Ashleyluvssugar, who won the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap during the summer meeting here and most recently was fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, tops a field of seven that was entered on Sunday for the Grade 2, $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup on Friday at Del Mar.
Gary Stevens, who was aboard Ashleyluvssugar for wins this year in the Del Mar Handicap and Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita on Oct. 2, has the mount again for trainer Pete Eurton.
Big Hit, who scored a sharp win against maidens going 6 1/2 furlongs on Saturday, will sprint once more before being asked to try two turns again, trainer Phil D’Amato said Sunday.
“I’d like to keep sprinting him one more race, kind of build him up to something better,” D’Amato said.
Big Hit, a 2-year-old son of Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, finished seventh in his debut when sprinting at Del Mar in a race won by subsequent FrontRunner Stakes winner Gormley. He then faded to sixth when sent one mile at Santa Anita. Saturday marked his third start.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Mastery came out of his victory in the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday in good order and will stretch out around two turns in his next start in the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity at Los Alamitos, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday.
Mastery, a son of Candy Ride, ran his record to 2 for 2 with his win in the seven-furlong Bob Hope.
Everett Dobson, who races as Cheyenne Stable, owns Mastery. He said Mastery is the only horse he currently has with Baffert.
Tf Racee Runaway was always prominent for a neck win over Fired Up Perry in the $1 million LQHBA Breeders Futurity on Saturday night at Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La. It was another head back to favorite and fastest qualifier Rdd Lajollanfastdash in third.
John Hamilton rode Tf Racee Runaway ($19.20), who covered 400 yards on a fast track in 19.65 seconds. Tf Racee Runaway races for his breeder, Tate Farms, and is trained by Lanny Keith. Tf Racee Runaway earned $456,410 for the win in the LQHBA Breeders Futurity.
VINTON, La. - Gunnevera managed to give Antonio Sano, his accomplished and seasoned trainer, a first Saturday when he pulled away to a 5 3/4-length win in the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot.
It was the richest career victory for Sano, a winner of 19 straight training titles in Venezuela before moving to South Florida in 2010. Gunnevera on Sunday was traveling back to Gulfstream Park West.
VINTON, La. - Trainer Doug O’Neill was still in awe Sunday of the performance Shane’s Girlfriend gave the day before, when she rolled by 13 1/4 lengths in the Grade 3, $400,000 Delta Downs Princess.
“Wow,” he said. “That filly ran lights out.”
Shane’s Girlfriend not only set a stakes record when she covered the mile, run on a six-furlong track in 1:37.98, but she also earned the year’s second-highest Beyer Speed Figure for a 2-year-old filly, a 96.
DEL MAR, Calif. – For the first time at the 6-day-old Del Mar meeting, the pick six was hit by multiple tickets Saturday, allowing the single-ticket jackpot to carry over for a second straight day, reaching a total of $40,457.
No one hit the pick six on Friday, so there were carryovers of $33,871 in the general pool, and another $7,258 in the single-ticket jackpot. Another $290,004 in fresh money was bet into the pick six on Saturday.
Seven tickets had the winning combination, each worth $26,895.
The Gulfstream Park West Fall Turf Festival ends next weekend and goes out with a bang, with a trio of grass stakes next Saturday that includes the Grade 3 Tropical Turf Handicap and its filly counterpart, the Grade 3 My Charmer Handicap. The third stakes is the ungraded Gin Rummy Champ at five furlongs.
The Tropical Turf closed with 20 nominees, including four horses from the barn of trainer Christophe Clement – Blacktype, Il Segreto, Lubash, and War Correspondent.
MIAMI – Three Rules may have finished sixth, nearly 15 lengths behind winner Classic Empire, when suffering his first defeat in six starts earlier this month in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. But trainer Jose Pinchin said he hasn’t lost any confidence in his young star and is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to match strides with the top three finishers in the Juvenile once again this winter at Gulfstream Park.
Seven horses are entered in Thursday’s $75,000 Thanksgiving Handicap, which for years was Fair Grounds’ traditional opening-day feature, and still serves unofficially as the true local inauguration of the fall-winter-spring race meet in New Orleans.
