ETOBICOKE, Ontario – His Race to Win, rallying under Eurico Rosa da Silva, outfinished the battling duo of Winning Cause and Pyrite Mountain to capture Sunday’s Grade 3, $171,900 Ontario Derby.
The Ontario Derby, a 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds, was the first stakes win for His Race to Win, a homebred who races for Sam-Son Farm and is trained by Malcolm Pierce.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Shanghai Bobby, last year’s 2-year-old champion male who has been sidelined since the spring due to a pelvic fracture, returns to the races Friday at Belmont Park in the $100,000 Aljamin Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs.
The Aljamin, originally scheduled for Thursday, did not have enough entries to fill for that day. With several supplemental nominees, including Shanghai Bobby, the race was carded with six runners.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – American trainer Michael Matz dominated the Canadian Stakes here Sunday, as his Minakshi and Colonial Flag finished first and second in the 1 1/8-mile turf race for fillies and mares.
The Canadian, a Grade 2 race worth $306,400, also was a Win and You’re In event for the first time this year, offering a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf to the winner. Minakshi would receive the $40,000 entry fee and the $10,000 travel allowance but is not Breeders’ Cup-eligible and would have to be supplemented at a cost of $200,000.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Moreno and Close Hatches, leading contenders for a pair of $1 million races at Parx next Saturday, both put in strong workouts Sunday over a fast Belmont Park main track.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – My Conquestadory made an auspicious debut when rolling to a 3 1/4-length victory under jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva while facing males in Saturday’s Grade 2 Summer Stakes, nailing down an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 1.
But Mark Casse, who trains My Conquestadory for the Conquest Stable of Ernie Semersky and Dory Newell, is considering Keeneland’s Grade 1 Alcibiades on Oct. 4 as a stepping-stone to the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – In the first full year of the joint marketing agreement with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, which contributes $75 million to the Canterbury Park purse account over 10 years, the track’s 2013 season closed with the largest average field size in a decade, and attendance and handle records were set at the 69-day meet that closed Saturday.
POMONA, Calif. – City by the Bay trounced nine rivals Saturday in the $100,000 Barretts Debutante at the Los Angeles County Fair, winning the 6 1/2 furlong race by 8 3/4 lengths.
Ridden by Juan Hernandez and trained by Bill Morey, City by the Bay ($4.60) was making only her second career start following a dominant maiden win at Santa Rosa. Morey deferred credit.
“I’m just a spectator, it’s the filly,” Morey said. “I’m the lucky guy that gets to watch her go.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – A difficult day turned around in a hurry for trainer Chad Brown when Alterite, making her North American debut, scored a visually impressive 1 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Garden City Stakes at Belmont Park.
Receiving only a hand ride from John Velazquez, Alterite easily went by the pacesetting Discreet Marq inside the eighth pole and cruised to a comfortable victory in her first start for Brown.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – I’m Already Sexy made her first graded-stakes start in the Pucker Up on Saturday at Arlington. Suffice it to say she was well spotted. I’m Already Sexy, the even-money favorite, went straight to the lead under Florent Geroux and made short work of her seven rivals, scoring a 3 3/4-length victory over Every Way in the Grade 3, $175,000 Pucker Up.
I’m Already Sexy paid just $4.20 on the strength of a blowout victory here in a division of the Aug. 17 Hatoof Stakes, and Geroux said she was an even stronger filly in the Pucker Up.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens continued his successful return to the saddle Saturday when riding Temeraine to victory in the Grade 3, $399,000 Kentucky Turf Cup, the annual marquee race at Kentucky Downs.
Nudged by Stevens into early contention, Temeraine found himself among the pace chasers in the 1 1/2-mile Turf Cup, which anchored the new Kentucky Downs Million Day as the last of five straight Saturday stakes.
