by Jeff Renton, media/communications, the Woodbine Entertainment Group

TORONTO, March 30, 2006 – He’s gone undefeated in his four career races heading into Friday’s C$20,000 opening leg of the Youthful Pacing Series, and Denim Jeans will be looking to extend that string when he faces off against fellow three-year-olds at Woodbine. The Youthful participants were non-winners of three races or $15,000 in lifetime earnings as of December 31, 2005, and the 21 charges have been drawn into three seven-horse divisions, carded as races two (8:00 p.m.), four (8:40 p.m.) and six (9:20 p.m.) on the 11-dash program, which gets underway at 7:40 p.m.

Denim Jeans, an Intrepid Seelster colt who is the first foal out of the Run The Table mare Oliviajeankillean, was unraced last season at two, but so far in 2006, he has passed every one of his tests.

“He just couldn’t get it together last year,” said McIntosh. “He had a little bit of trouble with sickness and he wasn’t really mature, so we just turned him out. We started back with him and he started to get stronger and train better all the time. Last year, I thought that maybe he would just be a racehorse this year – I didn’t really have that high a regard for him, but this year he’s just kept improving.”

After a pair of qualifiers at Windsor Raceway to start ’06, Denim Jeans competed in two conditioned maiden events at the five-eighths-of-a-mile oval on February 25 and March 7, respectively.

During the February tilt, the colt raced on the outside for the first three-quarters of the mile before drawing off for a 6¾-length victory in 1:59.2. In the March affair, Denim Jeans started from post nine and made the front from mid-pack before the head of the lane. The result was a 1¼-length tally clocked in 2:00.1.

“We’ve had a couple of nice starts at Windsor – a couple of nice preps there where he had outside positions and he showed a little bit of ‘go,’” said McIntosh, who is coming off a 2005 campaign which saw his pupils win 143 of their 606 starts, good for earnings in excess of $3.8-million and a U.T.R.
of .364. “I was a little surprised when he went to Woodbine and popped a big mile there.”

That big mile came on March 12 at the Toronto oval, where Denim Jeans left from post two in another conditioned maiden test. With driver Rick Zeron at his lines, the colt came first-up from fourth in the second quarter of the dash. He grabbed the lead before the three-quarters pole and drew away for a 4½-length decision in 1:53.3, dropping more than six seconds off his career mark in the process.

In the dash, Denim Jeans showed that he was more than a mere racehorse for McIntosh and CSX Stables, who bred the colt and now share ownership with Michael Kohler.

After taking a week off, Denim Jeans showed quite a bit on March 26 at Woodbine – in a dash for Ontario-sired four-year-olds and younger, whom were non-winners of $20,000 in lifetime earnings – where he came from well off the pace to reel in his rivals for a quarter-length score timed in 1:54.2.

With Zeron in the bike for the second time in a row, Denim Jeans left from post two, rebounded from an early skip and gobbled up a lot of ground on the outside before digging in with a :27.4 final quarter to fight off his foes. He had spotted the field many lengths in the early going and had a long way to come first-up to get the job done.

“[On March 26] I was really impressed with him,” McIntosh explained. “He had a little bit of a rough step off the gate. He got himself a little hurried leaving and Rick had to steady him. The horses ended up getting gapped out big time and I thought that we were pretty well out of it, but he kept coming on the outside and down by the lane he reminded me of Intrepid himself. The best part of Intrepid’s races were down the stretch, and this guy fights well there.”

Denim Jeans (PP6, Rick Zeron, 8-5) will be competing in the third of the Youthful splits and will be in against colts the likes of Master The Art (PP2, Luc Ouellette, 5-2) and Jake Of Diamonds (PP4, Phil Hudon, 4-1).

“He came out of the [March 26] race really fresh,” McIntosh said. “We’ve got him back in to race five days after, which isn’t ideal, but it’s the way the schedule worked out, so we thought that we’d give him a shot in the Youthful.”

The fields for the opening leg of the Youthful are listed below.

Division #1
Post Position – Horse – Driver – Trainer – Morning Line Odds
1 – John Dilinger – M. Saftic – G. Hebert – 7-2
2 – Red Stingray – Ma. MacDonald – M. Ford – 6-1
3 – Matty McGee – P. MacDonell – S. Atkinson – 5-1
4 – Shady Shark – J. Jamieson – C. Jamieson – 9-2
5 – Dodgeball – L. Ouellette – L. Farrelly – 8-5
6 – Heza Character – R. Zeron – R. Gillock – 10-1
7 – Dextra Effort – Ra. Waples – P. Mairs – 8-1

Division #2
Post Position – Horse – Driver – Trainer – Morning Line Odds
1 – Presidential Mark – Ma. MacDonald – P. Coleman – 3-1
2 – Boom Hereicome – R. Mayotte – M. Porter – 4-1
3 – Siddall – M. Saftic – R. McNair – 4-1
4 – P J Camalike – L. Ouellette – K. McMaster – 7-2
5 – Dreamfair Jpal – Ra. Waples – W. Preszcator – 9-2
6 – Twilight Jack – B. Belore – B. Belore – 6-1
7 – Daylon Holiday – J. Jamieson – D. Leard – 10-1

Division #3
Post Position – Horse – Driver – Trainer – Morning Line Odds
1 – Another Gear – Ra. Waples – W. Preszcator – 8-1
2 – Master The Art – L. Ouellette – D. Marfisi – 5-2
3 – Presidential Alert – P. MacDonell – M. Smith – 6-1
4 – Jake Of Diamonds – Ph. Hudon – S. Kerwood – 4-1
5 – Tipper Too – M. Saftic – G. Hebert – 8-1
6 – Denim Jeans – R. Zeron – R. McIntosh – 8-5
7 – Western Nitro – Ma. MacDonald – J. Stutzman – 6-1