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October 28, 2009--Crete, Illinois
Meghan's Halfmoon Wins Hanover Stake at Balmoral
Meghan's Halfmoon, a freshman daughter by Valley Victor--Meghan's Memories--Mystic Park prevailed in a three-horse photo to win the $52,500 Hanover Stake for 2-year-old trotting fillies on Oct. 28 at Balmoral Park.
Megan's Halfmoon and Mike Oosting (#2)
Driven by Mike Oosting for trainer Steve Carter, the filly won by a neck in a career best 2:00 for Ohio-based owners Steve Carter, Chuck Grubbs and Robert Reid. Meghan's Halfmoon was bred by Peninsula Farm and now has $39,460 in career earnings.
October 28, 2009--Crete, Illinois
Trot To Victory Third in Hanover Stake at Balmoral
Trot To Victory, a freshman son by Valley Victor--Cassina--Royal Prestige, finished third in the $60,000 Hanover Stake for 2-year-old trotting colts on Oct. 28 at Balmoral Park. Trainer Robert Taylor was in the sulky behind the colt, who was clocked in 1:58.1. Trot To Victory is owned by Kent Schenk of Michigan and Robert Taylor and Kevin Dixon of Tennesse. He was sold for $15,000 by Peninsula Farm at the 2008 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.
October 24,2009--Toronto, Canada
Peninsula Farm Graduates Score Well in Breeders Crown Finals
Elusive Desire, Shanghai Lil and Ginger And Fred all gave strong showings in their respective Breeders Crown Finals on Saturday night, Oct. 24 at Woodbine Raceway in Toronto, Canada.
 
Ginger And Fred (far left) finished a close second to Yellow Diamond (2) while
Shanghai Lil (right) was third in the $731,158 Breeders Crown 3-Year-Old Filly Pace.
Ginger And Fred just missed by a neck, while Shanghai Lil charged from far back in the lane to finish a rousing third. Both fillies were sold by Peninsula Farm as yearlings, and a Ponder Yearling filly out of dam of Shanghai Lil--MARGARITA MONDAY---Hip #1114 will be selling in the Peninsula Farm consignment on Wednesday at the Standardbred Horse Sale at Harrisburg. Shanghai Lil was bred, raised and sold by Peninsula for $45,000 at 2007 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, while Ginger And Fred sold in the Peninsula Farm Consignment for $25,000 at the 2007 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale
Elusive Desire finished a very strong second in the $617,880 Breeders Crown 3-Year-Old Filly Trot Final, beaten only three-quarters of a length by the winning Broadway Schooner.
Elusive Desire
"I can’t say anything bad about Elusive Desire," said her driver Paul MacDonell. "She’s been tremendous all year, and tonight just got beat. She has no excuses. The wind is very strong and very tiring on these horses and it’s not easy out there. The track really isn’t that bad, but the wind is giving these horses a tough time. My filly is just great and I can’t say enough good about her."
Elusive Desire sold for $65,000 in the Peninsula Farm consignment at the 2007 Standardbred Horse Sale at Harrisburg. Peninsula Farm will sell the SJ's Caviar yearling colt--ALWAYS ON THE MOVE--at the 2009 Standardbred Yearling Sale at Harrisburg this fall. Always On The Move's dam--Pursuing Keagan (by Malabar Man)--is a half-sister to Elusive Desire.
October 22, 2009--Toronto, Canada
Breeders Crown Contenders have Strong Peninsula Connections
Wthe 2 and 3-year-old Breeders Crown Championships only two days away, it is not surprising that five of the contestants have strong connections to Peninsula Farm. Simply click on the names to read the full profiles of each of these Breeders Crown contenders.
Ginger And Fred PJ Clark Elusive Desire
Shanghai Lil Raising Rachel
October 22, 2009--Toronto, Canada
Shanghai Lil Ready for her Breeders Crown Dance
**Peninsula Farm will sell a Ponder Yearling filly out of dam of Shanghai Lil--MARGARITA MONDAY---Hip #1114 selling Wednesday at Harrisburg.
Caretaker Kim Watson is a long way from home, and having the time of her life.
The 30-year-old Auckland, New Zealand native answered an ad in the Standardbred journal Harness Racing Weekly ten months ago, and today finds herself taking care of her first Breeders Crown contender, the 3-year-old pacing filly Shanghai Lil, for trainer Peter Foley.
Shanghai Lil & driver Mike Lachance
“This is quite an experience,” Kim said with enthusiasm. “I’ve been working with harness horses since I was 15 and have never experienced anything like this. The stake races over here are a way bigger deal in terms of the money the horses race for, and especially the hype and excitement associated with having a horse in the Breeders Crown.”
