San Nicola Thunder Digs In for Sir Barton Win
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By Jerry Bossert
San Nicola Thunder overcame a delay at the start before holding off the late rail bid from Freitag to take the $109,489 Sir Barton Stakes by a head Nov. 30 at Woodbine.
The start of Sunday's 1 1/16-mile Polytrack race was delayed a few minutes as Pender Harbour, the heavy 3-5 favorite, acted up twice in the gate, unseating jockey Patrick Husbands both times. He was ordered a late scratch by the track veterinarian.
San Nicola Thunder, who became the 8-5 favorite, pressed the pace of Spadina Road through soft quarter-mile fractions of :25.48, :49.85, and 1:14.60 before taking the lead in the stretch under jockey Jesse Campbell. The 4-year-old gelding by Silent Name then held off the late rail rally from Freitag to take the race restricted to horses that were sired by a stallion standing in Ontario.
"When 'Pender' unfortunately got scratched at the gate, I called a bit of an audible," Campbell said. "I let him show a little more speed than he usually does, just because the dynamics of the race changed. I'm very impressed with this horse. He's really a game horse."
It was the fifth win from 26 career starts with 11 placings for San Nicola Thunder, who is trained by John Cardella. All of his five victories coming at Woodbine—three on the synthetic track and two on the grass.
The $65,963 winner's share pushed his career earnings to $425,790.
Last month, San Nicola Thunder took Bunty Lawless Stakes at Woodbine over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course, his only other victory in 2014.
San Nicola Thunder returned $5.50 to win after running the distance in 1:45.99. The 4-year-old gelding returned $4 to place and $3.10 to show.
Freitag paid $5.50 to place and $4.20 to show, while pacesetter Spadina Road lasted to be third, returning $3.80 to show.
Iroquois Falls finished fourth and was followed out by Chris' Brew and Th Original Scotty. Bobcaygeon was an early scratch by the Woodbine stewards.
San Nicola Thunder is out of San Nicola Flyer, by Alydeed, and was bred in Ontario by Joseph Pirone, who campaigns him with Paul Cooper.