Running hot ahead of derby

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/07/2024 (655 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With just over a week to go until the $125,000 Manitoba Derby on Monday, Aug. 5, and only three weeks until the annual Manitoba CTHS Yearling Sale On Sunday, Aug. 20, two sales graduates continued to strut their stuff in front of large enthusiastic crowds this week at the Downs.

One is headed for the Manitoba Derby. The other just cracked the $100,000 mark in purse earnings.

Commandoslastdance, the last foal by Going Commando and a $17,000 purchase in the 2022 yearling sale, cleared the $100,000 barrier on Monday when she won the 49th running of the $40,000 R.C. Anderson Stakes for trainer Mike Nault and owners A2 Thoroughbreds and True North Thoroughbreds.

It was the second consecutive stakes win in less than two weeks for the three-year-old Manitoba-bred filly, who won the Hazel Wright Sire Stakes by a neck July 9. This time she won by 1 1/2 lengths under jockey Prayven Badie, and that was a large margin of victory for the deceivingly talented big bay.

“She only does what she has to do,” said trainer Mike Nault.

The A2 Thoroughbreds partnership includes Nolan Allard, Arthur Roy and his father Jean-Marc Roy. The owners of True North Thoroughbreds are Pat Beavis, Grant Sissons, Ray Bouchard and Phil Allard, the father of Nolan Allard. It was a natural partnership between the two groups, both of which have invested heavily in Manitoba-breds and been paid back handsomely.

Bred by Keaton and Aiden Ziprick, Commadoslastdance has now earned US$83,928, which equates to over $110,000 in Canadian dollars, and there’s likely a lot more to come. Commandoslastdance is now being pointed to the $50,000 Manitoba Oaks on Tuesday, Aug. 6. A win in that signature race for three-year-old filly and she’ll be well on the way to $200,000 in earnings. And she’s only just getting started.

As is No Show No Call.

The last time we wrote about that three-year-old Manitoba-bred gelding by Kentucky Bear, who was also a $17,000 purchase at the 2022 yearling sale, he had romped in the Frank Arnason Memorial Sire Stakes on July 10. On Monday, No Show No Call moved up in class to face older allowance horses, and despite breaking from post 10, he won by two lengths under jockey Ronald Ali as the heavy favourite.

Bred by Cam Ziprick and Charles Fouillard, No Show No Call is owned by the partnership of Staffmax Stable and Club 3 D Stable, which includes Kevin Gill, Keith Dangerfield and Cory Ricard. Gill owns the Staffmax recruiting and employment agency in Winnipeg, and Dangerfield owns Club 3D. As a former jockey agent, Ricard had some additional insights leading up to the purchase of No Show No Call, and the group has made some smart management decisions since then.

“His mother, She’s Regal, could really run,” said Ricard. “She was all heart. She was a stakes winner and she also beat the boys. She was a very nice horse.” Breeder Cam Ziprick echoed the same sentiments when seen in the winner’s circle, and says he plans to breed She’s Regal back to Kentucky Bear again next year.

In the meantime, trainer Mike Taphorn has to figure out how to stretch out No Show No Call from his five sprints to the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Manitoba Derby, but he’s confident he can do it. He has something to help him too.

No Show No Call spent the winter training at Tampa Bay Downs with Albertan Craig Smith, where he ran once in a $53,000 Maiden Special Weight and finished eighth while racing greenly. The fact he spent the winter training in Tampa will provide him with some much-needed bottom when Taphorn has to go to the well with him looking for more stamina. A number of local owners are starting to send their young horses south for the winter and it has certainly paid off for No Show No Call, who has now won four of five starts here and earned US$47,145.

“We knew we could get a fitness edge in the stakes here if we sent him to Tampa,” said Ricard. “But at the time we didn’t know if he had enough talent. We took a bit of a chance there. It’s been pretty exciting. For the first time this year we had a horse who was a favourite in a race, and then to do it again in a stakes race.”

No Show No Call has been favoured in three of his six lifetime starts and won all of them. He won’t be favoured in the Manitoba Derby, but he does have a sharp trainer in Taphorn, who is winning at 27 per cent% clip this year with a record of 7-4-5 from 26 starts. He also has a top groom in 23-year-old Katie Morris, a Winnipegger who formerly worked for Kevin Attard at Woodbine. Will that be enough to get him home on top?

On Derby day.