Remington Park: Pleasantly Blessed scores as favorite in Ricks Memorial

Pleasantly Blessed gave trainer Steve Asmussen and jockey Luis Quinonez a sweep of the weekend stakes at Remington Park on Saturday night, when she closed for a three-quarter-length win in the $50,000 Ricks Memorial. Asmussen and Quinonez had teamed together on Friday night to take the $100,000 DeBartolo Memorial with Skip a Smile.

Pleasantly Blessed ($3.40) raced in fifth early in the Ricks Memorial, as Someplace Else was clear through fractions 24.92 for the opening quarter, 50.49 for the half-mile, and 1:14.10 for six furlongs. Pleasantly Blessed closed strongly for the win, and covered the mile on firm turf in 1:37.14. Someplace Else held second, a length clear of third-place finisher All About Allie.

Asmussen owns Pleasantly Blessed, who also won the Ricks Memorial in 2009.

The field for Saturday night’s race was reduced to six fillies and mares after the scratches of five horses.