2009 Woodbine Oaks Post Position: 11
* When she wins, she wins big. Can she do it again this Sunday? Trainer Malcolm Pierce is hoping to raise a glass as Double Malt looks to give the conditioner his first win in the $500,000 filly classic.
* It took the daughter of Whiskey Wisdom four tries before she broke her maiden, a seven-length scorcher at six furlongs on the Woodbine Polytrack last October. Prior to the win, Double Malt, who was the post-time favourite in three of her first four races, had two thirds and a sixth-place finish.
* After netting her first win, Double Malt’s next test came in the South Ocean Stakes, her first added-money test. Under regular rider Eurico Rosa da Silva, the dark bay, somewhat of a darkhorse at nearly 7-1, drove clear in the stretch en route to a five-length romp, in what was the final start of her two-year-old campaign. It was also her first two-turn test, 1 1/16-miles, to be exact.
* “We really liked her as a two-year-old,” said Pierce. “She’s been pretty classy from day one. She’s nice to be around, easy to train and ride. Sally (Pierce’s wife and assistant) gets on her. She’s the type of horse that is willing to please.”
* When the gates opened on her three-year-old season, Double Malt didn’t dodge the competition, taking on several runners whom she’ll meet in the Oaks. After gaining steadily throughout the five-furlong La Voyageuse Stakes, Double Malt finished sixth, 5 ¾-lengths behind Mullins Beach.
* Next up was the six-furlong Star Shoot Stakes on April 19, just two weeks after the La Voyageuse. A five-wide rally resulted in a fourth-place finish, five lengths behind high-profile Oaks contender Milwaukee Appeal.
* Ignored on the toteboard (20-1) in the La Lorgnette Stakes on May 17, da Silva and Double Malt watched Woodsmoke smoke the field through the early going in the 1 1/16-mile added-money event. Last at the quarter and eighth, a whopping 18 lengths behind at the half-mile call, the Ontario-bred rallied to finish fifth, five lengths behind Hooh Why at the wire.
* “I guess you can look at it from the standpoint that we were nine lengths back of the second-place horse, instead of 18 at the half. With that horse setting those quick fractions, you have to look at the race a little bit differently. I do think she got something out of that race. I’d like to see her sitting a little closer in the Oaks.”
* Now, Double Malt, who earned a career-best 79 Beyer figure (Daily Racing Form speed rating) in the La Lorgnette, will try to get back to her winning ways. “You only get to try the Oaks once, so we are going to give it our best shot. She’s in good health. It’s a very significant race. We are looking forward to it.”
Owner – Mike Ambler & Partners (John Cleator, Grant Osborne and Greg Lang)
It was almost 10 years ago during a flight back to Toronto after watching the Kentucky Derby when Mike Ambler and a friend decided to get into the ownership side of thoroughbred racing. “He came up with the idea, but I was the one who ended up with the horse,” recalled Ambler, who owns Swish Maintenance, a successful cleaning supplies business.
Ambler’s first purchase was Devil’s Prophet, a claiming horse he lost to other interests after just two races at Woodbine. His next thoroughbred, Hagley’s Quest, proved to be a profitable investment, as the filly captured the 2001 Juvenile Stakes (fillies division). It was an unexpected victory, but one Ambler still has fond memories of. “We put her in the race thinking we could pick up a cheque, but she ran a great race and won it.”
The Whitby resident’s only other Oaks horse, Mountain Dawn, was trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Mac Benson. “Mac took one look at her and told me to get the guys together and buy her. We ended up getting her for $55,000 (Cdn.).” She finished seventh to Too Late Now in the 2003 edition of the Oaks.
Born in Toronto and raised in Peterborough, Ambler has three horses at Woodbine: Double Malt, Hydro Handshake and Golden Girl Sue. He also has two more on the farm, including Double Malt’s half sister, Twin Cities.
“She (Twin Cities) is the first foal out of Matching Sox, a horse we owned and then kept as a broodmare after an injury ended her racing career. It’s exciting for us because this is the first horse we’ve bred. We actually bought Matching Sox with the money we made from Mountain Dawn.”
Trainer – Malcolm Pierce
Born January 25, 1957 in Newmarket, Ontario, Pierce’s career began in 1981 with trainer Jim Day and Sam-Son Farm. Sixteen years later, in 1997, he started his own public stable, then travelled around the United States for several years before returning to Woodbine in 1999.
Pierce was very much involved in the campaigns of Plate winners Regal Intention (1988), Dance Smartly (1991) and Victor Cooley (1996). He is certainly familiar with top horses.
He has enjoyed particular success on the turf. In 2002, he ranked 11th overall in Woodbine’s trainer standings, with 32 wins and just over $2 million in purses. His year was highlighted by stakes wins with Mighty Quinn (Bold Ruckus and Vice Regent) and Hot Talent (Wonder Where).
