Maybe it was just a matter of time.
Texas owner and Manitoba-based Henry Witt Jr. has run in five Canadian Derbies with his longtime trainer Jerry Gourneau.
He’s been second - with Witt Six - in 2015. He’s been third, fourth and seventh. But never first.
Finally, he hit the motherlode winning Saturday’s $200,000 Canadian Derby at Century Mile with Quarry under a perfectly judged ride from jockey Damario Bynoe to win by half a length over a surging Big Curl.
“I’ve wanted to win this race for a long time,” said Witt.
Sent off at 9-1 in the extremely evenly matched field - 8 horses in the 12-horse field were sent away at 10-1 or lower - Quarry paid $21.40 to win.
Big Curl (8-1) was second; Direct Strike (the 9-2 second betting choice), who lacked room until the middle of the stretch, was a quick charging third.
Tisum raced seven wide up the backstretch and rallied for fourth.
Favourite Western Warrior was last after getting hung out wide throughout after having to leave from the outside 12 post.
Longshot Debrusk set the early fractions of :24 2/5, :47 2/5 and 1:16 3/5.
Third early, Quarry got shuffled back going into the first turn. But he settled nicely in sixth and remained in striking distance down the backstretch.
Then Bynoe pulled the trigger rounding the final turn and it was over as Quarry went by the tiring speed and sprinted into a clear three-length lead and safely held off Big Curl’s closing finish.
“Quarry was second last time out when he missed by a nose to Western Warrior in the mile and an eighth Manitoba Derby. He just needed more ground. (Saturday) he got it,” said Bynoe of the mile and a quarter Canadian Derby.
“The longer the better for him,” said Bynoe, who, after riding in Alberta, is now based in Winnipeg at Assiniboia Downs.
“With three furlongs left I made my move with him and he kept going for me.”
Big Curl’s trainer Tim Rycroft, one of the first to shake Gourneau’s hand, was satisfied with his finish.
“We were coming. We were gaining. Just not enough,” said Rycroft. “I’m pretty proud of him.”
Running against older horses, Quarry was an $80,000 claim by Witt in June at Churchill Downs. He won $120,000 on Saturday.
“Henry picked him out just like he always does,” said Gourneau, who is looking to be Manitoba’s leading trainer for the sixth straight year; Witt is well on his way to being Manitoba’s leading owner for the eighth straight year.
“I find them and Jerry makes them better,” said Witt, who owns about 60 horses - 45 of which are in Winnipeg.
“I just liked his looks,” continued Witt, 66, who made his money in the auto glass business and by working his 800-acre Waco, Texas ranch.
“He is big and long. I’d been following him for quite a while. When I claimed him it was the first time he was in for a price.”
Prior to racing thoroughbreds beginning in 2006 - Witt was extremely successful driving in open wheel modified car races.
He won numerous International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) championships from 1988 to 1997. In 1998 he drove for the 701 Racing Team and won more feature races (258) in the shortest period of time in the history of IMCA racing.
Witt also won eight straight regional championships, six straight state championships and one national championship.
He is in the IMCA Hall of Fame.
Witt obviously likes things fast.
Witt and Gourneau met by chance at Fonner Park Nebraska a dozen years ago.
Gourneau who has a Master’s degree in Administration graduating from Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD., was looking to buy horses; Witt was racing horses.
It was purely by chance.
“We just clicked,” said Gourneau, a First Nations Chippewa from Turtle Mountain Reserve in Belcourt, N.D. who was recently inducted into the North American Indigenous Hall of Fame.
“Henry said he wasn’t happy with the way his horses were running. I told him to send them to me in Winnipeg. Send them to me and we’ll see if we can get them running better.”
It took five years but Witt finally sent five horses to Gourneau in Winnipeg.
“They win, win, win, win, win. One of them even won twice,” said Gourneau, who this year won five of six races on a single card at Winnipeg’s Assiniboia Downs.
In 2015 Witt sent Gourneau Witt Six, who immediately won his first three starts, and then ran second in the Manitoba and Canadian Derbies. The following year Witt Six won the Manitoba Mile, the R.J. Speers and the Gold Cup.
Another horse Witt owned and Gourneau trained was Mano Dura, who won the 2023 Manitoba Derby.
Now there is Quarry, a son of Preakness winner War of Will, who stopped the timer in 2:06.94.
“He’s a very classy horse,” said Witt. “Very professional. If you want him to set the pace he’ll do that. If you want him to come from off the pace like he did (Saturday) he’ll do that too.
“And as he showed in the mile and a quarter Canadian Derby he’s got lots of stamina.”
STOCK REPORT - Wagering on Derby Day was $1,650,330 which was down slightly from the $1.7 million bet last year. But on track a record $329,810 was wagered.
There were three other stakes races on Saturday.
Chi Chi Time remained undefeated - now in six lifetime starts - to go wire-to-wire in the $75,000 Northlands Distaff going a mile and 70 yards.
Winning by two and three-quarter lengths over Dontgiveupthefight, two-time Horse of the Year Big Hug was third.
Dontgiveupthefight was ridden by Rico Walcott, who returned to Alberta from Ontario. Great to see him here again. He was Alberta’s leading rider 11 times.
Trained by Pat Jarvis, Chi Chi Time - a finalist for last year’s Canadian Three-Year-Old champion filly - won all four of her races last year in Vancouver - and is now two-for-two at Century Mile.
Chi Chi Time paid $3.00 to win.
In the $100,000 Century Casino Oaks Playful made it look easy again winning by four and a half lengths. Well back early and wide throughout, Playful won for the fourth straight time. Sixty Six came from last place in the nine-horse field to get second.
“She’s not very big but she has a big motor,” said winning jockey Dane Nelson.
“She’s talented and smart. She knows when it is time to run and when to move. I’m just her pilot.
Playful paid $3.70 to win for New York owners Newtown Anner Stud Farm and is trained by leading trainer Gonzalo Anderson.
Then in the $100,000 Colonel Saunders Speed to Spare Championship Fireman Dan led virtually all the way on his way to a most convincing five and a quarter length triumph over a wide-trip Diocles.
Claimed for just $8,500 in Phoenix this past winter, Fireman Dan won $60,000 for trainer and co-owner Jason Coney and partner Terry Tomshak.
Returning $14.60 to win, Fireman Dan got the mile and a quarter in 2:04 2/5.
We’ll have more on Fireman Dan next week.
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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.