The breeding shed may have to wait a little longer for Jewel of a Cat if she continues her winning ways as she did Sunday at Gulfstream Park with a game neck decision over a troubled Tesalina in the $75,000 Windley Key Stakes.
California Chrome worked seven furlongs in 1:25.40 Sunday at Los Alamitos, the first time jockey Victor Espinoza had been aboard the colt since a second-place finish in the $10 million Dubai World Cup last March.
Russell Baze, who has won 13 straight jockey titles and 53 overall at Golden Gate Fields, took a quick lead in the standings with four victories Saturday, opening day of the track’s 75th anniversary season.
A blanket of fog had descended on Balmoral Park and rain was falling but cars were streaming into the parking lot. There was not a seat to be had in the dining room and there were lines at the betting windows in the crowded grandstand. It was a sad night, the last program in the history of Balmoral Park.
Lost amid a lawsuit, negative publicity, and countless Internet comments, Runhappy remains a brilliant sprinter.
Birdatthewire saved her best for her last start of the year. Making her first start in California, she rallied from last to first in the nine-horse field and earned her first Grade 1 win in the $301,000 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Santa Anita’s opening-day card.
Trainer Tim Glyshaw entered Bullards Alley in an allowance race and in the Woodchopper Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds, and when the Woodchopper was rained off turf, Glyshaw chose the stakes over the allowance. Good call. Saving ground all the way under Marcelino Pedroza, Bullards Alley ran down Oak Brook in the final strides and won the $75,000 Woodchopper by three-quarters of a length.
Arizona Moon was trying dirt for the first time in Saturday’s $35,000 Lost in the Fog Stakes at Turf Paradise but with a pedigree to help he had no trouble at all handling it as he rallied to win.
Fila Primera never had raced on dirt, but she had been training so well the last several weeks over the Fair Grounds main track that trainer Mike Stidham left her in an off-the-turf edition of the $75,000 Pago Hop Stakes, and Fila Primera won with speed to spare.
Om will have a home on turf at Santa Anita this winter. On Saturday, Om won his third Grade 2 stakes of the year in the $201,500 Mathis Brothers Mile for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita. The stakes wins include the Grade 2 Twilight Derby here in October.