Shanghai Lil comes into her Breeders Crown after finishing fifth on Oct. 9 in the $151,500 Garnsey at The Red Mile, clocked in 1:53.3 for driver Mike Lachance. In her previous start, however, she scored her career best mile, pacing to a winning 1:51.2 in the $101,500 Bluegrass Stake on Oct. 2 at The Red Mile.
“She’s a very solid, honest filly; very professional on the racetrack and she always gives you a maximum effort in every start,” Foley assessed. “She’s not mean or cranky, but always feels good and seems to enjoy her work.”
Foley’s home base is the Henry Lunsford training center, located near Lexington, KY. The 60-year-old, Portland, Australia native has been training Standardbreds for four decades and to date has conditioned 278 winners to $4.5 million in earnings. He had his best year in 2008, when he harnessed 36 winners to $1, 128,435.
“She’s fit and well right now,” said Foley of the daughter of three-time Breeders Crown Champion Jenna’s Beach Boy. “She’s feeling very fresh and shipped up here well. We trained her on Monday and again today (Thursday) in 2:10 with a half in 1:10. It was nasty last week in Kentucky—raining and colt—and we weren’t able to get in any good training miles down there.”
Shanghai Lil won the $57,570 Simpson Pace in a romp by nearly ten & a half lengths over a rain-soaked Red Mile racetrack, pacing in 1:53.3, and also won a $33,403 Tompkin Geers at Tioga Downs in 1:54 and a $25,000 Reynolds at The Poconos in 1:51.4. She finished second in a pair of Kentucky Sire Stake Legs, finishing third in the $300,000 final, timed in 1:51.3.
“The track surface at Woodbine shouldn’t be an issue for her, but I’m thinking there are a lot of speed horses in this race, and she’s not a real ‘speed’ horse,” Foley offered. “She can leave the gate well, if the driver chooses to do so, but she’s better off a trip, and can kick home pretty smartly.”
Foley said breeder Carter Duer named the filly after a character in the 1933 movie Footlight Parade, where actor James Cagney plays a sailor looking for his Asian girlfriend of questionable background. Cagney searches through Shanghai’s bars and opium dens before eventually finding “Lil” and the couple expresses their joy at finding each other through tap dance.
This season Shanghai Lil has amassed $223,151, pushing her lifetime totals to $452,363 for the father and son partnership of John Como and John Como Jr. who race under the moniker of All Star Racing of Towaco, N.J. This family has owned horses since the late 1980s, and had their first Breeders Crown contender in Blue Claw in the 2008, 3-Year-Old Colt Pace.
Foley hooked up with All Star Racing through his longtime friend, Ron Pierce.
“We’ve been friends ever since I’ve been in the business,” Foley stated. “And when they were looking for a colt trainer, Ron (Pierce) gave them my name. They buy yearlings and have mainly raceway horses. The All Star Racing people were in the container business and at one time they had big contracts with Bayer Asprin and Clairol, but they sold their business a few years ago and now just concentrate on the horses.”
Foley trains the 2- and 3-year-olds for All Star Racing, and then turns them over to conditioner Mark Ford to race them as older horses.
“This system has worked out well for all of us,” Foley said.
It seems to have worked out perfectly for Kim and Shanghai Lil, too.
“She loves going for walks every day and usually gets down for a good roll in the grass,” Kim said. “At times she can be a bit of a typical female, but overall, she’s pretty sweet.”
October 22, 2009--Toronto, Canada
Raising Rachel Looks for Revenge in Breeders Crown Trot
On a crisp, cool morning on the backstretch of Mohawk Racetrack, caretaker Melissa Allen gives the 3-year-old trotting filly Raising Rachel a bath.
Raising Rachel is one of ten filly trotting sophomores who will go postward in the $600,000 Breeders Crown 3-Year-Old Filly Trot Saturday night at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto. She has drawn post five.
Allen, who hails from upstate New York and works for trainer John Kopas, has been caring for the daughter of Yankee Glide since June, and has a tight bond with the stout, dark bay filly who bears a slight star on her forehead.
Raising Rachel & Melissa Allen
“Rachel is very easy-going and quiet, and she really doesn’t make any kind of fuss in the barn at all,” Allen noted, as the steam lifted from her filly’s back. “She might get a little ‘up’ and frisky when she’s out eating grass and something scares her. Then, she’ll spook and snort and dance around a little bit, but otherwise, she’s fine.”
Raising Rachel has won ten of 19 races lifetime with $627,856 in career earnings for the partnership of Melvin Hartman, Ottawa, ON, Estate of George F Hempt Trust, Camp Hill, PA, the KR Stable & Milton-Douglas W Millard, Woodstock, ON. $452,398 of those dollars were earned this season.
Raising Rachel finished fifth in her $25,000 Breeders Crown elimination, won by Elusive Desire, with rival Broadway Schooner finishing second. Raising Rachel was timed in 1:56.2 and beaten by 6-1/4 lengths.
