When East meets West…
Alberta’s champion mare Big Hug will face a new rival in Saturday’s Red Smith stakes at Century Mile: B.C.’s Sunblaze.
“It will be interesting,” said B.C. trainer Barbara Heads, who is also bringing Apprehend for the second stakes race on Saturday - the Century Mile for older horses.
“I’ve watched a few of Big Hug’s races. She’s always been a solid mare for Rick (trainer/co-owner Hedge).
“She’s very honest.
“But I also have Avana in B.C. and I didn’t want to run her against Sunblaze so Avana will stay here and Sunblaze will come to Edmonton.
“I wanted to give Sunblaze an opportunity to run against Big Hug.”
Avana has won eight of her 11 starts taking the Monashee Handicap in her last start. She put on a sensational performance last year at Century Mile winning the Century Casino Oaks after stumbling at the break and coming from way back.
Sunblaze has won her last two starts in Vancouver - the latest very impressively.
“Sunblaze is a nice filly too,” said Heads, who has always been very successful in Edmonton winning the last two Canadian Derbies and a host of other stakes.
“She’s a good-feeling horse who will like the distance,” she said of the Red Smith’s mile and an eighth distance. “She’s much more horse going longer.”
But so, of course, is Big Hug. A winner of just under half a million dollars, Big Hug won her last start, the Red McKenzie Stakes, for her 11th win at Century Mile despite being five wide most of the way.
Named Alberta’s Horse Of the Year last year, Hedge said Big Hug is ready for Sunblaze or any other mare that wants to try and tackle her.
“She’s been feeling really good. With Sunblaze coming it looks like we’ve got a horse race.”
Big Hug tackled some of the best mares in California this winter and was hardly disgraced. If it wasn’t for some troubled trips she could have won.
Big Hug, who prepped for this race with a handy four-furlong work in :48 2/5 is high weighted at 126 pounds. Sunblaze will be asked to carry 122 pounds.
Meanwhile, Apprehend has been high weighted at 125 pounds for the Century Mile going a mile and 70 yards.
A winner of four in a row, Apprehend has taken the Premiers Handicap, the S.W. Randall Plate, an allowance in Edmonton and an allowance at Hastings.
But he hasn’t raced this year.
“He’s had a lot of time off,” said Heads.
“We actually weren’t sure if we were going to retire him to stud. He didn’t race at all in 2023 because of a tendon injury. I have to be honest, I wasn’t too optimistic; tendons are a tough injury to recover from. But he’s so athletic and talented. That helps.
“But he wintered well and looked so good that we put him in back in training. He was training so good that we figured we should do something with him.”
This past weekend Heads worked both Apprehend and Sunblaze.
“They both worked really well. Excellent really.”
While Sunblaze went four furlongs in :48 4/5, Apprehend went 1:13 2/5 for six furlongs.
But then Apprehend has been working fast all spring.
In June he worked 35 seconds flat for three furlongs; :47 2/5 for four panels and then two solid five-furlong works.
Amadeo Perez, B.C.’s top jockey will ride both Apprehend and Sunblaze.
With the terribly unfortunate fall by jockey Raffy Zenteno Jr., who is hospitalized with broken facial bones and a concussion, Jose Mariano Asencio will now ride Big Hug.
Purchased privately by Peter Redekop in California, Apprehend has won seven of his 14 career starts.
He broke his maiden at Oaklawn Park, won two allowance races in Santa Anita and was second in the Zia Park Derby.
Extremely well bred Apprehend is by Arrogate, who won $17.4 million which made him the richest horse in North America. Among his wins were the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the Pegasus World Cup and the Dubai World Cup.
Apprehend’s dam is Hero’s Amor, a multiple stakes winner trained by Tim Rycroft.
Second high weighted for the Century Mile is Spangled Jimmy winner Itsallgoodman at 124 pounds; Journal winner Al Reichert has been assigned 123 pounds.
As well as Sunblaze and Apprehend, Heads might bring At Attention to Century Mile too for an allowance race. At Attention is a multiple stakes winner who won the Century Mile Handicap and the Speed to Spare at Century Mile in 2022.
STOCK REPORT - Infinite Patience, who won 22 of 32 races for Heads and co-owners Edmonton Oiler forward Ryan Nugent Hopkins and breeder William DeCoursey, is in foal to Hard Spun, a career winner of $2.6 million and who has been very successful as a sire.
Alberta harness horse Custard Dolce atoned for his paper-thin loss to Mademechangemymind in one of two Marquis stakes eliminations for three-year-old fillies on Saturday winning by nine lengths in 1:55. Custard Dolce has now won 11 of 13 starts. The second elimination of the Marquis was taken by $16.40 payout winner Chics Dragon Flies by three-quarters of a length over Mademechangemymind in 1:55 3/5.
This week’s Marquis Final sets up as a thriller.
There were also two eliminations for the Maverick. Hot favourite Westcoast McCoy won in 1:55 4/5 by four and a half lengths; even hotter favourite Discontinued ($2.10) won the second elimination in 1:56 2/5 by a length an a half.
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Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.