Smooth Roller, making just the fourth start of his career, won the Grade 1, $300,750 Awesome Again Stakes, earning a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, a race Bayern won last year but will fall well short of making this year.
A months-long plan to start Photo Call in Saturday’s $301,250 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita worked to perfection when the Irish-bred filly overcame a touch of trouble to win the Grade 1 turf race for fillies and mares.
Brendan Walsh won two stakes his first three years of training, 2012-2014, but duplicated that total in about a half-hour Saturday. Shortly after Saham won the Jefferson Cup at Churchill, Key to Power rallied to capture the $50,000 Teleprompter at Arlington, doubling the number of stakes Walsh has won in 2015.
Two smacks from the whip from jockey Mike Smith in early stretch was all Songbird needed for an easy win in Saturday’s $300,000 Chandelier Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Santa Anita.
Big Blue Kitten catapulted to the front in upper stretch and captured the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch. In the process, he ran 1 1/2 miles in 2:23.39, obliterating the Belmont Widener Turf course record by nearly a full second.
Valid may have earned himself a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile after turning in another typically game performance to register a well-deserved neck victory over Falling Sky in Saturday’s $75,000 Groomstick Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Yes, trainer Richard Mandella said, it was about as easy as it looked. Beholder, after beating males in the Pacific Classic last month, dropped back in to a race restricted to females and easily captured the Grade 1, $300,750 Zenyatta Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita.
Laurel Park maidens had no chance against Onus in July, first-level allowance foes there were overwhelmed by her in August, and on Saturday at Laurel, Onus did the same thing to graded stakes foes, dismissing them with disdain in the Grade 3, $150,000 Commonwealth Oaks.
Rock Fall scored his second gritty victory in a row to take the Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont Park on Saturday.
The heat was on Nyquist from the start on Saturday, but he survived an early challenge from two rivals, a late bid from another, plus a stewards’ inquiry to remain unbeaten in four starts by capturing the Grade 1, $300,750 FrontRunner Stakes for 2-year-olds on a hot, muggy afternoon at Santa Anita.
