Johnny Bear flies flag for Canada on track
Six-year-old horse will be a long-shot in $800,000 race, but he’s having a strong year
Five years ago, longtime horsemen John Burness and Danny Dion raised the eyebrows of local thoroughbred racing fanciers when they teamed to buy a chestnut colt at the Toronto yearling auction for $278,000 which is a fortune for an unraced horse in this neck of the woods. He would go on to be named Johnny Bear (Dion’s nickname is The Bear) and was sent to be trained by Burness’ daughter, Ashlee Brnjas. But Johnny Bear did not immediately live up to his price tag. Tubby and lethargic as a youngster, a period in which Brnjas described him to be more like a “marshmallow” than a racehorse, it took Johnny Bear five tries to win his first race, and even after that first victory, his track record remained spotty.
The slow development did not deter Brnjas because Johnny Bear’s sire, English Channel, tends to throw late bloomers with a penchant for running long on the grass. So Brnjas, Burness and The Bear waited.
On Sunday, their patience may pay off when Johnny Bear flies the flag for the home team as the only Canadian-bred horse entered in the Grade 1 $800,000 Pattison Canadian International Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack. At odds of 12-1, Johnny Bear is a long-shot amongst the field of 10 horses in the 11⁄ mile race over
2 Woodbine’s turf course.
“This is going to be the biggest race I may ever run in,” said Brnjas. “It’s a very tough race, but it’s nice to be in our backyard.”
It has not been until this year — his fourth year on the racetrack — has six-year-old Johnny Bear begun to round into form, winning five of nine races, including the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Stakes in September at Woodbine, piping overwhelming favourite Hawkbill.
The Northern Dancer was the first Grade 1 win for the gelding and his owners.
“It was pretty amazing,” said Brnjas, of the Northern Dancer win. “Once ( jockey Luis Contreras) swung him wide, I think the girlfriend I was sitting with still has the claw marks in her arm.” Contreras has the ride again. Yet despite Johnny Bear’s breakthrough performance and hefty price, he’s still a bit of a pleb when compared to the other contenders in Sunday’s field, which includes horses bred in Ireland, France and Germany. The last time a Canadian horse won the International was 1999.
Erupt, the 2016 International champ is back in Toronto to defend his title — this time with a new train- er and jockey. The five-year-old Irish-bred son of European super sire, Dubawi is bred and owned by the Niarchos family of the Greek shipping dynasty and was conditioned by French trainer Francis Graffard and was ridden to victory by French jockey Stephane Pasquier. But this year he’ll be saddled by Maryland-based Graham Motion. Junior Alvarado will ride Erupt. Both Motion and Alvarado are in search of their first International win.
Four-year-old Irish colt Idaho will get a shot at redemption, as the morning line favourite in the International after a lacklustre performance in last year’s race, in which he worked himself up into a heavy sweat before the race, and spun his wheels around the course, finishing a flat fifth. Despite his poor showing, Idaho has class in his camp: his full brother is the hugely popular globetrotter Highland Reel, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf. Europe’s best jockey, Ryan Moore, three time winner of the International, will pilot the colt.
Idaho’s trainer is the legendary Aidan O’Brien, who is on the verge of breaking the late, great Bobby Frankel’s 14-year record of most Grade 1 wins in a season. Frankel’s record is 25, and O’Brien currently sits at 23. In addition to Idaho in the International, O’Brien has also entered Rain Goddess in the Grade 1$500,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes, 11⁄ mile on the turf for
4 fillies and mares, the race prior to the International.
If there’s anyone who could derail the O’Brien train, at least temporarily, it’s Chad Brown, who will saddle two mares, Rainha da Bateria and Fourstar Crook, in the E.P. Taylor Stakes. Before Brown became champion train in the United States, he was an assistant to Frankel for a number of years, including the remarkable 2003 season.
Rainha da Bateria relishes Woodbine, having won twice here before, but finished fifth in last year’s E.P. Taylor. Fourstar Crook is also a major contender, who’s won nine of her last 10 races.
Post time for the E.P. Taylor Stakes is 5:28 p.m., and the Canadian International is slated for 6:10 p.m.