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The connections of the 2-year-old filly Meringue entered her in the Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway Stakes on Saturday. A horse named Tommy Jo ran brilliantly and won that race, a tough heat, in a romp. Meringue by that time had left town, and the decision to run Sunday at Kentucky Downs instead of Saturday at Saratoga paid off – big time.
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A closing third in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf on Jan. 25, a career-best showing, Chasing the Crown won the $500,000 Tight Spot Overnight Handicap at Kentucky Downs by a diminishing half-length over Lambeth.
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Frankie Dettori came into the Kentucky Downs meet that began Thursday on a downward trajectory. From the start of the year through Aug. 27, Dettori had booted home 24 winners and earned about $3.5 million in purse money. Three days later, the famed jockey, known for his flying dismount, is flying again. He won one Kentucky Downs race Thursday, took down the $3.5 million Nashville Derby on Saturday, and on Sunday notched his fourth winner from the card’s first nine races when he piloted Johnny’s Red Storm to a front-running victory in the $946,000 Juvenile Sprint.
Via Sistina, the winner of a record-equaling seven Group 1 wins from August 2024 to April of this year, was named Australia’s Horse of the Year for the 2024-2025 season in a ceremony in Brisbane on Sunday.
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In a performance that amounted to little more than a trial race, Citizen Bull, the champion 2-year-old male of 2024, led throughout the $115,000 Shared Belief Stakes for 3-year-old milers at Del Mar on Sunday, recording his first win since February.
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Twenty Six Black appears to have come back better than ever as a 5-year-old this season. The New York-bred registered his first stakes victory and did so in style when drawing off to a convincing 2 1/4-length decision over Bold Journey on Sunday at Saratoga in the $135,000 Disco Partner.
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Trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday that, if all goes well, it will be on to the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland on Oct. 3 for his undefeated 2-year-old filly Tommy Jo, following her 6 1/4-length victory over the previously unbeaten Percy’s Bar here less than 24 hours earlier in the Grade 1 Spinaway.
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To the satisfaction of his many backers, Silver Slugger scored an easy gate-to-wire win Sunday at Monmouth Park in the $98,000 Rumson Stakes.
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Through Saturday, trainer Phil D’Amato had amassed 71 career stakes wins at Del Mar, with seven of those accomplished by Gold Phoenix and Motorious, both stakes winners on Saturday.
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The Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher had just won Sunday’s Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga and didn’t know how to feel. That’s because while Antiquarian rallied to win the $1 million race by 1 1/2 lengths, Pletcher’s other starter, Mindframe - the 9-5 second choice - was eliminated soon after the start when a crowding incident resulted in jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. being unseated from that horse.
