The $47,400 final of the Blizzard Pacing Series for three and four-year-old fillies and mares, set to go tonight at Woodbine Racetrack, might as well be called the Murray Brethour Show.
The Sunderland, Ontario trainer has loaded the dice in favour of getting his picture taken in the winner’s circle, with no fewer than four entries in the 10-mare field, including the co-favourites, Artists Dynasty and Katpandu (both co-owned by Brethour), and the second favourite, Designated Leader.
Artists Dynasty, the lone three-year-old among Brethour’s entries, is also the most lightly raced, but she has brought home a cheque in every one of her seven starts. She was a winner in the opening round of this series, setting a new career mark of 1:54.3 in the process, and crossed the wire third in last week’s follow-up. Her partnered entry, Katpandu, has three times the racing experience, and although she only has one win to her credit in 23 starts, she lost by a mere whisker in her division of the Blizzard first leg to B M MCW, following that up with a third-place effort on January 8.
Together, the Brethour lasses have been rated as the 3-1 favourites.
Designated Leader, meanwhile, was third to her stablemate, Village Bolero, in the New Year’s Day opener, and came even closer last week, finishing second to Keystone Wendy. She’s rated at 7-2 in the morning line.
Village Bolero has shown less consistency, finishing a well-beaten sixth in the Blizzard second round after her promising start. Having been saddled with the outside post position on Thursday night, she has been given the longest odds of the quartet, at 12-1.
The weather tonight may be a major factor, with temperatures predicted to plunge past the -20 C mark.
To view the entries, click here.
(WEG)
It's also too bad that the
It's also too bad that the top money winner of the series, Onehotvett with a second place and a win got saddled with the nine hole. It looks the series has the proper name.