Sophia’s Storm wins the 6th race on Wednesday for trainer Steve Keplin, Jr. Sven Balroop up. (Jason Halstead / Assiniboia Photo)
By G.S. Thompson
Trainer Steve Keplin, Jr. surged to the lead in the trainer standings Wednesday night with back-to-back wins, trainer Tom Gardipy, Jr. continued to roll, and Rachaad Knights stayed on top in the jockey standings with a win on Tuesday evening.
Keplin won the fifth race on Wednesday with Bee La Soul and the sixth with Sophia’s Storm, ridden by Prayven Badrie and Sven Balroop, respectively. Both horses were heavily favoured and ran like it. The two victories gave Keplin five victories on the season, one more than Tom Gardipy, Jr. , who teamed up with Rachaad Knights to win the sixth race on Tuesday night with Nikkitysplits ($3.90).
Nikkitysplit is led into the winner's circle with leading rider Rachaad Knights aboard for trainer Tom Gardipy, Jr. after the sixth race on Tuesday. (Jason Halstead / Assiniboia Photo)
A 3-year-old Manitoba-bred filly by Speculating-Spiteofsuccess by Midshipman, Nikkitysplit was bred by Jerry Lambert and Lynn Mathews and is owned by the same team. Making her first lifetime start, Nikkitysplit broke outwards and was wide early, but she looked like she was going to win at every stage of the race, collaring the leaders in late turn and drawing out to win by 3 ½-lengths, giving Knights his meet-leading fifth victory.
Knights will have no time for a breather, as both 2024 leading rider Prayven Badrie and Sven Balroop won a pair of races on the week to sit one win behind Knights at four apiece. Damario Bynoe also won two races to bring his total to three victories. And three-time leading rider Antonio Whitehall is on the move, winning two races that could have been three with a little more luck.
Whitehall had his path taken away in late turn in the seventh race on Wednesday while aboard Big Ticket and rallied wide to finish second. Watch out for that horse next time he runs.
Three-time leading rider Antonio Whitehall won his first race of the meeting on Tuesday aboard Dare to Endure for trainer Lise Pruitt. (Jason Halstead / Assiniboia Photo)
There hasn’t been a lot of troubled trips over the first four days. The riding has been clean and competitive, and the track has played fair. Horses are running the way they should run, and chalk players certainly noticed that Wednesday as heavy favourites won five of the seven races compared to two the night before.
The longest-priced winner of the week was Designated Hitter ($15.80), conditioned by Carl Anderson and ridden by Damario Bynoe to take the fifth race on Tuesday. It was the first win of the meeting for Anderson, who was joined by trainers Mike Taphorn, Sherri Laing, Will Tourangeau, Elton Dickey, and Lee Delaronde in making it to the winner’s circle for the first time this season.
Trainer Steve Keplin, Jr. watches Sophia’s Storm unsaddle after winning the 6th race on Wednesday. The win moved him into the lead in the trainer standings with five victories. (Jason Halstead / Assiniboia Photo)
Wendy Anderson, Jared Brown, and Lise Pruitt follow Steve Keplin, Jr. and Tom Gardipy, Jr. in the trainer standings with three wins each to round out the top five, and it was nice to see trainer Elton Dickey and jockey Renaldo Cumberbatch team up to win the Shelley Brown Memorial with Meko Makee on Tuesday night. Cumberbatch won a ton of races for Brown, and they were close friends.
Thinking of you Shelley. Fond memories.
Meko Makee in the winner’s circle after his victory in the Shelley Brown Memorial on Tuesday for trainer Elton Dickey and ownership partner Larry Falloon. Renaldo Cumberbatch up. (Jason Halstead / Assiniboia Photo)