awesome for rene....
rayphil
Senior Member
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Brian Lynch may not be a magician by trade, but he definitely had an ace up his sleeve when he sent out Golden Moka for Sunday's $500,000 Prince of Wales at Fort Erie.
Purchased privately out of Panama on the advice of former jockey Rene Douglas, who was paralyzed in a racing accident at Arlington last spring, Golden Moka was making his first start in six months, his first beyond six furlongs, and his first in North America in the Prince of Wales.
Golden Moka made light of those details, however, by rolling to a 2 3/4-length victory in the 1 3/16-mile Prince of Wales and gave Fort Erie-based jockey Anthony Stephen the biggest win of his career.
"He certainly showed up for us," said Lynch, who trains Golden Moka for a group known as Good Friend Stable in which Douglas holds a stake. "I always had a feeling I'm better at getting a horse to run long off a layoff, rather than sprinting."
Lynch welcomed Golden Moka into his stable in early May and shortly afterward the colt came down with a virus.
"Once he got over that, he never really missed a beat," said Lynch, who sent out Golden Moka to work on a weekly schedule at Woodbine before shipping him down to Fort Erie for a sharp 1:25.20 seven-furlong drill a week prior to the Prince of Wales.
"Each work was more impressive than the last, and I was stretching him out," Lynch said. "I knew he had speed, but he was showing me that he had no distance limitations. And I've always believed that a horse who works good going into a race will run a good race."
The $500,000 Breeders', a 1 1/2-mile turf race on Aug. 15 that follows the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales as the final leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, is not on Golden Moka's agenda.
"In my experience, when a horse has run this big off a layoff it's difficult to bring him back in three weeks," Lynch said. "It would really set him up to bounce.
"We'll take our time with him and try to find a spot where he can continue his winning ways."
Purchased privately out of Panama on the advice of former jockey Rene Douglas, who was paralyzed in a racing accident at Arlington last spring, Golden Moka was making his first start in six months, his first beyond six furlongs, and his first in North America in the Prince of Wales.
Golden Moka made light of those details, however, by rolling to a 2 3/4-length victory in the 1 3/16-mile Prince of Wales and gave Fort Erie-based jockey Anthony Stephen the biggest win of his career.
"He certainly showed up for us," said Lynch, who trains Golden Moka for a group known as Good Friend Stable in which Douglas holds a stake. "I always had a feeling I'm better at getting a horse to run long off a layoff, rather than sprinting."
Lynch welcomed Golden Moka into his stable in early May and shortly afterward the colt came down with a virus.
"Once he got over that, he never really missed a beat," said Lynch, who sent out Golden Moka to work on a weekly schedule at Woodbine before shipping him down to Fort Erie for a sharp 1:25.20 seven-furlong drill a week prior to the Prince of Wales.
"Each work was more impressive than the last, and I was stretching him out," Lynch said. "I knew he had speed, but he was showing me that he had no distance limitations. And I've always believed that a horse who works good going into a race will run a good race."
The $500,000 Breeders', a 1 1/2-mile turf race on Aug. 15 that follows the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales as the final leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, is not on Golden Moka's agenda.
"In my experience, when a horse has run this big off a layoff it's difficult to bring him back in three weeks," Lynch said. "It would really set him up to bounce.
"We'll take our time with him and try to find a spot where he can continue his winning ways."