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.
Zipessa, who quietly had a very strong 2016 campaign, will return to race as a 5-year-old in 2017, trainer Mike Stidham said.
Zipessa has won only twice this year, capturing a Fair Grounds allowance race to start her season and winning the Grade 3 Penny at Parx Racing. She was third after tracking a strong pace in the Grade 1 Beverly D. and second in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive to Avenge, who subsequently finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
Seven Louisiana-bred fillies and mares were entered, but the $50,000 Si Cima Stakes on Sunday at Fair Grounds looks like a two-horse race.
Pacific Pink has three wins and a second from her four Fair Grounds starts, and she won the $100,000 Champions Day Ladies last December. Big World is a relative newcomer to these parts, a Louisiana-bred 3-year-old with enough talent to have won the Grade 3 Tempted Stakes last November.
Trainer Donnie Von Hemel hopes the third time’s the charm in the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks on Wednesday, when he sends out Ready to Confess and Ruby Sioux. Von Hemel ran second in the inaugural Zia Park Oaks in 2013 with Gold Medal Dancer, then returned last year and was third with Sweet Opportunity.
“We feel like we’re knocking on the door and need to get it done,” said Von Hemel.
When front-runner What a View and jockey Tyler Baze blazed to the lead in the Breeders’ Cup Mile two weeks ago at Santa Anita, setting absurd fractions of 21.81 and 44.61 seconds, trainer Kenny Black was aghast. “I couldn’t believe Tyler,” Black said. “I don’t know what the hell he was thinking. The nerve – he was actually following instructions.”
Yes, watching the BC Mile unfold, one had to wonder – what was Baze doing with What a View? As the trainer acknowledged, Baze was riding to directions.
