Paddys Day, Dream Pearl win Arabian stakes convincingly

Paddys Day ($2.60) improved his record to 4 for 4 with his third Grade 1 victory of the year, and Dream Pearl ($7) proved even more dominant in her race, as the duo took a pair of major Arabian stakes Saturday at the Oak Tree at Pleasanton meeting at the Alameda County Fair.

Paddys Day sat just off the pace of True Grit SA for the first quarter-mile before taking the lead for good in the Grade 1, $52,650 Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Arabian Cup. He opened up a four-length lead in the lane of the six-furlong race and coasted home to a 2 1/4-length victory over Sand Victor, who upset him in the race last year. The two also ran one-two, with Paddys Day winning, in 2015.

Dream Pearl, who lost to Sand Victor in a June 25 race here, was a front-running winner in the $41,669 HH Sheikha Fatima Ben Mubarak race, also at six furlongs. She was challenged briefly approaching the quarter pole by Last Call MHF but pulled away for a six-length victory over odds-on favorite Ivory Shores, who had won her past three starts.

Paddys Day, owned by Quarter Moon Ranch LLC and trained by Scott Powell, earned $25,520 to lift his career earnings to $429,286 with his 20th victory in 29 starts. His winning time was 1:18.71.

Dream Pearl, owned by Dorothy Burt, Evelyn Call, Cory Soltau, and trainer Terri Eaton, earned $19,993 to lift her career earnings to $77,773 with her eighth win in 16 starts. Her winning time was 1:20.39.

Eaton saddled Sand Victor and Quick Sand AA, the second and third finishers in the Grade 1 race, while Powell saddled Ivory Shores and Last Call MHF, second and third in the filly-and-mare stakes.