Randy Goulding: Horses trained by Terry Jordan have won Sovereign Awards for being the best of their respective divisions in Canada five times.
Sunbird, very impressive winning an allowance race at Hastings Racecourse on Sept. 22, will try to win the Grade 3, $100,000 Premiers Handicap for the second year in a row this Saturday at the track on the PNE grounds.
Sunbird is trained by Terry Jordan, who likes the way the four-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Orb is coming into the mile and three-eighths race for three-year-olds and up. Sunbird’s latest victory was his first this year.
“He’s run good races all year, but until his last start he got stopped just about every time,” said Jordan. “I think he’s one of the best horses I’ve trained.”
That is saying a lot considering horses trained by Jordan have won Sovereign Awards for being the best of their respective divisions in Canada five times.
Jordan ranks True Metropolitan as the best of them all. True Metropolitan won back-to-back Sovereign Awards for being the top older male in Canada in 2006-07. The classy Florida-bred handled any surface. His first win came on turf at Gulfstream Park in Miami Florida. He won on dirt at Arlington Park in Chicago and at all the tracks in Western Canada. His best races came on the synthetic track at Woodbine. He retired with earnings of $1,246,631.
Jordan’s fastest horse was Hollywood Hit who was the champion sprinter in 2010.
Hollywood Hit was owned by Peter Redekop.
“Peter was great to train for,” said Jordan. “He told me if I liked a horse don’t worry about the cost, just buy it.”
Two of Jordan’s Sovereign Award winners were B.C.-breds. The most unlikely one was Tribal Belle who was the champion female sprinter in 2009.
The Canvasback Farms-homebred started her career at Hastings. In her debut she dumped Kentucky Derby winning jockey Mario Guitierrez and did not finish the race. Jordan brought her back in an $8,000 maiden claimer and she won by a length.
“When I moved to Toronto, I said just throw her on the truck, too,” said Jordan.
It turned out to be a shrewd move as Tribal Belle won four stake races including the Grade 3 Hendrie in 2010.
Last but not least is Dancing Allstar who was the champion two-year-old filly in 2007. Bred by Bent Tree Farms, the daughter of Millennium Allstar won her first start at Hastings and then shipped to Woodbine where she romped in the My Dear Stakes. She returned to Hastings where she completely dominated her opponents in the CTHS Sales Stakes, Sadie Diamond Futurity and Fantasy. She was inducted in the B.C. Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2009.
Jordan, 82, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at next year’s Awards dinner. He will be joined by longtime Steward Wayne Russell and Here’s Hannah, who was a multiple stakes winner for trainer John Morrison.
“It’s a real honour,” said Jordan. “I’ve had a good career, and it is nice to be recognized.”
Jordan, who had surgery for Colin cancer a few years ago, credits his partner Anita Bolton for a lot of his success.
“She completely took over the barn when I got sick,” he said. “I can’t say enough about how supportive she has been.”
Jordan said he was feeling a lot better this year compared to last.
“I am feeling so good that if Sunbird runs well Saturday, I think I’m taking him to Woodbine,” he said.
Patience running out
Trainer Barbara Heads said Infinite Patience will be retired after she runs in the $100,000 Ballerina on Saturday.
The seven-year-old B.C.-bred daughter of Sungold has been the top female in Western Canada since she romped in her two-year-old debut in 2019. She has won 21 races for earnings of $873,700.
She is owned by her breeder William Decoursey and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Nugent-Hopkins is a superstar forward for the Edmonton Oilers.
“It would have been nice to get her over the million-dollar mark, but it is getting harder to train her and both Bill and Ryan said she has done enough,” said Heads.
Saturday selections: First race 2:30 p.m.
RACE 3:CURLIN ROCKS drops to a new low following a solid effort in her second try at a route and should get a cozy trip breaking from the inside post with Antonio Reyes aboard for trainer Nicole Rycroft.
RACE 6: FRANKIE MACHINE has not been worse than third in nine starts at the meet and could get over the top with the leading jockey Amadeo Perez riding for leading trainer Steve Henson. At the very least, he should be part of any exotics ticket.
Randy Goulding has been handicapping horses and writing for The Racing Form at Hastings Park for more than 30 years. His column will run every Friday throughout the racing season.