Course specialist Stoupinator ran her record on the Canterbury Park turf to 3 for 3 when besting Notte d'Oro for a three-quarter-length tally in Saturday's $75,000 Minnesota HBPA Distaff.
Golden Gate Fields’s leading apprentice rider David Lopez bruised the left side of his lower back and right ankle in a fall after his mount in the 10th race, Redneck Girl, ducked in sharply shortly after the start of the race.
Garnet Barnsdale's analysis of the Monday, June 8 card at Mohawk Racetrack.
Some horses had to work for a living this winter and the fruit of their labor paid off in a big way on Saturday night at the Meadowlands. It was second-leg action of the renewed Graduate series, now for 4-year-olds exclusively. The night belonged to the winter warriors as JL Cruze vanquished Father Patrick in one of two $56,250 divisions for trotters and Rockeyed Optimist easily put away the $1.5 million winner JK Endofanera in a pacing division.
Dudes The Man and Rockin In Heaven scored victories in their respective $78,767 divisions of the Somebeachsomewhere Stakes Saturday night at Mohawk Racetrack.
American Pharoah carried 126 pounds to victory in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. His jockey, Victor Espinoza, on the other hand, had the weight of the world on his shoulders before erasing memories of past Triple Crown failures with a flawless ride that helped guide American Pharoah into history as racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner.
All-sources handle on Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, which featured the first Triple Crown triumph in 37 years, was down 10.5 percent from the record-setting handle on the Belmont last year, when California Chrome failed in his own attempt to win the Triple Crown, according to charts of the race.
Driver Brian Sears had to wake Bee A Magician up a bit after slow fractions in the Charlie Hill Memorial at Scioto Downs on Saturday night, but she responded like the champion she is to pick up the victory in 1:53 3/5.
After three failed attempts at winning the Triple Crown, trainer Bob Baffert could have been excused if he talked about how great an accomplishment American Pharoah’s Triple Crown sweep felt for him personally.
Now, after his dominant victory in the Belmont Stakes to become only the 12th ever to capture the Triple Crown, the debate shifts from whether American Pharoah can make history to his place in it.
