradox Farm; 9 - Christine Hayden
Equipment Changes: 8 - Lexie Lou - Blinkers off
THE FILLY WHO WAS UNSPURNED
by Natalie Voss | Paulick Report
There aren’t many owners who make it to the Woodbine Oaks with their first racehorse, but Jay and Christine Hayden find themselves in just that position this week. Unspurned, a homebred for the Haydens, will break from the outside post position in one of Canada’s most prestigious races for 3-year-old fillies, but the original plan wasn’t to campaign her themselves.
Jay Hayden’s parents had been involved in ownership in Ontario in the 1960s and ‘70s, and Jay had his picture taken a few times. Hayden took over his parents’ farming and water well-drilling businesses as an adult and didn’t dive into Thoroughbred racing himself until 2007, when he took advantage of a depressed economy to pick up a few black-type mares. He had two requirements for his new herd: that the mares have a proven race record, and that they be nice to look at.
Hayden is the type of guy who radiates enthusiasm — about most everything. He drove down from Canada for the Kentucky auctions where his horses were to be sold, checking in at the barn every day and joyfully watching buyers scoop up his homebreds. As much as he enjoyed success in the commercial market, buying mares through Chad Schumer and selling them through Bernard McCormack’s Cara Bloodstock, he hadn’t ruled out the possibility of racing
McCormack warned Hayden he might not have any choice in the matter.
“I said, ‘There will come a time when, breeding them like you are, where one will get hurt on the farm [before a sale] and you’ll be putting a saddle on and racing them … you’d better give some thought to what racing colors you want.’ But it was always kind of a joke,” said McCormack. (The agent spoke on behalf of Hayden, who was superstitious about giving an interview ahead of the big race.)
In 2011, stakes winner Banga Ridge delivered the Haydens a perfect replica of her own athletic form. The copper-colored filly by Lemon Drop Kid had a small bone spur on one knee when she arrived at the Keeneland September yearling sale, but veterinarians didn’t think it would give her trouble on the track. Buyers weren’t as convinced however, and she failed to make her reserve both at Keeneland September and the Fasig-Tipton October sale the following month.
“We basically laughed it off and said, ‘Well, this is the one!’” said McCormack.
The Haydens chose red and white for their silks, and they came up with the perfect name.
“Jay and Christine came up with the name Unspurned, and when I heard it I had a really good laugh because if she turns out, it’ll be a perfect name for their first racehorse,” said McCormack.
Before she became Unspurned, the Lemon Drop Kid–Banga Ridge chestnut was just “Filly” to me. I groomed her for Cara Bloodstock at both her appearances at the yearling sales, where I picked up occasional work during and just after I graduated college. I try to avoid giving horses nicknames so that I don’t get attached to animals that aren’t mine. The strategy did not work well in her case.
She was the type of yearling who would examine an approaching frontloader with calm curiosity, who relished her morning grooming sessions, and who was only grumpy when you got her up from one of her many afternoon naps in the straw. She seemed to see the humans around her as leaders of her own choosing—she would happily do what we asked of her, but wasn’t so enamored with us that she became clingy.
The first stages of falling in love with a horse are the most powerful ones. Everything they do, from a sneeze to an eyeroll is somehow more adorable than when it comes from an unheralded stablemate. You imprint everything about them, from their smell (I swear every horse’s coat has its own, distinct scent) to the location of their whorls to the preferred arrangement of their hay. And, if you’re unlucky enough to fall in love with a horse who’s for sale, you also resist the urge to count the hours you have left with them.
Both walks with her to the sales ring seemed like long ones. I always hope, when the hammer falls, that the horse I’ve cared for in the last few days finds a soft place to land. Each time the Filly went to the ring, my heart was in my throat. In so many cases, I think the names on a horse’s Jockey Club papers matter less than the person at the end of their shank, and I couldn’t stand the thought of someone souring her. I spent a few panicked seconds as the bids rolled in at Fasig trying to decide if there was any way in the world I could have bought her myself (there wasn’t), a thought that had never occurred to me in my years of working sales. I needn’t have worried.
“I think the strength of Jay’s involvement is he hires the right people and lets them make the decisions,” said McCormack, who said Unspurned has always been in caring hands. “It’s a family activity — Christine and the two girls love the foals, and do the foaling themselves.”
The Filly went back to Shawhan Place, where she had been prepared for sale and where she had a similarly-smitten exercise rider waiting for her. She worked gradually to her maiden debut at Woodbine last August, at which point I may have shattered a few eardrums on the third floor of Arlington Park while watching her on the simulcast on Million Day.
