Wigmore Hall silently crept past his opponents to squeeze out a win in the Northern Dancer at Woodbine
He came, he saw, he conquered.
All the way from Britain, Wigmore Hall was making his third trip to North America in his 3-year-old racing career, and he had been unsuccessful in the previous two attempts, both at Arlington Park, but Woodbine did the trick as he landed the Grade 1 Northern
Dancer on 18 September, 2011.
Over a distance of 1 ½ mile, the son of High Chaparral, Wigmore Hall was tactfully ridden by Jamie Spencer, and he couldn’t have ridden the 4-year-old British invader perfectly in the Grade 1 $500,000 Northern Dancer Stakes if he tried.
There are something’s a jockey should know before going in a major race event, things about the race course for instance. Anyone, who had run at Woodbine, would say that you have to keep your horse on the rail, and that is exactly what Jamie Spencer did.
He put Wigmore Hall on the rail, and was very patient with him. Spencer gave Wigmore Hall a ground saving trip all the way, as Bourbon Bay uncharacteristically got in to the lead.
The colt led Hotep and Seaside Retreat, after setting soft quarter mile fractions of 25.61 seconds and for the half mile 52.80 seconds.
It was time for Simmard to shine, as he got near the rear of the pack, his movement was quick and precise, and it was evident that the colt is going for it.
Rounding off the final bend, Simmard went on to lead the pack, as Bourbon Bay and Seaside Retreat didn’t have much left in the tank to challenge Simmard’s bursting run.
Out of Love and Laughter by Theatrical, Wigmore Hall after all this time got stuck to the rail, and never was in contention to make a serious impact on the race, or Jamie Spencer deliberately wanted to give that vibe.
Everything was happening at the other end of Wigmore Hall, but Jamie Spencer changed things dramatically when he saw an opening along the inside, and urged Wigmore Hall to get the lead just past the mid stretch.
Simmard and Al Khali didn’t go down without a fight, as they challenged Wigmore Hall valiantly but to no avail, as the Michael Bell trained runner hit the wire first with the winning time of 2 minutes and 30.67 seconds.
Wigmore Hall increased his bank roll to $1,343,761, after grabbing his winner’s share of $306,690.
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