Breeders Stakes ($500.000 Purse)
WO- For Three Year Olds Foaled in Canada
One Mile and One Half on the Turf
August 21, 2016

Sunny Gabe continued his fantastic three year old season on Sunday with the biggest win of his career to date, the $500.000 Breeders Stakes at WO.  Even though this is not a graded event, the purse amount and the level of Canadian racing, especially within our game, makes this a big race on the calendar that has seen some fantastic past winners.  We’re not quite sure, as of yet, if Sunny Gabe will be able to have the long and successful career that the likes of Stealth Fighter and Turon Warrior have enjoyed, but we can be certain that he is a dominant horse of the present within this division.  His win today likely clarified any doubts that the trainer, Mb Stables, could have possibly had about making a BC Turf bid.  For the trainer, this becomes a new stake for him to etch his name onto the leaderboard of past winners, and jockey M E Smith, not often seen north of the border, does the same thing.  Sunny Gabe has now won four out of five races since Mb Stables purchased him in private sales for $200.000 back in late February.  The time of his victory was 2:25.76, the third quickest time record by a winner of this stake.  Let’s look more at it.

1st- 2- Sunny Gabe (6/5)- Our eventual winner from Mb Stables also served as the post time favorite.  He would start well and be able to get a comfortable position along to the rail as Game Time shot out of the gate.  Going around the turn and into backstretch, he would be either second or third depending on where Break The Deal was with his peculiar fast start, quick retreat, and resurgence.   The gap to the leader was about three and a half lengths as they moved past a half mile.  Kept a steady cruising speed for most of the backstretch before looking to set up his move with about six furlongs to go.  By the time they reached the top of the turn, he got sliced a considerable chunk off of Game Time’s lead and it did not take long to quickly do away with him.  Sunny Gabe was fantastic in the turn, but so was Scott The Great, and it was becoming quite clear that these two would settle the race between them.  On exit of the turn, he had a half length lead, and the race was on! With no other challengers able to make up the distance needed, both Sunny Gabe and Scott The Great were in a full drive and neither let up.  The track position Sunny Gabe always had on Scott The Great, plus being able to hug the rail while his rival was four wide would be the deciding the factor between two horses who would not otherwise been able to be separated.  Sunny Gabe’s winning time was 2:25.76.   He is a three year old autogen gelding created as a second quarter two year old in Ontario by RNP Stables.  He’s found himself claimed and sold a couple times along the way, but has been at his best since being picked up by Mb Stables.  Congratulations to the connections!

2nd- 5- Scott The Great (12/1)- The Commanding colt from Night Mare Racing picks up another finish on the board in one of these races, but still wants to break through with a win in one!  He was mid-pack early, about five lengths behind the pace-setter, but just a length behind Sunny Gabe.  Waited to make his move forward just a bit longer then Sunny Gabe did, and found himself four wide as they moved around the turn.  He really did this in quite a powerful fashion, doing away with Break The Deal easily and running in full stride in the stretch.  Unfortunately for the trainer, so was Sunny Gabe, and that length that the eventual winner had on him throughout the entire twelve furlongs proved to be all the difference.

3rd- 3- Julius Caesar (69/1)- The longest shot on the board (and these odds should never have been allowed to get so high), found himself at the back of the field as often does early in a race.  J R Velazquez looked to size up the field midway through the backstretch and advanced Julius Caesar somewhat.  Handled the turn quite well, and was able to move right into the lane that Sunny Gabe had used to get through the pack.  Ran well in the stretch, but it would not be enough to get to the leaders. In the final furlong, his race was all about battling Plucky Elmo who had been with him mostly all the way for the third position.  Makes a lot of people happy with this odds, including anyone who boxed our SRF picks in a superfecta.

4th- 6- Plucky Elmo (3/1)- Somewhat surprisingly, the Hawaiian Shirt Guy was not interested in the early pace and found himself way back early, about eight lengths from the lead.  Seemed to respond with more urging in the backstretch when Julius Caesar looked to position himself for his run.  Strong in the turn, but ended up wide in the process while Julius Caesar picked up a more favorable lane.  The two of them were otherwise quite equivalent in the stretch, and the trips made all the difference in separating the two.

5th- 7- Break The Deal (7/2)– The Canadian Racing entry was strong out of the gate, but would quickly retreat as they made their way around the opening segment.  He would recover about a length of what he conceded early in the back stretch, and by the end of this segment, he was within a length, making a move to the outside of Sunny Gabe, who was doing the same thing.  Seemed to look very good at this point, but he would not be able to measure up in the turn.  At the top of the stretch, he had no response.

6th- 4- Little Phooey (12/1)- Started the race near the rear of the field for Night Rider Stables, keeping Julius Caesar and Plucky Elmo company early on. Didn’t really respond in kind, though, when those two looked to set up their moves forward.  Kept a steady stride through the turn, but never became a factor in this race.  Only able to complete a pass of a tiring frontrunner who was out of gas.

7th- 1- Game Time (10/1)- Sharp out of the gate, and would lead the field around the opening turn for Kopites and into the backstretch, leading by as many as four lengths at this point.  Ran the half in :49.71. Six furlongs went in a relaxing 1:14.04.  By the end of the backstretch, both three of them were ready to go by to his outside, and that would be all she wrote for Game Time at that point.

Track: Firm
Time: :49³  1:14   2:01⁴  2:25³

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 5 Paid 22.30
$1 Trifecta: 2 – 5 – 3 Paid 1,077.10

Scratched: None

Exacta and Would be Superfecta (Boxed) picked by NS

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded