Sharla Rae overtakes Glory in California Oaks
Sharla Rae scored her third career stakes victory, running down favored Glory late to win the $51,615 California Oaks by a neck at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday.
Chuck DybdalFeb 07, 2015
Sharla Rae scored her third career stakes victory, running down favored Glory late to win the $51,615 California Oaks by a neck at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday.
Ivan Fallunovalot backed up the Beyer Speed Figure of 108 he earned last month at Oaklawn Park by winning the track’s $100,000 King Cotton in a meet-best six-furlong time of 1:08.94. He finished 2 3/4 lengths clear of the runner-up Alsvid, while it was another half-length back in third to Hip Four Sixtynine.
In a thrilling rematch of their Los Alamitos Futurity duel in December, Dortmund again outbattled Firing Line, again prevailing by the length of his giant head, this time in the Grade 3, $150,000 Robert Lewis Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita.
Constitution put an exclamation mark on another landmark day for his trainer, Todd Pletcher, when he held off defending champion Lea to register a three-quarter length victory in Saturday’s $500,000 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park.
Mshawish spurted through, and then outnodded Slumber to win the 1 1/8-mile Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap by a nose Saturday.
Dortmund remained unbeaten after four starts with a hard-fought win in Saturday’s $150,000 Robert Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita.
Two of the gamest and most consistent horses around, Valid and Grande Shores, put on quite a show in Saturday’s $100,000 Fred Hooper Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The two battled eyeball to eyeball for the entire mile before Valid narrowly prevailed, posting a well-deserved neck victory over the hard-luck runner-up with the 6-5 favorite Race Day finishing another neck farther back in third.
Before Far From Over won the Withers Stakes, the star of Saturday’s card at Aqueduct was jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who won five races on the day.
After a disastrous start, Far From Over more than lived up to his name, rallying from last to win Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct and give trainer Todd Pletcher another 3-year-old on the Kentucky Derby trail.
Sandiva was unproven against older fillies and mares, but no longer. Making her 4-year-old debut, Sandiva rolled to an emphatic victory Saturday as the 2-1 favorite in the 72nd running of the Grade 3, $150,000 Suwannee River on the Gulfstream Park turf.