Emile partners ‘Wake’

TORONTO, Canada: Top Trinidadian jockey Emile Ramsammy takes top horse Wake At Noon to the post in the CAN$150,000 Vigil Stakes today at Woodbine, hoping to halt a three-race losing skid for Canada’s 2002 horse of the year.

The six-year-old Wake At Noon has failed to win since his victory in the Highlander Handicap at Woodbine on September 29 last year. In his season-opener last month, two-time Canadian champion Ramsammy and Wake At Noon ended fourth behind fellow Vigil entrant Krz Ruckus in the Briartic Handicap.  Trained by Abraham Katryan, Wake At Noon has 16 wins from 37 starts in five seasons and has earned CAN$1.26 million for owner Bruno Schickedanz. Wake At Noon, a 2-1 favourite, was last year’s winner of the Vigil and among those standing in his way for a repeat win is the stakes winner Cheap Talk, who is on a three-race win streak.

Barbadian Patrick Husbands, Sovereign Award (outstanding jockey) winner for the past four years, will partner 4-1 chance Cheap Talk, whose last win came in November’s Kennedy Road Stakes, in which Wake At Noon finished third. Dino Luciani will partner Krz Ruckus (6-1), and other leading contenders include Boston Common (3-1) with Chantal Sutherland riding, and Forever Grand (6-1) with leading jockey Todd Kabel. After a month of the new season, Kabel — with 12 wins — leads a tight group at the top of the jockeys’ standings, stalked by Husbands (11), Ramsammy (10), and Luciani (9).