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Winnipeg Free Press
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
What a week for Whitehall
Lightning almost struck twice at Assiniboia Downs this week. It missed both times. A barrage of bolts struck the area surrounding the Downs on Canada Day evening, forcing the cancellation of the remaining races with one of the largest crowds ever in the stands, but most of those in attendance braved the rain for a fabulous fireworks display at 10:30 p.m. Jockey Antonio Whitehall prevented the second lightning strike of the week in the final race Wednesday when he won with favourite Big Ticket for trainer Will Tourangeau, wearing down 69-1 second-place finisher Really Slow and jockey Neville Stephenson in a long drive to prevail by three-quarters of a length. George Williams / Free Press Jockeys Antonio Whitehall (right) and Damrio Bynoe work a pair of two-year-olds for trainer Mike Nault at the Downs on Friday morning. The $1 Pick 4 paid $956.90 from a Pick 4 wagering pool of $163,626 and made a lot of bettors happy, except the one holding the lone live ticket on Really Slow, which would have exploded the tote board with a payoff of over $100,000. How'd you like to be holding that ticket for the length of the stretch? The Pick 4 sequence featured two favourites and two longshots. The fourth race was won by favourite Frankly ($5.20), the fifth went to longshot Burn Jakey Burn ($28.70), the sixth to Exotic's Bear ($19.30), and Big Ticket ($3.50) captured the seventh. Whitehall's win on Big Ticket gave the three-time leading ASD rider five wins on the week, including a victory in the $40,000 Frank Arnason Memorial Sire Stakes. Whitehall dead-heated for the win in the first and only race run Tuesday aboard Commandoslastdance ($2.20) for trainer Mike Nault, and added four more wins on Wednesday. He won the third race, the Frank Arnason Memorial Sire Stakes with Betterlucknexttime ($2.40) for Nault, added another for Nault in the fourth race with Frankly, then won the sixth race aboard Exotic's Bear and followed up in the seventh with the win on Big Ticket. When asked about his big week, Whitehall was taking it all in stride. 'Godspeed,' he said, pointing skyward while in Nault's barn Friday morning preparing to work a set of two-year-olds. 'You do your best to put your horse in the right spot,' said Whitehall. 'Sometimes you give your horse a perfect trip and he doesn't have anything for you. Other times, you have the horse but can't get the trip you want. When the horses and trips are there, everything works. You just have to be patient.' Betterlucknexttime, a three-year-old Manitoba-bred by Nonios-Nickel Candy by Silver Deputy, was the best horse in the Frank Arnason, and everything has gone according to plan for him. Bred by Larry Falloon and Denis Huberdeau, he was the sales topper at US$18,429 in the 2023 CTHS Manitoba Yearling Sale, and as a two-year-old he won the rich Buffalo Stakes. He has now earned $US62,434 from a record of 4-2-0 in eight starts and is well on his way to securing championship honours once again. Owned by the partnership of A2 Thoroughbreds (Nolan Allard, Arthur Roy and his father Jean-Marc Roy) and True North Thoroughbreds (Phil Allard, Pat Beavis, Grant Sissons and Ray Bouchard), Betterlucknexttime is yet another in a line of champions campaigned by Nault and his owners, who have won 11 races this year and over $US100,000 in purses. A2 Thoroughbreds also has some additional partners, some gathered from a seminar, and others who found them through their website at Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Both ownership groups have spent above-average, but not outlandish amounts of money to purchase yearlings at Manitoba and Ontario yearling sales, and they are reaping the benefits with smart management and patient development of their horses. They are also getting excited about this year's crop of two-year-olds. Entries were taken for the first two-year-old races of the season at the Downs on Friday, and it won't be long before Nault and his owners are in the entry box. Nault, along with trainer Devon Gittens, is among the top two-year-old trainers at the Downs, but with Gittens racking up the wins at Woodbine, Nault could soon be alone at the top locally. 'With the ones that are ready, we'll go,' said Nolan Allard. 'With the ones that aren't, we'll back off a bit. It never works rushing. If you're patient, it pays off over the long term.' Nault shares his owners' patient philosophy, but he does love to run his two-year-olds. 'It's like opening up a present,' he smiled.
