Tim Moccasin with Agassiz Stakes entrant Kola Kat
by George
Sharpen your pencils. Longshot Count of Notia came rolling home wide and fast under jockey Chris Husbands to win the seventh race by a neck at ASD on Friday night and force a Pick-4 carryover of $4,321 heading into the Saturday’s card. Expect the Pick-4 pool to grow to anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 by the time the fourth race goes to post on Saturday night.
Trained by John Kolochuk for owner William Thiessen, Count of Notia was getting a rider switch for Friday’s race. It took seven different jockeys before one of them figured out how to win with him. He paid $29.60 and topped a huge 20-cent Superfecta of $1,991.78. Count of Notia had shown improvement in his previous race under Alyssa Selman, but it was Husbands who got the cash on Friday. The only other crazy angle you might have used to have him on your Pick-4 tickets would have been the seventh different rider in the seventh race, but that would be grasping at straws for most of us.
The Pick-4 started off simply enough in the fourth race when Jennifer Reid wired the field on what looked like the possible lone speed, Mygallovesgold, for trainer Gary Danelson and owners Al and Ken Johnson. She paid $10.70. The fifth race caught many off guard when Waronthehomefront took advantage of a class drop and a perfect trip behind a duel under jockey Paul Nolan to win by a neck. He paid $27.40 as a big overlay considering trainer Ardell Sayler’s horses have been firing on all cylinders lately.
Waronthehomefront knocked most of the Pick-4 players out in the fifth race, which was too bad for many, as favourite Mega Precious came with a dominating rally under Chris Husbands to win the sixth race for trainer Chad Torevell and the partnership of Cam Ziprick and Dennis Ejack. Mega Precious paid $4.60 and left a scant few Pick-4 players alive going into the seventh race, but nobody had the aforementioned Count of Notia.
In Saturday night’s Pick-4, many players will be keying heavy favourite Bunny Said Dance in the sixth race, but if she loses it could pay boxcars – if anyone has it. And the other three legs of the Pick-4, including the $50,000 Agassiz Stakes, which goes as the seventh, are all tough to pick.
Chris Husbands and Paul Nolan each won a pair of races on Friday night, and anyone who thought Nolan was out of the race for the top jock spot would be wrong. He’s in top form right now and if the good mounts continue to come his way he’ll be right there at the finish. Nolan currently has 51 wins and sits second in the standings, three behind Rohan Singh and three ahead of Jennifer Reid in third.
Jockey Tim Moccasin displayed the form that has won him numerous quarter horse stakes over the years to win the $14,000 Manitoba Quarter Horse Derby on Friday for trainer Ardell Sayler and owner Dean Lemburg. Moccasin finished with a flourish aboard Eye Fly Bye to win a photo so close the Stewards probably needed a magnifying glass to figure it out.
The official margin of victory was a nose, but only because they don’t allow the word hair on the score sheet.