Breeders Cup 2013 - Juvenile Fillies Turf

It was the Irish bred Chriselliam over the French bred Testa Rossi in the $1M Juvenile Fillies Turf. Once again the top 3 Internationals were all descendants of our little Dancer.

1) Chriselliam (IRE) - great great granddaughter x3 through a Danzig/Danheill mare
2) Testa Rossi (FR) - great great granddaughter through Nijinsky
3) Colonel Joan (USA) - great granddaughter x3 through a Dixieland Band mare

video of race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3VmbkqQG_g

Breeders Cup 2013 - Dirt Mile

Goldencents wired the field to win the $1M Dirt Mile. It was another 1-2-3 finish for the grandkids.

1) Goldencents (USA) - great great great grandson x2 through Storm Cat/Harlan
2) Golden Ticket (USA) - great great grandson x2 through a Vice Regent/Deputy Minister mare
3) Brujo De Olleros (BRZ) - great great grandson through a Northfields mare

video of race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MjvStXf15U

Breeders Cup 2013 - Juvenile Turf

It was another big finish for Mike Smith aboard the GB bred Outstrip as he wins his second Cup race in a row. Of course all 3 are descendants of the Dancer.

1) Outsrip (GB) - great great grandson x3 through Danzig/Danehill/Exceed and Excel who was bred this year to Black Caviar
2) Giovanni Boldini (USA) - great grandson x2 through Danzig/War Front
3) Bobby's Kitten (USA) - great great grandson x4 through Sadlers Wells/ El Prado he is also a descendant of the Dancer's kidnapped daughter Franfreleuche.

video of race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlrwhcbi2WU

Breeders Cup 2013 - Marathon

This year's Breeders Cup is under way. It was 1-2-3 finish for US breds and all three were great great grandsons of Northern Dancer in the 1-3/4 mile race on the dirt.

1) London Bridge (USA) - great great grandson through a Danzig mare
2) Blueskiesnrainbows (USA) - great great grandson x3 through Vice Regent/Deputy Minister
3) Worldly (USA) - great great grandson through Dixieland Band


You can watch it live here
http://www.breederscup.com/

photos from www.breederscup.com - click on any to enlarge them

video of The Marathon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If2wexUV8MY

Pattison Canadian International 2013 - Joshua Tree makes it three

The Irish bred Joshua Tree was the sentimental choice but without a win this year he went off at 6-1 and became the first - three time winner of the race in its 73 year history. He was chased down the long turf stretch with by Hyper and Seismos but hung on for the half length victory. The amazing thing about the six year-old Joshua Tree is that he has won this race with 3 different trainers. All top three International finishers were descendants of Northern Dancer.

1) Joshua Tree (IRE) - great grandson x3 through Sadlers Wells/Montjeau
2) Hyper (USA) - great grandson through the Nureyev dam Raw Nerve
3) Seismos (IRE) great great grandson through a Sadlers Wells/Old Vic dam


the photos were mine just click on any to enlarge

video of race just click on race 10 bottom right
http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/canadianinternational/RaceTrackNewsPage.aspx?NewsId=21284078-6a1f-4a51-8761-cd5dbdc28df8

E. P. Taylor Stakes 2013

It was an Irish bred sweep in the $500,000 E. P. Taylor Stakes as part of the Pattison International day at Woodbine with Tannery coming out on top. All top 3 finishers were Irish breds and they were also all descendants of E. P. Taylor's legacy Northern Dancer.

1) Tannery (IRE) - great granddaughter x2 through Danzig/Danehill
2) Fitful Skies (IRE) - granddaughter x3 her dam was the daughter of the Dancer's daughter Wajd
3) Moment in Time (IRE) - great great granddaughter through Danzig/Danehill

the photos were all mine just click on them to enlarge

video of race just click on race 8 on right
http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/canadianinternational/RaceTrackNewsPage.aspx?NewsId=9bc78a17-624d-48ff-8d7a-446d0c685d55

Some Random shots from our day at Woodbine for the Pattison Canadian International

Meet Time Alert. We started out our day seeing this guy enjoying a walk in the walking ring under some early afternoon sunshine. His handler said he was a 24 year-old gelding son of Secretariat and I said he looks like he has some Northern Dancer blood as well. He said his dam's sire was The Minstrel one of the Dancer's first big sires. I looked up his pedigree when I got home. It looks like he had a long and successful racing career as well with 14 wins and 15 seconds in 66 starts. Today was also a celebration of Secretariat's win 4o years ago in the International, his last race. It's nice to see an old thoroughbred being treated so well and participating in the celebrations.

Linda with Secretariat's Time Magazine Cover

video of Secretariat winning the 1973 Canadian International - his last race

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqliNZvnFoE

The Woodbine infield with the sun shining in

I final got my photo taken with my hero's statue.

The Avelino Gomez statue - "El Perfecto" on of my favorite jocks as a kid

That's Patrick Husbands aboard Battle for Gold the winner of the first race with all his connections in the winner's circle. He just happens to be a great great great grandson of Northern Dancer through Danzig.

even this beautiful grey Tesseron has 3 links to Northern Dancer - two on his dam's side and one on his sire's

Woodbine is a great place to Plane-Spot if you enjoy seeing the Jumbo Jets on final approach to Pearson. No zoom on the second shot it was taken from the Track Apron. I wonder if the horses ever get used to it.

my favorite handicapper Jim Bannon

Loosening up before the big race

this beautifil 4 year-old chestnut filly is the German bred Samba Brazil a 3 times great great granddaughter of Northern Dancer

That's the Dancer's great great grandson Temeraine giving me the eye as he was heading out for the big race with Luis Contreras aboard. The light was fading fast so it was getting hard to keep things in focus and you can't use a flash around the horses.

It's been a long day so I will post my photos and the results of the two big races later. Click on any image to enlarge them.

2013 Pattison Canadian International and E.P. Taylor Stakes

We are planning to head down for the day and take in the International competition at Woodbine. We will see how far we can stretch out our free $2 bet. It will be cool but some sunshine so hopefully we can get some good shots to post.

Photo from the brilliant Michael Burns of Joshua Tree winning the 2012 edition. He is back in the field this year going for a record 3rd Pattison International.

There is a lot going on so here is a link.
http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/canadianinternational/Pages/Event.aspx

QIPCO British Championships Stakes

It was Godolphin's Farhh winning Europe's richest 1-1/4 mile race, the 1,300,000 pound Championship Stakes edging out the French bred Cirrus Des Aigles with Kingsbarns finishing third. It was a clean sweep on the day as descendants of Northern Dancer took home over 3 million pounds finishing 1-2-3 in all 5 races.

1) Farhh (GB) - great great grandson through Nuryev
2) Cirrus Des Aigles (FR) - great grteat great grandson x3 through Nijinsky, Lyphard
3) Ruler of the World (IRE) - great grandson x2 through Sadlers Wells/Galileo

photo from Sportinglife

video of race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b7tSfgJ93g

QIPCO British Championships - Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

It was Olympic Glory powering his way to the top in the 1,000,000 pound QEII stakes. The win guaranteed jockey Richard Hughes the jockey championship trophy. Once again the top 3 finishers were grandkids of our Dancer.

1) Olympic Glory (IRE) - great great grandson x2 through Sadlers Wells/Montjieu
2) Top Notch Tonto (IRE) - great great grandson x2 through Danzig/Danehill
3) Kingsbarns (IRE) - great grandson x3 through Sadlers Wells/Galileo

photo from Sportinglife

video of race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZMofmkwUX0