My Hobby picks right time to end slump

My Hobby ended a three-year win drought at the most opportune of times on Saturday when she went wire to wire to take the $20,950 Matchmaker Stakes by one length under a hand ride by jockey Larren Delorme.

My Hobby, a 6-year-old mare trained by Larry Staroscik, had last won as a 3-year-old when she took the Columbus Breeders' Special in September 2005. She has always been a dependable runner and has several stakes placings in the interim but could never find her way to the winner's circle. This was My Hobby's third try in the one-mile Matchmaker and she employed a front-running style instead of her normal stalking pace. She covered the distance in 1:40, equaling the season's best time for the distance, and boosted her lifetime mark to 5-5-3 from 31 starts.

* Out Gamble became the meet's first three-time winner this season and has been the most impressive sprinter on the grounds. He has risen from the ranks of lifetime conditioned $5,000 claiming company to a stakes winner since arriving in Nebraska this year. On Sunday, without the pace battle expected after Bevys Best was scratched, Out Gamble scored a 3 1/2-length win over six others in the $15,000 President's Cup Stakes.

Leading rider Yuri Yaranga has been aboard for all of Out Gamble's starts in Nebraska this year for trainer Mickey Washburn.