Trainer Robertino Diodoro strode into the Canadian Derby winner’s circle with a mischievous grin on his face late Saturday night at Century Mile racetrack.

Take Charge Tom, with jockey Rasheed Hughes aboard, had just won the $200,000 mile and a quarter Derby - Western Canada’s most coveted and richest prize by half a dozen lengths never leaving the rail for an instant.

“What’s that white paint on your boots?” said Diodoro still grinning.

‘White paint? What white paint?” said an obviously confused Hughes, now looking down at his shiny black riding boots.

“There,” said Diodoro pointing down.

Still not understanding, Hughes shrugged looking down himself.

“Just kidding,” grinned Diodoro.

“I was just going to ask you if the white paint was from the inner rail that you never left.”

By now Hughes caught on and laughed.

“Shortest way around,” he said.

“Perfect trip and perfect ride,” said Diodoro.

“It couldn’t have worked out any better.”

Despite his widening victory in front of a jam-packed tarmac Hughes and Diodoro had a brief moment of angst as Take Charge Tom - owned and bred by longtime Alberta owner Randy Howg - stumbled leaving the starting gate.

“My heart dropped,” said Diodoro,” who watched the race by himself from one of Century Mile’s balconies. “I was a little worried alright. When that happens you can never know what the result will be. They could grab themselves. They could rip a shoe off…”

Or, they could lose many lengths. And the race.

But Hughes never flinched. He got Take Charge Tom, the 9-5 betting favourite, quickly together seemingly never missing a beat.

“I got him settled down and we were able to lay just off the pace which is what the plan was,” said Hughes.

With Pioneer Storm King going to the front from his outside 10th post position and then almost immediately joined by Border Song and - three wide Dancing Porky - Hughes settled in just behind the three-horse pace.

“He was nice and relaxed,” said Hughes. “Couldn’t have asked for a better trip.”

The first quarter went in :23 2/5; a half in a quick :47 1/5 and three-quarters in 1:11 4/5.

“I just sat and waited and then, at the top of the stretch, (Pioneer Storm King) drifted out which happens a lot when horses get tired and I never even had to really ask him,” said Hughes, who knew then and there he was aboard the winner.

“He was the best horse and I rode him that way.

“I always had plenty of horse,” said Hughes. “There was still a lot of gas in the tank at the wire,” he said of Take Charge Tom’s winning time of 2:04.

Accidental Genius, who was bought in B.C. strictly for the Derby, came from last place to get second. Attack was third and Pioneer Storm King hung around pretty tough for fourth despite having to fend off a heavily contested lead.

It was Take Charge Tom’s sixth win in nine career starts.

He also won the Manitoba Derby Trial, the Lost in the Fog Juvenile stake at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, the Riley Allison and the Mine That Bird stakes at Sunland Park in New Mexico and was a good third in the $300,000 Texas Derby at Lonestar.

It should have been seven wins but Hughes, who never made any mistakes on Saturday, was disqualified from first place in his previous start - the August 4 Manitoba Derby - when the stewards ruled that Hughes hadn’t cleared and came over too quickly when he came across the field from his outside post bothering several horses.

“He should have two Derby wins,” said Howg, 76, a major sugar beet and cattle rancher from just outside of Lethbridge.

“But the stewards made their decision and we have to live with it. Our rider probably made a mistake.”

Diodoro has now won five Canadian Derbies having previously won the 2013 Derby with Broadway Empire, the 2014 Derby with Edison, the 2018 running with Sky Promise in 2018 and the 2022 edition with Great Escape.

Now he has five.

Howg has been a part of three of those Derby wins: Great Escape and Broadway Empire and now Take Charge Tom.

But this one was different. Howg not only owns Take Charge Tom by himself he is also the horse’s breeder.

“First horse I ever bred,” said Howg, who owns Take Charge Tom’s dam, Gorgeous Ginny.

“I bought her as a yearling in Kentucky for $70,000 and she was a pretty good race horse,” Howg said of the daughter of Take Charge Indy, a proven son of A.P. Indy.

Gorgeous Ginny ran 14 times and won five races - three of them stakes.

“She won her last race but got hurt and I put her into breeding,” said Howg.

“Her first foal was Twirling Ginny. She won her first start as the heavy favourite but died in her stall of stomach complications which wasn’t colic.

“Her third foal is Forty Twenty, who Robertino really likes. He’s by Candy Ride, who went undefeated in six starts on both turf and dirt racing surfaces in Argentina and the United States.”

Currently, Forty Twenty is in Texas and will go into training next month.

“He’s still a little immature but I really like him,” said Diodoro.

Who knows? Maybe he’ll be in next year’s Canadian Derby.

“We can always dream,” said Howg, who stayed up until 4 a.m. celebrating Take Charge Tom’s easy victory.

Howg said Gorgeous Ginny also has a fourth foal - a yearling by Candy Ride again.

“And then,” began Howg, “Her fourth foal is a weanling by Army Mule, who was undefeated in three starts and is a pretty popular sire.

“This game is a lot of fun when you’re winning,” said Howg.

Take Charge Tom will not be going to Hastings for the B.C. Derby.

“We’re pointing him at the Oklahoma Derby,” said Howg. “We’re trying to duplicate what Broadway Empire did. He won the Derby and then won the Oklahoma Derby and then raced in the Breeders’ Cup.”

STOCK REPORT - Wagering on the 12-race card was $1.7 million - $400,000 more than last year.

There were three other stakes races on the powerful card of 12 races. All three were won by invaders to Century Mile.

Welcometohollywood won the $100,000 Century Casino Oaks at 7-1 after odds-on-favourite Gee I’m Foxy got into a world of trouble down the backstretch. Welcometohollywood, who had been campaigning in Manitoba and Phoenix, won for the third straight time. Gee I’m Foxy had won her last three starts by a total of 27 lengths.

In the highly anticipated duel between B.C. champion Avana and Alberta’s 2024 Horse of the Year Big Hug, Avana came from what seemed like half a kilometre behind to win the $75,000 Northlands Distaff getting the jump on Big Hug, who was coming on at the end.

And, finally, in the inaugural $100,000 Dale the Colonel Saunders Speed to Spare B.C.’s At Attention duelled early and then held off the charge of Al Reichert to win. Going off at 3-1 it was At Attention’s 13th win of his career. At Attention, like Avana, is trained by Barb Heads.

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Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.