Ibaka overcame a troubled start and traffic in midstretch, running his turf record to 2 for 2 by winning the $60,000 Buddy Diliberto Memorial Handicap on Saturday at Fair Grounds.
DRF handicapper Byron King outlines his strategy for a pick four on Sunday's program at Gulfstream Park.
Kitten’s Dumplings swept past most of the field without really being asked, breezed up to the leaders at the top of the stretch, and went on to a neck win over Street of Gold in Saturday's Blushing K.D. Stakes at Fair Grounds.
Dean Butler wasn’t expecting to ride in the $80,000 Lightning City Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday, but when E.T. Baird failed to show up to ride Richies Sweetheart, Butler inherited the mount aboard the fastest horse in the race and guided her to a front-running half-length victory.
The final derby of the 2015 racing season turned out to be a good one as the pacesetting Solemn Tribute held on gamely down the stretch to prove narrowly best in a four-horse blanket finish in the $75,000 Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park.
The heavily favored Ishaq had the fans in the grandstand and even jockey Pedro Cotto Jr. holding their breath in the final yards of the $67,500 Inaugural Stakes on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, where he led from start to finish and barely held off Formal Summation to win by a neck.
Trainer Jorge Navarro expected X Y Jet to run a huge race in Saturday’s $100,000 Mr. Prospector, but even he couldn’t have expected his sprint specialist to dominate a strong lineup of older horses as he did, with a 9 1/4-length victory over Grande Shores in the Grade 3 fixture at Gulfstream Park.
Hidden Treat successfully handled the transition from turf to dirt and the class hike into stakes company Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, taking the $57,500 Sandpiper Stakes by half a length over A Little Attitude. The six-furlong sprint for 2-year-old fillies was the first stakes of the meeting here and is among three stakes on Cotillion Festival Day.
You most likely will not get rich playing the late pick four on races 6-9 at Aqueduct on Sunday, but the fairly direct sequence has the potential to pay off well enough to make the effort worthwhile.
Things are getting serious surrounding California Chrome’s comeback. On Saturday morning at Los Alamitos, California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, worked six furlongs in 1:13.80, his longest workout since a return to training in mid-October. He is three weeks away from a scheduled start in the $200,000 San Pasqual Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Jan. 9.