Winnipeg Free Press
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
The Knights time is the right time
In an era of instant gratification and lightning-fast everything, success at Assiniboia Downs is coming to those who've mastered the art of slowing down. It took leading jockey Rachaad Knights a little time to figure it out when he first arrived at the Downs last year on the recommendation of three-time leading rider Antonio Whitehall, but it's all working at the right speed now. Knights teamed up with six-time leading trainer Tom Gardipy Jr., who has found his own version of deceleration, to win the sixth race on Tuesday evening at the Downs with a horse named the exact opposite of their style: Nikkitysplit. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Rachaad Knights, the leading jockey at Assiniboia Downs, trains J L Copper on a morning run at the track. The talented Manitoba-bred three-year-old filly was heavily favoured and expected to romp, which she did, but not the way everyone thought she would. She broke outwards and was a wide fifth in the six-horse field early, but rather than panic as some do, Knights sat calmly and let his filly do her thing. Nikkitysplit took her cue and relaxed nicely for Knights, gaining with every stride on her rivals. She caught the pacesetter in the late turn, opened up passing the eighth pole, and drew out to win by 3 1/2 lengths. How many times have you seen a hot horse get left in the gate and rushed up into contention by an impatient jockey, only to fade when the running starts? Not this time. The daughter of Speculating-Spiteofsuccess by Midshipman took advantage of her patient ride and called on her pedigree when needed. A half-sister to six winners including Frank Arnason Memorial Sire Stakes winner Private Frank, Nikkitysplit was bred by Jerry Lambert and Lynn Mathews and is owned by the same connections. The win gave Knights five victories on the year, which is one more than last year's champion Prayven Badrie and Sven Balroop. For Gardipy, it was his fourth win of the season, putting him one behind leader Steve Keplin Jr., who won two races on Wednesday. The winning collaboration Tuesday between Knights and Gardipy perfectly captured two similar philosophies. The 27-year-old Knights arrived at the Downs last year after riding a few horses every two weeks in Barbados. The three-day-a-week schedule at the Downs increased the speed of his learning in the saddle significantly while slowing down his mind at the same time. 'Back in Barbados we ride every two weeks,' said Knights. 'Here we ride every week, three times a week or twice a week. So you get a lot of opportunities, and if you mess up on one day you can correct the error the next day.' The accelerated learning curve has taught Knights to slow down mentally even as the physical demands have increased. He's learned to trust his instincts, to let races develop naturally rather than forcing outcomes. 'When you first start in racing everything seems fast,' said Knights. 'But after your first five races, you start to see everything in slow motion. You learn to judge your pace, you know how fast your horse is going, and you know how much horse you have.' Those skills came naturally to Knights, who won 34 races at the Downs last year including the Coral Prospect Overnight Stakes and the Manitoba Matron aboard star mare Burrow Down. For Gardipy, whose patient training methods helped prepare Nikkitysplit for her debut performance, the win represented something deeper than just another victory. At nearly 65, the veteran horseman seems to be in the 'zone' these days. This is a master horseman who's discovered the best results often come when you stop chasing them so desperately. Gardipy's horses consistently show up ready to run because their trainer has learned the difference between preparation and pressure. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. After decades of grinding, of feeling the pressure to perform with every starter, Gardipy has arrived at a place where the joy of training horses matters more than the standings. Both men have discovered what elite athletes and successful people in many fields eventually learn: sometimes the best way to go fast is to slow down first. Knights has geared down his mental processing to see races more clearly; Gardipy has slowed down his emotional investment to train more effectively and gain more enjoyment from what he does. He also has an excellent team at the barn that includes Jim Ross, Alicia Glover, Kayla Matyas and Travis Gardipy. 'I've been getting lucky,' said Gardipy, a humble response from a trainer who has won six titles. When pressed about potentially winning another title with his 25 horses, he said, 'I'm not even thinking about that. I'm just enjoying myself.' Nikkitysplit's name suggests speed and urgency, but Tuesday night's collaboration between Gardipy and Knights proved that patience still remains the greatest virtue in a sport built on speed. When you slow down enough to appreciate what you're doing… You spend more time in the winner's circle.
