Undecided. That’s about all that anyone knows about Friday’s $50,000 Count Lathum stakes - one of two stakes races that were called off late Saturday night at Century Mile because of weather concerns.
The other stake called off and moved to this Friday was the $50,000 Sonoma.
The dilemma for the Count Lathum is that several horsemen were planning on running this past Saturday and then making a decision on the August 5 $125,000 Manitoba Derby.
Now there isn’t much chance of anyone running in the Count Lathum, Manitoba Derby and then the $200,000 Canadian Derby on August 22 at Century Mile.
“I don’t know yet,” said Carson Frey, trainer of Javier, the one-eyed thoroughbred who is looking to atone for a poor race when he was sent off as the even-money favourite in his last start only to finish last.
“For one thing the Manitoba Derby goes for two and a half times the purse of the Count Lathum. We could run in Winnipeg and then in Edmonton in the Canadian Derby.
“Or do we stay in Alberta?” mused Frey.
He isn’t alone.
Trainer Dino Condilenios doesn’t know what to do with Western Warrior, a horse purchased with the Derbies in mind, either.
All the rain has created havoc with the track at Century Mile.
“We’ve had to cancel workouts because of the track,” said Condilenios. “Western Warrior has had just one work in six weeks.
“I’ll have to talk to the owners (Lance Giesbrecht and Gordon Christoff) and see what they want to do.”
Mel Snow is another ‘undecided’ trainer. He has Helioo, who romped home by almost six lengths in his last start, where he easily defeated several Count Lathum entrants.
“I haven’t made my mind up yet,” said Snow, one of several trainers that came to Alberta this year from Vancouver when that track closed its doors.
“I nominated to the Manitoba Derby but that’s as far as it goes.”
Helioo won last year’s Birdcatcher.
The Count Lathum is a mile and a sixteenth which Helioo should really embrace.
There are also question marks surrounding a couple of the Count Lathum entrants themselves including the aforementioned Javier. He won three very comfortable outings and then stopped badly in the lane last time out.
“We scoped him and his lungs were full of mucus,” said Frey.
Debrusk, who also comes off a disappointing effort in the same race as Javier and who is also trained by Condilenios, is another sudden question mark.
“He’s been rank and wants to run off in the middle part of the race,” said Condilenios. “Debrusk ran his second quarter in :21 3/5ths last time.
“You’re not going to win many races that way.
“I’m taking the blinkers off him and see if that does the trick. If he wants to run long he’s going to have to learn to relax.”
Debrusk had won four straight races including the mile and a sixteenth Ascot Graduation in Vancouver before tiring in his last two starts.
One horse that is not undecided is Big Curl, who is the morning line favourite in the Count Lathum after winning his last start by 11 lengths.
“I’m here. Why would I go somewhere else?” said Big Curl’s trainer Tim Rycroft, who has really started to heat up.
“I’d just be chasing my tail.”
One of the top yearling sale purchases ($30,000 Canadian) Big Curl is a big, very good looking individual.
A disappointing sixth in the June 6 Western Canada Rycroft said he has felt that Big Curl has been more than he was showing prior to his last start.
In the Western Canada he got bumped around and he didn’t like that. He needs a bump-free trip so that he can relax and get a breather.
Rycroft said he also put a tongue tie on Big Curl and added Lasix for his last start.
One horse not in the Count Lathum that could be coming for the Canadian Derby is Forty Twenty.
“He’ll run in the Manitoba Derby and then we’ll see,” said trainer Robertino Diodoro, who has won five Canadian Derbies.
Forty Twenty won his last start at Lone Star, Texas by 11 lengths against older horses.
“He’s slowly putting it together,” said Diodoro, who has entered another horse of his, Need the Purse, for the Count Lathum.
“They are both good horses,” said Diodoro.
Need the Purse has won two of his last three starts most impressively in Arizona.
He won an allowance race by seven lengths and broke his maiden by the same margin.
“Forty Twenty has been a handful but he is starting to mature. He was very immature but he’s finally putting it together. He was washing out and acting dumb on post parade.
“In his last start we put ear plugs on him and it definitely helped him.”
Forty Twenty, owned by Alberta’s Randy Howg, is a half brother to last year’s Derby winner Take Charge Tom with both horse’s dams Gorgeous Ginny.
The winner of the Manitoba Derby Trial - by three lengths - Really Ralis, will compete in the Manitoba Derby itself and then make a decision about the Canadian Derby.
Really Ralis has won three of his four races.
“Nobody is really going to know who is going to run in the Count Lathum until scratch time on Friday,” said Frey.
Coincidentally, nominations for the Manitoba Derby also close on Friday.
STOCK REPORT - The other stake on Friday is the Sonoma for three-year-old fillies.
Rycroft also has one of the morning-line favourites, Made for Cruisin, in the Sonoma after winning her last two starts easily.
Made for Crusin is listed at 2-1 in the Sonoma just behind Playful, who has also won her last two starts with ease. Playful is listed at 9-5.
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Inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2017.
Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.