Trainer John Kopas with Raising Rachel with Melissa and driver Jack Moiseyev
That loss, however, wasn’t as heartbreaking to Allen as the filly’s near miss in the Hambletonian Oaks at The Meadowlands on Aug. 8.
“We all thought she won the Oaks,” Allen said ruefully. “It had to only be a whisker that she lost by.”
After winning her $35,000 Hambletonian Oaks elim in1:54.1 on Aug. 1, Raising Rachel was second to Broadway Schooner by a nose, in the $783,042 Hambletonian Oaks.
“It wasn’t just me who thought she won the Oaks,” Allen recalled. “Everybody did, even the driver of the rival horse thought we had won. It was very disappointing.”
After getting her season off on the right “hoof” by winning a $20,470 conditioned trot at Mohawk in 1:58 on May 29 at Mohawk, Raising Rachel then graced the winner’s circle once more in a $66,750 Casual Breeze division on June 16 at Mohawk. She also had runner-up finishes in the $31,150 Elegantimage elim and $488,505 Final.
“It’s the end of the year and I think she’s just not quite as sharp as she was when she was in New Jersey,” added Allen, putting a pair of green coolers on her filly. “It’s tough on these horses to race these hard miles all year. They have good and bad days, just like the rest of us.”
The Yankee Glide filly wears nothing but a pair of hind trotting boots with scalpers behind and a pair of bell boots up front. She wears a blind bridle with a snaffle driving bit, a burch overcheck, a mini bit, a tie down and ear plugs. “She wears the same stuff to race,” Allen explained. “Today (Wednesday) was her training day, and she goes three pretty stiff trips. She’ll jog the rest of the week and have some walks out around the barn area to eat some grass and relax.”
According to assistant trainer Brodie MacPhee, the Breeders Crown will be the last major stake of the season for Raising Rachel.
“She’s had a few soundness issues here and there and more recently, some breathing ailments,” McFee admitted. “She’s pretty easy on herself, but I think the shipping back and forth can get to her now and then. That can be a little tough on any horse.”
Meanwhile, Raising Rachel appears unaffected by all the talk about her, and instead, is pulling Allen toward her stall, where a fresh flake of hay awaits her.
Allen heeds her filly’s wishes, and leading her to the stall explains: “I don’t really do anything special with her except I do stretch her legs out daily. The equine acupuncturist taught me how to do that to help adjust horses’ backs and Rachel really seems to enjoy that.”
Watching Raising Rachel contentedly munching her hay, it would appear that this Breeders Crown contender is indeed, enjoying life, and is on the right track for another solid effort Saturday night.
October 3, 2009--Lexington, Kentucky
Shoobees Place Second in Bluegrass
Shoobees Place, a freshman son of Artsplace--Shoobeedobeedo--Jate Lobell, finished second in the $139,800 Bluegrass Stake at Lexington's Red Mile on October 3. Trained by Richard Normal, Shoobees Place was in rein to David Miller and was clocked in 1:51.1. This fine youngster now has $55,741 in career earnings and a lifetime mark of p,2,1:52M for owner-breeder David McDuffee of Nashua, NH. Shoobee's Place was foaled and raised at Peninsula Farm.
October 2, 2009--Lexington, Kentucky
Shanghai Lil Wins Bluegrass Stake
Shanghai Lil, a 3-year-old daughter by Jeanna's Beach Boy--Wonderbolt--Artsplace, won the $101,500 Bluegrass Stake at The Red Mile on October 2 in 1:51.2 for driver Mike Lachance and trainer Peter Foley. The sophomore pacing filly drew away from her rivals by two lengths and pushed her career earnings to $444,788 for the All Star Racing of Towaco, New Jersey. Shanghai Lil was bred, raised and sold by Peninsula for $45,000 at 2007 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. Peninsula will sell--MARGARITA MONDAY--her half-sister by Ponder--his first crop--at the 2009 Standardbred Horse Sale at Harrisburg.
October 1, 2009--Lexington, Kentucky
Il Villaggio Wins Bluegrass Stake
Il Villaggio, a winner of $464,521 in his brief career, captured a $83,600 Bluegrass Stake at Lexington's Red Mile on October 1. Tim Tetrick steered the freshman son of Yankee Glide--Dance To Market--Balanced Image for trainer Erv Miller to a five and a quarter length victory in 1:56.4. Il Villagio is owned by Brittany Farms, Blue Chip Bloodstock and the Il Villaggio Partners. He was bred by Diane Ingham and Harry Rutherford, and was sold by Peninsula Farm for $100,000 in the 2008 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. His Angus Hall yearling half-sister--DANCIN DARLIN--sold for $140,000 in the Peninsula Farm consignment at 2009 Canadian Open Yearling Sale on September 13 for the Cool Creek Farm.
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