In Memory of Les Liddle
A lot of memorial races on the sim-racing circuit are held to remember past horses or famous people. This weekend is different, as a very special race is on and it is a memorial race for Less Liddle, which is sponsored by his brother, Mark. Like many people, Les had some struggles in life and was dealing with them head on. He was an ex-alcoholic and was on the path of making successful changes to his lifestyle. He became an active member and participant within his church. A totally unexpected event would happen to him. At the age of 42 and with 4 children, he was sitting on a park bench with his priest when three men….no, make that punks, came upon him and savagely beat him and he would not survive.
The events are undeniably tragic and I am deeply saddened to share these terrible details. Life isin’t always a bed of roses. But Les does leave us with a message. One that tells us that anyone of us can change our ways in life, and all we need to do is put an effort into finding and following a path to a better roadway in life. I hope and pray that justice will be served and that the family can successfully find a path to follow, to overcome these events. A path similar to the one Les was heading.
We do have at hand a race sponsored in his memory, the “In Memory of Les Liddle” race. It is the 16th race on the card in Surrey and is restricted to residents at the EWC. The race is a maiden special weight race for two year olds and will be raced on the turf track at a distance of five furlongs.
Many residents at the EWC have bred horses to pay tribute to Les Liddle. Here is a look at the field of contenders:
1. 9/2
Passthepasta is a scratchbred mare bred by trainer Sjmeola4. Turf specialist Zabeel is the sire who had 60% of last year’s crop win a race, with 6% going on to win a stakes. Dam Sire Rahy is also a nice addition, who was dam sire to a pair of 2011 bred horses who won stake races, both on the grass.
2. 11/1
Oh to Bee Pye is the third horse out of E-graded game dam Oh To Bee Royal. This gal won a total of 8 races, all coming on the turf. Trainer Lordpye6 opted for Successful Appeal as the sire for this colt. Successful Appeal wasn’t overly successful with breeding last season, as only 26% earned a trip to the winner’s circle and most accomplished this on the dirt track.
3. 10/1
Telangatuk is entered by trainer Bbudgies1. This brown mare is sired by second year Matsurida Gogh, who had her first year offspring win a decent 42% of starts and just under 6% grabbing stake wins. The children have had nice success on the dirt. 10-race winner Mirror Light is the game dam (E-rated) for Telangatuk, also with a liking for the turf where she picked up nine of her victories.
4. 18/1
Out of Range represents trainer Zipchippy in this memorial race. U S Ranger is a third year sire who has had good success with the 2011 bred runners, a high 61% have won a race and over 6% have grabbed wins in stake races. U S Ranger bred horses prefer the turf over the grass by a 2 to 1 ratio. Written Connection, a G-graded game sire, had one win in her career and that came over the dirt course. Trainer Zipchippy, in conversation, indicated his disappointment with the odds, as well as his jockey grandson D. Aniel snubbing the ride on his horse and taking the reins instead with Hof Ahead. But the trainer is hopeful that he has the right sire, stating “Sire U S Ranger produced a few nice turf runners last year, including Graded placed half-brother CORRUPT BUT FAIR (#113880 ) so we can only see what Saturday brings”.
5. 99/1
Gidgetgoesanorexic is quite the name for this colt who represents trainer Racinqueen. This is a scratchbred horse sired by Indy Wind, a very seldomly used mare. Last year she produced five runners, two of which won at least one race. The damn sire Western Pride also has not been used frequently. However, deep within the blood lines you’ll see connections to AP Indy, Unbridled and even a little Seattle Slew.
6. 3/1
Kashless is out of old timer game dam Groom Dixie and is the 10th child from this E-rated mare. She had only nine career starts with two wins. Her only grass win was in a stakes race. Trainer Deepimpact opted to use Tanino Gimlet as the sire for this colt. Nearly 50% of last year’s bred horses have won a race, 4% with stake wins and a strong favoring to grass in a 3-1 ratio over dirt. “I’m very stunned to see that Kashless is the favorite in the race. He has good pedigree, but I think others in the field will be tough. I am pleased to get Ledwith in the saddle and he has done well with our runners in the past.”
7. 10/1
Tsukuyomi is the son of Zensational and out of G-rated game dam Get in the Far Que. The game dam won three races, all coming on the dirt. Trainer Pole2pole jumped on Zensational who has a very high 64% of 2011 bred horses picking up a win, nearly 9% of them have already grabbed a stakes win. A huge majority of Zensational’s offspring prefer the dirt.
8. 8/1
Viper Time is entered by trainer Les222. Five-year old Autonomia was recently retired and is used exclusively as the game-dam to Viper Time. During her career, this G-grade mare won four races, all coming over the turf. The sire, Lemon Drop Kid, has bred horses who tend to run on both dirt and turf surfaces in a fairly even way. 50% of her 2011 offspring have collected wins and 2% have grabbed a stakes victory.
9. 58/1
Keurig is a scratch bred runner trained by Scooterd45. He is the son of first year First Dude and it is too early to tell how well this sire’s children have fared. Dam Sire King of Kings has seen a large majority of horses become grass runners, however, the 2011 children have not fared well thus far. DDS Adios is extremely lightly used and offspring tend to favor the dirt.
10. 6/1
Moxahela Light is a colt trained by Oncloud9. Sired by Fantastic Light, a mare who had a very high 63% of 2011 bred horses pick up wins, with 3% collecting stake victories fairly evenly split between turf and dirt. C-graded game dam Go FL Gators was retired this year to exclusively breed this horse. Gators won six races, with five coming on the turf and all in sprint stake races.
11. 22/1
TSR’s Jasper is the daughter of the lightly used sire Forest Dancer. 2011 children have won 50% of their races and they prefer the dirt over grass by a 4-1 margin. Trainer Indystack claimed Theophorus earlier this year and recently retired this G-rated game dam for breeding purposes. She has three career wins, all coming on the grass.
12. 21/1
New Year Crash is the chosen entrant for trainer Desantis. This first time starter is the daughter out of Ghostzapper, who saw 57% of last year’s 2-year olds pick up a win, and 5% finding a win in a stakes race. Game Dam Waqwhat (B-rated) won 14 races in her career, two coming in graded races and a total of 7 in stakes. She won four races over the turf and is the mother of 25th ranked 3-year old male dirt sprinter Dr. Kirkpatrick.
13. 99/1
Geordie’s Rule is a mare that is a scratchbred by trainer Brandon0. First year sire Geordieland was selected for this horse with Crowd Pleaser as the dam sire. As the sire has no breeding history, I’ll focus on the dam sire who’s runners over the last three years strongly favor the grass, however, winning is scarce as only three have won a race out of 20 horses over this span. It would be nice to see this mare win the race as the trainer is the one sponsoring this special event.
14. 11/1
Hof’s Ahead comes from G-rated game dam Jenzen Button, who was retired this year. Jenzen has two career victories, both coming in route runs on the turf. Trainer Hofman353 selected first year sire Dream Ahead. While the success of the sire is premature to determine, dam sire King Kamehameha and DSS With Approval have both had their share of successful turf running offspring.
I like the breeding line to Passthepasta and she gets my top pick in this race.
Moxahela Light is out of a game dam that won turf sprint races and at the stake level. Could be a positive influence on the outcome.
Kashless has decent breeding and got the attention of the oddmakers. I have to disclose this is my horse and maybe I have some partiality in making this pick. But I think the odds are leaning me more this way.
A saver pick to Geordie’s Rule with hope that this one can truly make a special statement in the race.