Gourneau gunning for next title

Five-time leading ASD trainer Jerry Gourneau rocketed up in the standings this week with six wins, including two overnight stakes, and he’s showing no signs of stopping with a four-person crew and 20 horses to back him up.

Gourneau returned to the fray from Texas in June and quickly won with Fast Traffic on June 23. And despite being late to the local party this year, he might actually have a shot of catching current leading trainer Steve Keplin Jr. to win his sixth title.

Keplin currently has 32 wins while Gourneau has 20, but six-win weeks can close that gap in a hurry. Much of Gourneau’s younger help returned to school this week, but his two assistant trainers, Jennifer Tourangeau and Madison Tirk, along with groom/owner Manny Medeiros, still managed to get the winner’s circle in a big way.

Two of Gourneau’s six wins came in overnight stakes on Tuesday. He won the Miss Imperial Overnight Stakes for fillies and mares with Baby Gundin ($13.60) and followed that up in the next race with a victory in the Already Dia Overnight Stakes with Malibu S S ($7.20).

Gourneau’s four other winners included Aunt Irene ($7.00) and Mr Jaws ($3.10) on Monday, and Maybe So ($2.30) and Get My Drift ($5.80) on Wednesday. Four of his winners were ridden by Renaldo Cumberbatch, and the other two were ridden by Javaniel Patterson, both capable jockeys who are finally starting to get some live mounts.

All of the wins came for Gourneau’s major owner Henry S. Witt Jr., who is now gunning for his seventh straight leading owner title at the Downs.

“We train in the barn, not the kitchen,” said Gourneau, who wouldn’t admit he would like to catch Keplin — but if you’re thinking what we’re thinking, he wants another title.

He did, however, praise Keplin and crew for operating in the same fashion as his crew does — spending time in the barn with the horses. There simply is no better way to get your horses ready to win.

“I know every horse in this barn and what they need,” said Gourneau. “We’re with them every day.” He also praised his help, who have stepped up and got the job done. On Tuesday evening, after winning his second of two stakes, he said, “We’re just having fun, we’re doing our job and winning races.”

Victories are coming in bunches now for Gourneau, and a winning attitude among the horses and the barn crew can be contagious. Which means we could have a great battle for the leading trainer title as the meet progresses towards the final day on October 8. Gourneau has 13 more live race dates to get the job done.

Also of note among trainers, Jared Brown shipped two local stakes winners to Century Mile last Friday and Saturday and won two huge stakes for himself and ownership partner John Ganas. Wecanonlyimagine won the $50,000 Princess Margaret Stakes on Friday with ASD jockey Neville Stephenson, and Welcometohollywood won the $100,000 Century Casino Oaks on Saturday, with three-time leading ASD rider Antonio Whitehall in the saddle.

Also on Saturday at Century Mile, Take Charge Tom, who crossed the wire first in the Manitoba Derby but was disqualified, came back to win the $200,000 Canadian Derby for trainer Robertino Diodoro, owner Randy Howg, and jockey Rasheed Hughes. And it wasn’t even close.

Take Charge Tom won by 5 ¾-lengths over Accidental Genius, who nosed out the official Manitoba Derby winner Attack for second. Border Song, who took the worst of the trouble in the Manitoba Derby, finished fifth in the Canadian Derby.

The number of good horses coming out of Manitoba is getting bigger every year, and another 42 potential stakes stars went through the ring in the annual Manitoba CTHS Yearling Sale on Sunday. A big, good looking bay gelding by Speculating out of multiple stakes winner and local champion Hidden Grace, consigned by Ziprick Thoroughbreds, topped the sale as Hip #32, selling for $36,000 to top owner/breeder Barry Arnason. Of the 42 youngsters offered for sale, 21 sold for a solid average price of $10,407.

Which means, not only can you get fairly compensated for breeding and raising a thoroughbred racehorse in Manitoba, you can also buy one.

For just the right price.