On June 11th at Hastings racetrack I stood in the George Royal suite screaming my lungs off at the screen, cheering Kaukokaipuu on in the Queenston Stakes at Woodbine racetrack. Of course I drew attention but it was the perfect opportunity for me to introduce myself to a brand new audience and tell the story of the little barn and the horse everyone said would stop short of winning.
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| photo Woodbine/by Michael Burns |
On that day Kaukokaipuu went off at 6-1 and was ridden to victory by Rico Walcott who had brought a trail of winning habits with him from out west. So again, I introduced myself to some brand new strangers and told them the stories of the growing grey colt who is trained by Tedston Holder in the little barn at Woodbine racetrack. Then I reminded them of the jockey who rode the horse and then I began to see the faces lit up as I told them that the jockey was Rico Walcott.
There always seem to be a bit of joy whenever jockeys rode at smaller tracks and moved on to bigger tracks and gain some accomplishments.
During the year 2022 kaukokaipuu kept knocking on the doors but just couldn't get to the finish line first. Maybe it was a good thing that he didn't win and his peeking is happening at the right time for trainer Tedston Holder and the Culpepper Island Syndicate. Looking back at the past performances of the Queenston Stakes winner you can now see the steady progress of the colt and the direction he is heading. I get the feeling that he will still be written off in this grade 3 race with trainers like Chad Brown and Mark Casse entering one horse each.
The field is set and when July 1st comes around fans will find themselves making some tough decisions choosing a winner from this race even though the choices are very inviting.
derek.barntrack@gmail.com
One Bay Hemingway - L Contreras/S C Attard
Velocitor - P husbands/K Attard
Stayhonor Goodside - E Wilson/M E Casse
Kaukokaipuu - R Walcott/T Holder
Turf King - K Kimura/C C Brown
Twin City - G Boulanger/S C Simon
Midnight Rising - R gutierrez/J Blair
Simcoe - R M Hernandez/K Vassilieva