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.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – Four weeks after Coalport defeated Trend by a head in an allowance race on the Arlington Million undercard, barely anything had changed when the two met again Saturday in the $123,917 Franklin-Simpson Mile at Kentucky Downs.
This time, the result was Coalport by a mere nose, with Trend another neck ahead of Utley in a thrilling three-horse finish. Coalport returned $6 as favorite in a field of eight when giving Ken and Sarah Ramsey their third stakes win on the Kentucky Downs card.
ELMONT, N.Y. – To listen to her connections tell it, Peace Preserver had a rough summer. But it wasn’t anything a return to her favorite surface couldn’t cure.
Splitting horses in deep stretch under Irad Ortiz Jr. after rallying from last, Peace Preserver outkicked Hungry Island to the wire to win Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Noble Damsel Stakes by a half-length at Belmont Park. Hungry Island finished second by three-quarters of a length over Better Lucky, the 4-5 favorite. Assateague, Naples Bay, and Laugh Out Loud completed the order of finish.
Swift Warrior regained the form that enabled him to win back-to-back Grade 3 events early this season when he recovered from a potential early disaster to post a victory in Saturday’s $250,000 Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association President’s Cup at Parx Racing.