Since then, McCormack said, she has had some tough breaks. She was sixth in the Grade 2 Natalma after rival Ready to Act threw jockey Rajiv Maragh in her path and she leapt over him. After a second in the Grade 3 Mazarine and a third in the Princess Elizabeth, trainer Roger Attfield gave the filly a winter vacation. After she returned to the track with the intent of starting at Keeneland, she came down with a virus and could only get in one start, an allowance win, ahead of Sunday’s Oaks.
McCormack believes Unspurned will need “the race of her life” to beat the eight accomplished rivals she will face, but she has a legitimate shot.
“The big joke is that we have to get Jay in a suit for Sunday. So if we’re lucky enough to win, you might see him in a suit, because no one ever has,” he said.
When asked whether Hayden is likely to be nervous as the field goes to post on Sunday, McCormack said that the owner is “a pacer” as race time draws near, although he tends to find a remote place in the grandstand to pace so his family and friends can enjoy the scene.
You never know, when they’re yearlings, how a horse is going to turn out. We would joke in the barns that any of the colts could be the next Queen’s Plate winner (a real possibility now, as Cara Bloodstock also consigned We Miss Artie that year), and the fillies could be the next Woodbine Oaks victors.
I’ll be pacing right along with Jay on Sunday from my living room in Kentucky, proud no matter the outcome of the race, but hoping those jokes were prophetic.
Race 10 - Post Time - 5:45 PM First Half Late Double / Exactor /.20 Triactor / .20 Superfecta
Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser
Woodbine STAKES
Purse $500,000. For Three-Year-Old Fillies, Foaled In Canada. Scale Weight 121 Lbs. By subscription of $250 each to accompany the nomination by February 3, 2014 (83 were made eligible). To continue eligibility the following additional payments must be made: Second subscription of $750 by May 1, 2014 and an additional $5,000 when making entry. Horses not originally nominated may pay a late fee of $2,500 on or before May 1, 2014 and an additional $5,000 when making entry. (34 remained eligible Plus 5 Supplements). The purse to be divided 60% to the winner, 20% to second, 10% to third, 5% to fourth, 2% to fifth, 1% to sixth, 1% to seventh, 1% to eighth. (No Canadian Bred Allowance) Final entries to be made through the entry box at the closing time then in effect for overnight events. A supplemental nomination may be made no later than the time of final entry by a non-refundable fee of $12,500 which includes the entry fee. * $100,000 of this purse has been provided through the Thoroughbred Improvement Program. *Plus up to $28,950 Ontario Sired/Ontario Bred Breeder Awards. One And One Eighth Miles. (All Weather Track)
P# PP Horse Virtual
Stable A/S Med Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1 Paladin Bay (ON) 3/F L G Olguin 121 H Ladouceur 2/1
2 2 Llanarmon (ON) 3/F L J Castellano 121 R L Attfield 10/1
3 3 Gdansk (ON) 3/F L J M Campbell 121 N Gonzalez 20/1
4 4 Call Her Karma (ON) 3/F L D Moran 121 A Brnjas 20/1
5 5 Storm Now (ON) 3/F L C Sutherland Kruse 121 R L Attfield 20/1
6 6 Wild Catomine (ON) 3/F L G Boulanger 121 M E Casse 6/1
7 7 Hot and Spicy (ON) 3/F L L Contreras 121 H J Bond 8/1
8 8 Lexie Lou (ON) 3/F L P Husbands 121 M E Casse 3/1
9 9 Unspurned (ON) 3/F J Stein 121 R L Attfield 9/2
Owners: 1 - Jessie L. Ladouceur; 2 - Harlequin Ranches; 3 - Michael James Ambler; 4 - Colebrook Farms; 5 - Robert S. Evans; 6 - John C. Oxley; 7 - William L. Clifton Jr.; 8 - Gary Barber; 9 - Christine Hayden
Breeders: 1 - Ericka Rusnak; 2 - Cavendish Investing Ltd.; 3 - Gustav Schickedanz; 4 - Colebrook Farms; 5 - R. S. Evans; 6 - Anderson Farms Ont. Inc. & Rod Ferguson; 7 - R. Harvey & A. Wortzman; 8 - Paradox Farm; 9 - Christine Hayden
Equipment Changes: 8 - Lexie Lou - Blinkers off