Rob Landry after winning the 2004 Queen’s Plate with Niigon (Michael Burns Photo)
Chris Lomon, Woodbine
TORONTO, Ont.— It is only fitting that Woodbine Oaks contender Kin’s Concerto has an instrumental figure in her team.
Robert Landry is no stranger to success in the foremost race for Canadian-foaled 3-year-old fillies.
As a jockey, he won three editions of the race. As the General Manager of powerhouse Chiefswood Stables, he celebrated another victory.
On Saturday, Kin’s Concerto, a Chiefswood homebred, could make it five for the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee.
Sporting a mark of 1-2-1 from four starts, the daughter of Mendelssohn-Kincardine, trained by Josie Carroll, won at first asking last November at Woodbine.
In her most recent effort, the chestnut filly was second, just a head back of the winner, in a 1 1/16-mile main track race on June 22.
“She’s very nice,” said Landry. “I get to see them pretty much from birth right through their racing careers and beyond. She always showed us the signs that she had the ability. She ran a great race last time. Josie [trainer, Carroll] and her team have done a terrific job with her. Sofia [jockey, Vives] has ridden her well too.
“This filly has some idiosyncrasies. The pony goes out with her in the morning and always starts her out. That’s her security blanket. She had a couple of times when she was younger where she had episodes of stopping and dropping riders, but she got over that.
“And now, here she is in the biggest race of her life so far.”
Landry, voted Canada’s Outstanding Jockey in both 1993 and 1994, knows all about big races.
In 2004, he teamed with Chiefswood star Niigon to take all the spoils in The Queen’s Plate.
Landry also won several of the most sought-after races in Canada, which included three Woodbine Oaks triumphs – in 1997 with Capdiva, in 2000 with Catch the Ring and in 2003 with Too Late Now.
The latter victory came on the same day he was presented with the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award for significant contributions to the sport.
“I had so much luck in the Oaks,” said Landry, whose final stakes win was also his last career win and came aboard Rahy’s Attorney in the With Approval on August 14, 2010. “I was a big fan of Avelino and always impressed by his talents as a rider.”
In 2013, Landry, then Racing Manager for Chiefswood, celebrated an Oaks score with Nipissing, trained by Rachel Halden.
“From my perspective, for whatever reason, I always got along well with fillies. And I had a lot of luck in the race. Then, I was able to be part of the team that won with Nippissing in my role with Chiefswood.”
On Saturday, the horseman who rode 2,045 winners, 167 of them in stakes, will be on hand to cheer on Kin’s Concerto in the 69th edition of the Oaks.
Does he see any similarities between her and any of the fillies he rode to Oaks glory?
“I would say she would be closest to Catch the Ring just because she is a little bit tactical. Capdiva, my first winner, was a speed filly. She won the Fury – Roger Attfield did a tremendous job with her – and had her in great condition for the Oaks. Too Late Now, who was versatile, won close up to the pace as well.
“I haven’t sat on Kin’s Concerto’s back, and you learn so much from that, but I suppose she would be closest to Catch the Ring.”
Admittedly, it is more stressful for Landry to see the Oaks unfold from the grandstand rather than being in the race itself.
“It is more difficult to watch than ride for sure, simply because you aren’t the one in control, but I definitely have a soft spot for the Oaks.”
Just as Landry does for the horses who race under the Chiefswood banner.
To this day, he wears his heart on his sleeve.
“I bleed green, yellow and white,” said Landry of Canada’s outstanding owner recipient in 2017 and 2018. It’s a tough sport and you have to put in a lot of hours to have success.
“Any time I see our silks crossing the wire first, it makes me feel good because I know how hard everyone works at Chiefswood. I know how much the owners have invested in the game and that they treat their horses phenomenally.”
A win in this year’s running of the Oaks, Landry noted, would be the very definition of a team effort.
“It takes a village to achieve success. These horses go to so many places and work with so many people over their careers – so many people have their thumbprint on them.”
Including the man who proudly holds the reins as GM of Chiefswood Stables.
