Courtesy of the BloodHorse

The daughter of Twirling Candy was injured while playing coming off the track.

• By Byron King

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Courtesy of the BloodHorse

Double Crown defeats Green Light Go in the Roar Stakes at Gulfstream Park

Coglianese Photos/Lauren King

The Maryland-bred 3-year-old son of Bourbon Courage is now 2-for-3 – Started by Cary Frommer at the Aiken Training Track

• By Byron King

Double Crown  purchased privately by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing after a debut victory in September at Laurel Park, is running like money well spent.

Racing at Gulfstream Park May 16 in the $75,000 Roar Stakes, the 3-year-old Bourbon Courage  gelding picked up his first black-type victory in just his second start for his new connections. Taking command with a three-wide rally leaving the turn, he turned back a resolute favorite in Green Light Go to score by a half-length.

Double Crown, b, 3/g
Bourbon Courage — Two Columbus, by Two Punch

Owner: Reeves Thoroughbred Racing
Breeder: Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Bowman & Rebecca Davis (MD)
Trainer: Katherine Ritvo
Jockey: Cristian A. Torres

Pedigree Notes
Bourbon Courage stands at Anchor & Hope Farm for $5,000 (2020).

Compared to his previous race at Gulfstream April 26, when Double Crown was wide and forced to steady to avoid a loose horse, his trip was relatively smooth in the Roar. Fourth of six down the backstretch, he was always within striking range of early leader Cajun Casanova as 3-5 choice Green Light Go pressed two wide through splits of :22.39 and :45.19.

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OXIDE (Golden Lad) made the most of opening up KY racing by winning on opening day at Churchill. He pressed the pace and then broke his maiden  by 5 1/2 lengths. OXIDE was pinhooked by Cary from a  $50,000 yearling purchase to a $120,000 2-year-old sale at Timonium last May. He is owned by Joe Sutton and trained by  Eddie Kenneally. The 3-year-old colt was bred by Dark Hollow Farm.

LONG-TIME WOODBINE-BASED TRAINER, WHO HAS TRAINED IN AIKEN IN WINTER MONTHS SINCE 1994, IS INDUCTED INTO THE CANADIAN HORSE RACING HALL OF FAME

The recent induction of Woodbine-based trainer, Mike Keogh, into the prestigious Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was happily applauded by his friends and associates at the Aiken Training Track, Aiken, S.C. during the long days of the Coronavirus pandemic. “Hats off to Mike Keogh,” said Bill Gutfarb, current Board president at the training track. “He is a true gentleman and a very talented horseman.”

Keogh’s esteemed career as a trainer, winning more than 300 races including a Canadian Triple Crown sweep with Wando in 2003 is very impressive. Another Keogh trainee, Langfuhr, won the Metropolitan Handicapp and Carter Handicapp in N.Y. in 1997. He also scored in the Vosburgh Stakes and the Forego Handicapp in N.Y. in 1996. “Langfuhr is my favorite horse, “ said Keogh in a recent interview.Both Wando and Langfuhr are Canadian Hall of Fame members. Wando was Canada’s 2003 Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male, as well as Aiken Horse of the Year, 2003. Langfuhr was Canada’s 1996 champion sprinter. Woodcarver, another Keogh trained winner, winning the Queen’s Plate in 1999, was Canada’s 1999 champion 3-year old colt.

Keogh and his wife, Lou, have been bringing thoroughbreds to Aiken in the winter season from their stable at Woodbine-Ontario for many years. Keogh’s relationship with Canadian owner and breeder and Aiken Training Track supporter and friend, Gus Schickendanz, who recently passed away, is the story of one horseman appreciating the talents of another horseman. Keogh was Schickendanz’s private trainer for many years and the men shared a love of all things horses and racing.

“I’ve been training horses in Aiken since 1994,” Keogh said. “I kept horses at Gus Schickendanz’s farm in Aiken and rented a few stalls at the training track.” At the Aiken Trials, held in the month of March for the past 78 years, Keogh’s horses have shown off Keogh’s masterful training and their speed. Enoree, in 2016, for example, set a track record of 51 4/5 for the distance. In 2017, Woodbridge won the City of Aiken Trophy and so did Say No More in 2013. In the 1993-1994 period of time, Langfuhr was a yearling turning two, when Keogh first came to Aiken.

“We like coming to Aiken, it’s a nice city, the track is quiet, the surrounding dirt roads are good for the horses, ” said Keogh.

