Three-year-old pacer Blended Whiskey is a colt that trainer Travis Umphrey has been high on for quite some time, and Tuesday night at Georgian Downs the son of Rambaran took a crucial step in the right
direction after hitting a bump in the road about a month ago at Woodbine Racetrack.
Blended Whiskey settled near the back of the pack in the early part of last night’s assignment, but he made an impressive charge to the lead in the closing strides of the mile. He covered the five-eighths mile oval in 1:54 thanks in part to a final quarter clocked in :27.2.
Things weren’t that impressive, however, in his previous outing at Woodbine Racetrack.
“He bled after that start at Woodbine,” said Umphrey, who watched the colt fade to finish sixth as the 2-5 favourite in that assignment on April 13. “I was really disappointed with him that night. I thought maybe he was sick, but after we scoped him we realized he had bled. That prompted us to put him on the Lasix program.”
Umphrey took over the training duties on Blended Whiskey following a private purchase this past winter by owner Terry Hamilton of Lethbridge, Alberta.
“When we moved here from Alberta we were looking for one for the OSS program,” Umphrey told Trot Insider. “Friends of mine [Larry Micallef and Dawn Lupul] were originally looking to buy him, but their owners backed out at the last minute. So I asked Larry if he’d mind if we went after the colt at that point. We liked what we saw, trained him, vetted him out and bought him. So far, everything has worked out well.”
“He’s got a nice gait and he’s a nice size,” added Umphrey. “It seems that the Rambarans are tough race horses. I saw some of this colt’s efforts last December, and he showed a quick brush to him. That’s what really turned me on to him; that and his gait.”
Blended Whiskey has a busy stakes season coming up, and it will start a week from Saturday when he makes a return trip to Georgian Downs for the eliminations of the Upper Canada Cup.
“That was the reason we went to Georgian last night as opposed to racing him against at Woodbine,” said Umphrey. “I wanted to see how he got around the turns. Randy [driver Randy Waples] got off the bike and said he was as good as he’s ever been; that was good news. It was great to hear that from him because he has driven some very nice colts in the past. The colt hadn’t raced for three weeks and I didn’t want him roughed up too much, and Randy gave him a perfect drive.”
Sixty-six sophomores remain eligible to the inaugural edition of the Upper Canada Cup, which features $25,000 eliminations on Saturday, May 16 followed by the $500,000 (est.) final on Saturday, May 23.