Western Warrior’s win should have come as no surprise

THERE were so many reasons for Western Warrior to win the 78th Manitoba Derby on Monday that the price made no sense.

The morning line favourite paid $18.10, $10.70 and $6.80 across the board. Quarry, who ran second at 27-1, had been turned back in his previous start and came again anyway. He was live to anybody who watched that replay. The $1 Exactor came back $211.35.

Look at what was in front of the bettors. A trainer with a long list of good horses behind him. Hall of Fame connections among the owners and the help. A jockey with six riding championships. A devoted groom. And a pedigree that belongs in the big races.

The signs were everywhere.

Start with the horse.

The light went on Jan. 2 at Oaklawn Park, off a three-month layoff, when he won by eight lengths over $35,000 maiden claimers. In his next two starts, both optional claimers, he mowed them down by 21/2 and seven lengths. With the colt on a serious roll, his connections decided to try stakes company.

He finished fourth in the $200,000 Bath House Row Stakes at the Derby distance, then fifth at Churchill Downs. He came into the Manitoba Derby off a similar layoff and horses who win off layoffs tend to do it again.

Then there’s the pedigree page.

Western Warrior is a son of Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Essential Quality, who won numerous graded stakes and earned close to $5 million. Six of his first-crop runners have won stakes, among them Tampa Bay Derby (G3) winner The Puma. His dam is Trophy Girl, whose first foal is Blazing Sevens, winner of the 2022 Champagne Stakes (G1) and second in the 2023 Preakness.

The form said so. The page said so. So did the people.

In the race, jockey Dane Nelson had a ton of horse while stalking a duel from the inside. He almost clipped heels into the first turn.

“When I tried to rate him he grabbed hold of the bit and wanted to run,” said Nelson, who got his mount back under control without panicking.

When the rail opened up turning for home he surged to the lead and held off the hard-charging Quarry to win by a nose.

“He saw that horse coming,” said Nelson. “And he gave me more. We could have gone around again and he would have still been in front.”

Nelson is a four-time champion jockey in Jamaica with 1,270 wins there, including the country’s biggest race, the Diamond Mile. He first came to Canada in 2015 and rode at Assiniboia Downs, then moved his tack to Alberta and won two riding titles.

He has now won more than 500 races in this country, but the Manitoba Derby was the biggest.

“I just want to thank all the connections of the horse and everyone who has supported me here,” said Nelson. “And blessings to Assiniboia Downs for giving me my start in Canada.”

Trainer Dino Condilenios has won more than 600 races and $10 million in purses, but this was his first Derby. He was the leading trainer at Hastings Racecourse twice and trained Lord Nelson, who won 16 of 41 starts and $656,530 including multiple Lieutenant Governors’ Handicaps (G3).

“I’ve won a ton of stakes, but I’ve never won a Derby,” said Condilenios. “I’ve run second in the B.C. Derby, second in the Canadian Derby, second in a bunch of derbies. This is my first ever Derby win.”

Condilenios has been training since he was 21. He does it for the love of the horses, not the money. He had Western Warrior for six weeks.

“The last two or three weeks he’s really blossomed,” said Condilenios. “He’s one of the classiest horses I’ve been around.”

The weather in Edmonton did not co-operate. Condilenios lost works to rain.

“I’d have liked to have him a little fitter, to be honest,” he said.

Condilenios had high praise for everyone involved with Western Warrior.

“Lindsay Turcotte grooms the horse and she spends hours on him,” he said. “She’s on that horse all day.”

Rob Anderson flew to Kentucky and inspected the colt before the deal was made, then hauled him to Winnipeg and looked after him at the barn. A Hall of Fame trainer himself, Anderson has won more than 800 races and $10 million in purses. He trained Travelling Victor, Canada’s Horse of the Year and Champion Older Horse in 1983.

Co-owner Lance Giesbrecht is also in the British Columbia Horse Racing Hall of Fame. He led the Hastings standings four straight years from 1994 through 1997 and his 76 wins in 1997 remain the single-season record there.

It is not going to be broken.

Hastings is closed.

Giesbrecht, who owns the colt with Gordon Christoff, trained Alabama Rain to win the 2005 Canadian Derby.

Condilenios summed up the group in one line. “I’m the least experienced of them all.”

Western Warrior goes to the Canadian Derby at Century Mile in Alberta on Aug. 22 next, but the sentiment tells you what that Manitoba Derby winner’s circle was worth. The tote board forgot to price in experience and a collective love for horses.

Which is always worth betting on.