The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 to honor those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and thoroughbred horse racing in Canada. It is located at the Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.The Hall of Fame annually inducts thoroughbreds and standardbred horses, sulky drivers, jockeys, trainers and horse racing industry’s builders. Keogh will share the illustrious membership in the Canada Horse Racing Hall of Fame with the horse, Play the King. Keogh said, like a true blue horseman, “I am happy to be welcomed into the Canadian Hall of Fame with the horse, Play the King.” Keogh galloped Play the King for Roger Attfield.

Once a horseman, always a horseman. Our best and kindest wishes to Mr. and Mrs. Mike Keogh. Love from the Aiken Training Track.

A young horseman and horsewoman from Northern California are establishing themselves as Aiken Training Track’s next generation. With two unique, but horse-centric pasts, Justin Rivera and Logan Beardon now run Poplar Place Stables, their own racing stable at Aiken Training Track, with a passion for Aiken’s Thoroughbred community. Click here to read the complete article (originally published in the April-May 2020 issue of The Aiken Horse).

Courtesy of the TDN

IN ORDER OF PURSE: 4th-Oaklawn, $61,000, Alw (NW1$X)/Opt. Clm ($80,000), 4-11, 3yo, 1m, 1:36.66, ft.
SHOOTERS SHOOT  – sold by CARY  FROMMER for $300,000 – (c, 3, Competitive Edge–Repeat, by Bernardini) was a well-beaten second behind Baffert=s unbeaten buzzsaw Charlatan (Speightstown) at Santa Anita Feb. 16, then successfully stretched to two turns with a powerful maiden breaker in Arcadia last time Mar. 15. Off at 5-2 in this first attempt outside of Southern California, he was sent to the front from his inside draw, but was quickly greeted by favored Blackberry Wine (Oxbow), who has been a lightning rod for conversation since getting disqualified from a pair of wins for medication violations by trainer Joe Sharp while remaining eligible for this condition. Those two threw down through fractions of :23.10 and :45.87, and kept on sluggging it out down the stretch. Shooters Shoot wanted it just a little bit more and got the better of that rival by a neck in a race that didn’t deserve a loser.

Sales history: $90,000 Wlg ’17 KEENOV; $70,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP; $300,000 2yo ’19 OBSAPR.
Lifetime Record: 6-2-1-1, $94,880.
O-ERJ Racing, LLC, Exline-Border Racing LLC & Dan Hudock
B-Nancy C. Shuford (KY)
T-Peter Eurton.

BOURBON BAY (Bayern) graduated at Aqueduct in his second start as a 2 year old. Racing back in the Jerome going a mile on the dirt also at Aqueduct, he dead-heated for second. Getting underway at 3, he added black-type running third in the Gander S. at Aqueduct and today added a 3rd in the Damon Runyon.  BOURBON BAY was started at the Aiken Training Track and consigned at Fasig Tipton Gulfstream by Cary Frommer.
O-Bourbon Lane Stable (J. Hill, M. McMahon), Seidman Stables LLC and Lake Lonely Racing
B-Oak Bluff Stables, LLC & Christophe Clement (NY)
T-Mark A. Hennig.

Racing a mile and a sixteenth, TOY (Tapizar) ran in second early and then drew away to an easy win at a gallop – by 6 widening lengths. He was started by Cary Frommer at the Aiken Training Track and sold at Fasig Tipton Midlantic Two Year Old in Training Sale for $45,000. He is a Dark Hollow Farm homebred.

Three-year-old MONTAUK TRAFFIC (Cross Traffic) broke his maiden last out and followed that up earning his first black-type circling the field to win the MONTAUK TRAFFIC. He is owned by Chris Fountoukis and trained by  Linda Rice.

Twirling Candy filly is pointed toward the Jenny Wiley (G1T) at Keeneland Apr. 11.

Courtesy of the BloodHorse

By Byron King

At a midwinter stage in February when many Kentuckians are dreaming of warmer climates, trainer Rusty Arnold is in Florida, thinking about Kentucky.

Bluegrass native Arnold has the spring meet at Keeneland on his mind, training four high-class turf horses that are just now gearing up for 2020 returns. Leading the charge for his squad is millionaire Concrete Rose, a four-time stakes winner in 2019 who resumed breezing Feb. 17 at Palm Meadows Training Center in South Florida. The filly worked three furlongs on grass Sunday in :36 4/5 and is being pointed toward a start in the April 11 Coolmore Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) at the Lexington oval.

The 4-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy , owned by Ashbrook Farm and BBN Racing, is already proven at the grade 1 level, having won the Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T) last summer at 3. Other triumphs last year included the Edgewood Stakes Presented by Forcht Bank (G3T), the Florida Oaks (G3T), and the $750,000 Saratoga Oaks

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