In 2001, he won 21 races and $1.2 million in purses, winning stakes with Diadella (Canadian and River Memories) and Mighty Quinn (Frost King). In 2000, the Brampton resident also won 21 races, ranked in a tie for 16th and broke the million dollar mark in earnings for the first time.
Alpha Sapphire gave him his lone stakes win on the 2003 campaign, capturing the Wonder Where Stakes.
In 2004, 20 wins and 63 top-three finishes translated to earnings of $1.1 million. Pierce won four races with My Lordship, including the Hill ‘N Dale, before she moved to the barn of Bill Mott to be campaigned in the U.S.
In 2005, Pierce won a personal-high seven Woodbine stakes, including Hill ‘N Dale, Star Shoot, and Grade 3 Duchess with Lemon Maid. He also won the Grade 3 Woodbine Slots Cup and Grade 3 Durham Cup with Cryptograph, while finishing second in turf wins (15). Pierce’s first Fair Grounds meet since Hurricane Katrina, was one of Pierce’s best ever: 13 wins from 48 starts (28 times in the money, over $500,000 earnings), including the Diliberto Memorial with Devilment. In 2006 aat Woodbine, Hide and Chic won the Duchess and Royal North.
Two years ago, Pierce established new personal-bests in earnings for season and captured stakes with Sterwins, She’s Indy Money and Stradivinsky. Pierce had his best ever Fair Grounds meet in 2007-08, winning 16 of 63 starts, including five stakes (two with Danceroftherealm, two with Autobahn Girl and one with Sterwins).
Pierce didn’t miss a beat in 2008, his 11th year in a row with 20 wins or more overall (ninth straight at Woodbine) and has recorded at least one Woodbine stakes win in each of the past nine years. He added two stakes at Keeneland (Ben Ali with Sterwins and Giant’s Causeway with Danceroftherealm) and the inaugural American 1000 Guineas at Arlington Park with Much Obliged.
This season, Pierce trainee and serious Queen’s Plate contender El Brujo won the Achievement Stakes for fun and then ran down a pesky front-runner to take the Queenston Stakes.
Jockey – Eurico Rosa da Silva
Eurico Rosa da Silva won 500-plus races over a five-year span while competing in Brazil and close to 300 victories in four and a half years in Macau. He counts the Brazil Derby, a two-mile Grade 1 turf race, among his most memorable scores.
After contacting Irwin Driedger, a former champion rider and former president of the Jockey’s Benefit Association of Canada, da Silva immersed himself in the Woodbine racing community, early in 2004. “I don’t know how long it will take for me to be a top jockey here. But that’s what I’d like to achieve. I want to win all the races I’m in. My heart is in my throat when I win. It’s as though I am saying, ‘I can do it.’ It’s a great feeling,” he said in 2004.
The native of Sao Paulo began his riding tenure in Canada three weeks after the 2004 Thoroughbred season started. In 2004, da Silva made his first year at Woodbine a memorable one, recording two added-money wins and $2,116,932 in purse earnings. Mona Rose (fourth in balloting for Canada's Champion Turf Female) made things twice as nice for da Silva, who ranked 13th in the colony, taking the Dance Smartly and Belle Geste Stakes. His first Toronto oval score came aboard Point Hidden on May 20. He posted 155 top-three finishes in all.
In 2005, da Silva captured the Ontario Fashion Stakes with Colonial Surprise and moved up two spots in the rankings (13th to 11th) from 2004.
In 2006, da Silva upped his win total by 19 from the year previous year and increased his purse earnings by nearly $400,000. He went wire-to-wire with Shot Gun Ela in the Ontario Fashion Stakes, the second straight year da Silva won the event, and ranked 11th for the second consecutive campaign.
It was a breakout campaign for da Silva in 2007, who won 83 races (22 more than in 2006), ranking sixth overall. He netted six (more than his three previous seasons combined) Woodbine stakes wins teamed with Torquay to take the Valedictory Stakes, the final added-money feature of the season, on December 9 and won seven dashes over the final 10 days of racing.
The fan favourite didn’t miss a beat in 2008, including his win with Haveubeentoldtoday in the Woodbine opener on April 5. He topped the 100-win mark at Woodbine for the first time (105) , won 13 stakes races, second-best mark in the category, took the Whimsical and Hendrie with My List, the Royal North and Seaway with Akronism and partnered Canada’s Horse of the Year and champion sprinter in 2008, Fatal Bullet, to wins in the Bold Venture Stakes at Woodbine, the Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Sprint Stakes at Turfway Park, the Tom Ridge Labor Day Stakes at Presque Isle Downs and a second-place finish to Midnight Lute in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita. Da Silva was a finalist for the Sovereign Award.
Da Silva’s most notable win of 2009 came in the Plate Trial, when he partnered Sam-Son Farm’s Eye of the Leopard to victory in the key Queen’s Plate prep, on May 31.