No Show No Call beats ‘em all

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/07/2024 (449 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba-bred monster in the making made an appearance at Assiniboia Downs this week, and Godzilla and Super Girl weren’t far behind. Neither was their Amazon girlfriend.

The monster was No Show No Call, a pretty and fast chestnut gelding who romped in the 37th running of the $40,000 Frank Arnason Sire Stakes for Manitoba sired colts and geldings on Wednesday evening, winning the six-furlong race by 12 lengths under jockey Ronald Ali for trainer Mike Taphorn and ownership partners Staffmax Stable and Club 3 D Stable. The $17,000 Manitoba 2022 CTHS Yearling Sale purchase overwhelmed his field on the turn, opened up into the stretch, and galloped away from his competition.

Bred by Cam Ziprick and Charles Fouillard, the three-year-old gelding by Kentucky Bear-She’s Regal by Tiznow has some pedigree to back up his impressive run, but not to the degree he showed on Wednesday. He was the easiest winner we’ve seen this year and maybe in the past five years. He’s now earned more than $50,000 and could be headed for the $125,000 Manitoba Derby on Monday, Aug. 5th.

An exciting horse to watch, if No Show No Call decides to enter the Manitoba Derby he’ll likely meet Godzilla there in the form of McEwen, a three-year-old Florida-bred gelding that defeated a field of older allowance foes in the sixth race on Monday. Trained by Shelley Brown for All For One Stable, Bette Holtman, Olsen S. Belle, and Tom Payne, the $7,000 buy drew off to win the 7 ½-furlong race by 5 ¾-lengths under jockey Antonio Whitehall, and he might have scored the perfect prep for the Manitoba Derby.

On the filly side, Manitoba-bred Commandoslastdance did her usual Amazon impression and came with a steady determined rally to win the $40,000 Hazel Wright Sire Stakes by a neck under Prayven Badrie on Tuesday evening for trainer Mike Nault and owners A2 Thoroughbreds and True North Thoroughbreds.

Also a $17,000 purchase at the 2022 Manitoba CTHS Yearling Sale, Commandoslastdance was bred by Keaton and Aiden Ziprick, and has now earned over $90,000 from three stakes wins including last year’s Debutante and Buffalo Stakes. Never one to win by much, the big bay daughter of Going Commando- Sweet Tizzy Lizzy by Tiznow could conceivably go in the Manitoba Derby, but it’s more likely she’ll stay with her own gender and keep collecting money.

Finally, Super Girl-in-a-bay-coat Welcometohollywood made her debut for trainer Jared Brown in the first two-year-old race of the season on Tuesday and cantered away under jockey Antonio Whitehall to win by three lengths. Welcometohollywood never really did get out of a canter during the race. She didn’t have to.

Owned by Jared Brown and John Ganas, the daughter of Omaha Beach-Arch of Troy by Archarcharch was a $7,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Fall Year Sale in Kentucky, and she looks like she has a bright future ahead of her.

Due to EIA quarantine restrictions, the Manitoba Derby will temporarily not be part of the Western Canadian Derby Series. The $100,000 Sweep bonus for the series has been removed, but the $25,000 owner/trainer bonus remains.

The Western Canadian Derby Series, previously included the $125,000 Manitoba Derby at Assiniboia Downs, the $200,000 Grade 3 Canadian Derby at Century Mile racetrack in Edmonton, and the $125,000 Grade 3 B.C. Derby at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver, but the schedule was revised due to the continued federal quarantine of the backstretch barn area of Assiniboia Downs.

The live racing schedule has also been revised due to the equine virus and Assiniboia Downs has adjusted its schedule and made some temporary changes for the remainder of the meeting due to proactive measures taken in response to the recent equine health concern. Starting the week of July 15, racing will shift to a two-day Monday-Tuesday schedule until August 12, after which the regular three-day Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday schedule will resume.

“It is very unfortunate to have this happen but we are very pleased it was addressed right away,” said Darren Dunn, CEO of Assiniboia Downs. “We realize that it is still an ongoing issue with the quarantine but we are confident that there will not be any further cases after the entire horse population was freshly tested and all returned with negative results, indicating no additional cases.

“A second and final test of all horses in late July will lift the quarantine should the results remain negative. Regardless of how disruptive this is, the health and welfare of our equine athletes must come first. We appreciate the support and co-operation of our horse people and fans as we navigate through this.”

Does that mean our Manitoba-bred monster No Show No Call and Godzilla McEwen will have a better shot at the money in the Manitoba Derby? If so, we’ll offer them a line from one of the famous Taco Bell commercials.

“I think we need a bigger bag.”