Autumn is a time of renewal in the racing game, as trainers and owners look to take advantage of more opportunities for their inexperienced two-year-olds, while simultaneously keeping an eye on next season by thumbing the catalogue pages of upcoming yearling sales.
This weekend at Hastings sees two important races for juveniles. The $75,000 Sadie Diamond Futurity for fillies and the $75,000 Jack Diamond Futurity for colts and geldings may be restricted to youngsters bred here in B.C., but both will go a long way to sorting out the pecking order for the two-year-old division. The Jack Diamond, named for the man who was the driving force behind racing and breeding in B.C. throughout much of the second half of the 20th century, has attracted five youngsters, with the Dino Condilenios-trained Debrusk the likely favourite.
Condilenios, who also runs Karensnotimpressed in the Sadie Diamond, has a good grasp of the juvenile division this season. Debrusk finished second to his barn-mate Twickenham in the B.C. Cup Nursery Stakes on his career debut, before comfortably accounting for his rivals in the CTHS Sales Stakes. And with Twickenham temporarily on the bench, he should be a popular choice to land Saturday’s six-and-a-half-furlong contest.
“I’ve always been quite high on Debrusk, and it was hard to separate him and Twickenham early on,” Condilenios admitted earlier this week. “Karensnotimpressed has also really developed well. I think every time she’s worked or run, she seems like she’s gotten better. And right now, she’s really blooming.”
Like most trainers, Condilenios knows that things change quickly with young horses and he won’t be underestimating his opponents, even though Debrusk beat several of them when he won last time.
“I didn’t think the horses that ran behind Debrusk last time, ran that bad,” Condilenios said. “You’ve got to respect your opposition, especially ones that haven’t started. Even the ones that have started, sometimes they get a lot better in their second start.”
Chief among Debrusk’s unraced rivals is the Mark Cloutier-trained Ole’s Surprise, so named as his mum wasn’t initially thought to be carrying a foal.
“The mare wasn’t supposed to be pregnant and was hard to get into foal,” Cloutier revealed. “But when we got her home, she slowly started getting fatter, so it was a wonderful surprise.”
Whatever Ole’s Surprise does as a two-year-old, Cloutier believes it is next season where he should be seen to better effect.
“He’s a great big May foal and I’m not sure if he’s going to be a fantastic sprinter, but we’re hoping to be lucky and get a piece of Saturday’s prize. His mother broke her maiden in a Stakes race, so we’re hoping that history repeats. But a hundred things can go wrong in a two-year-old race.”
Trainer Keith Pedersen might consider Cloutier’s “100 things” estimate a little on the conservative side. He takes on Karensnotimpressed, as well as the likely favourite Sunny Wishes, with What A Force, who was fancied to make a winning debut herself last month, but missed the break and trailed home last of four fillies.
Pedersen, who along with Condilenios will be in Red Deer this week, looking to buy B.C.-bred yearlings to bring back to Hastings, said: “We were kind of shocked with the way she left the gate. She’d never done that in the mornings. She’d worked well out of the gate beforehand and we worked her last week out of the gate and she worked great again. There have been no hiccups, so we’re just hoping that was a one-off.”
However, while 100-plus things can go wrong, for the young horses setting out on their racing careers, the Jack and Sadie Diamond Futurities are less about autumnal endings and more about beginnings.
Hastings Selections
Saturday, Sept. 20. First post 2:30 p.m. RACE 1: Sunny Wishes made an impressive winning start to her career and should takes some stopping in the $75,000 Sadie Diamond Stakes.
RACE 5: A favourite of his trainer, Debrusk stepped up on his promising debut to win in Stakes company next time and can move to the head of the division by landing the $75,000 JackDiamond Stakes.