OCEANPORT, N.J. - The old racetrack wisdom about backing the longest shot in a short field paid off handsomely on Saturday at Monmouth Park in the $58,200 Miss Woodford Stakes for 3-year-old filly sprinters.
Indian Spell, the 16-1 outsider against three rivals priced 6-5 to 8-5, pulled the upset by a head over Fully Living.
Ju Ju Eyeballs, winner of five straight including the Crank It Up and Just Smashing stakes here, was the favorite and pressed the pacesetting Indian Spell on the turn.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Holy Lute won his stakes debut in Friday’s $100,500 El Cajon Stakes for 3-year-olds at Del Mar, confirming an opinion that trainer Jim Cassidy has held about the colt for two years.
Ridden by David Flores, Holy Lute ($15) closed from fourth in a field of seven to win the one-mile race by a head over 6-5 favorite Fury Kapcori. Holy Lute was timed in 1:35.38.
“I’ve liked this horse since I bought him as a yearling,” Cassidy said. “He got hurt last year and I had to stop on him.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Put the fastest horse in the race on a speed-favoring turf course for one of the hottest barns on the grounds, and the outcome should be fairly obvious. And sure enough, so it was in Friday’s $100,000 Riskaverse with the 2-1 favorite Midnight Watch leading throughout to post a one-length victory over Teen Pauline in the feature event on the lone twilight card of the 2013 Saratoga meeting.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer David Jacobson stood a few yards away from where Saginaw was standing in his stall, munching on his hay rack as veterinarians performed X-rays on the gelding’s injured left foreleg.
“I can’t believe we’re standing here,” Jacobson said. “I thought we’d be back here after standing in the winner’s circle.”
A few minutes later disbelief turned to despair when Jacobson was told that Saginaw had fractured both sesamoid bones in his left ankle. Jacobson was advised that Saginaw, a 7-year-old gelding, would have to be euthanized.
DEL MAR, Calif. - After an eighth-place finish in his debut in July and a stylish win Aug. 11, Dance With Fate will start in Wednesday’s $300,000 Del Mar Futurity with high expectations.
But the extent of his ability is still largely an unknown to trainer Peter Eurton.
“They are all so young, and no one knows who is who,” he said of the prospects for the Del Mar Futurity in general. “I feel good about the way he’s training.
AUBURN, Wash. – In a figurative sense, trainer Blaine Wright will send out Rocky’s Quest to compete in Sunday’s $30,000 feature race at Emerald Downs, but in reality, Wright will be some 700 miles away at Golden Gate Fields, where he keeps a second string of horses. While Wright tends to his runners in California, his assistant, Mark Rheinford, will give jockey Juan Gutierrez a leg up on Rocky’s Quest.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher entered Friday’s action having won 15 races for juveniles at Saratoga, including two stakes. He had a plethora of 2-year-olds still to run and entered a trio of horses in Monday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Hopeful Stakes on the closing-day program.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Sahara Sky, winner of the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park in May and two other stakes earlier this year, has been turned out for at least a month, casting doubt on his participation in the Breeders’ Cup this fall.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Thursday that Sahara Sky was sent to a farm in mid-August, with a return to training scheduled in late September.
AUBURN, Wash. – A Quarter Horse riding a 10-race winning streak and a stakes-winning Thoroughbred looking to snap a losing skid will share top billing Sunday on a nine-race card at Emerald Downs.
Chicks Special Angel, who last tasted defeat more than two years ago, headlines the $54,000 Bank of America Emerald Downs Championship Challenge for Quarter Horse at 440 yards, while Winning Machine, a four-time stakes winner at Emerald, tops the co-feature for Thoroughbreds, a $30,000 no-conditions allowance at one mile.
