Recent arrival makes splash at Sam Houston

Anne Sanguinetti, an apprentice who had been riding in the Northwest, scored her first win at Sam Houston last Friday night aboard Grey Foot, who paid $117.40. Sanguinetti rode the winner for trainer Robin Powers.

Sanguinetti came to Sam Houston from Portland Meadows for this meet, and she is being represented by Travis Church. Church also books mounts for Larry Taylor and Amanda Crandall, who was the leading apprentice in Texas before her apprenticeship was completed on Oct. 31.

Church said Sanguinetti, 23, has an excellent worth ethic. Sanguinetti graduated from Pepperdine University in California in May, and won her first career race at the Bay Meadows fair on Aug. 15.

She will ride Lefty Marciana in the featured 10th race on Friday, a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance.

* Don Simington, a past riding title winner at Sam Houston, will be out until January after suffering a fracture just above his right ankle in a starting gate accident, according to officials at Sam Houston. Simington, 41, is recuperating at his home in Louisiana, and he is due back at the racetrack on Jan. 7.

* Ted Gondron has rejoined the riding colony at Sam Houston after competing at Sunland Park.