Antonio Whitehall Gets Hot, Wins Five Races Including Frank Arnason Sire Stakes

Mike Nault’s assistant trainer Brittany Bergen leads Frank Arnason Sire Stakes winner Betterlucknexttime out of the winner’s circle on Wednesday. (Jason Halstead / Assiniboia Photo)

by G.S. Thompson

Antonio Whitehall was the hot jockey in a lightning-shortened week of racing that saw Tuesday’s Canada Day card canceled after the first race, but the grandstand remained packed for a fabulous fireworks display that continues to set the gold standard for Canada Day fireworks in Winnipeg.

Trainers Jerry Gourneau and Mike Nault shared the win in the only race run on Tuesday as Betty Joe and jockey Neville Stephenson battled Commandoslastdance with Antonio Whitehall to a dead heat, and both had to survive a claim of foul from third-place finisher Sparkling Silver to hold on to their cash. Sparkling Silver was squeezed by both rivals right at the wire, and the claims of foul were disallowed, but it was close.

The battle for supremacy in the jockey standings wasn’t close on Wednesday, as three-time leading ASD rider Antonio Whitehall won four races including the $40,000 Frank Arnason Sire Stakes aboard Betterlucknexttime ($2.40) for Nault and owners A2 Thoroughbreds and True North Thoroughbreds, who have won 11 races and over $100,000 in purses this year.

Whitehall won the fourth race on Wednesday for the same owner-trainer team aboard Frankly ($5.20), and later won the sixth race aboard Exotics Bear ($19.30) for trainer Maria Stanford and owner S and S Racing and the seventh aboard favourite Big Ticket ($3.50) for trainer Will Tourangeau and owner Monique Goulet.

It took Whitehall and Big Ticket the length of the stretch to get the best of Really Slow ($69.40) after a long hard drive to win by three-quarters of a length, and if he hadn’t, the tote board would have had some fireworks of its own. The $1 Pick 4 to Really Slow was paying over $100,000. Imagine holding that ticket during the stretch drive!

With $163,626 in the Pick 4 pool, the $1 Pick 4 to Big Ticket still paid a good $956.90 to a lot of very happy bettors, who had the combination of Frankly ($5.20), Burn Jakey Burn ($28.70), Exotic’s Bear ($19.30), and Big Ticket ($3.50) in races four through seven.

Whitehall’s four wins gave him 17 on the season and vaulted him into a three-way tie for second in the standings with Sven Balroop and Damario Bynoe, three victories behind Prayven Badrie. Nault’s dead-heat win on Tuesday and two victories on Wednesday gave him 11 on the season and helped him gain some ground on leading trainer Steve Keplin Jr., who has 17 wins. Wendy Anderson, Lise Pruitt, and Tom Gardipy, Jr. round out the top five in the trainer standings with eight wins apiece.

With only one race to bet on Tuesday, fans bet with both hands on Wednesday, pumping $1,925,464 into the wagering pools, one of the best wagering totals of the season to date.

And more to come!