AUBURN, Wash. – Vodka With Ice raced to a mild upset Sunday in the $54,000 Bank of America Emerald Downs Challenge Championship for Quarter Horses, snapping 3-5 favorite Chicks Special Angel's 10-race winning streak while covering 440 yards in a track-record 21.667 seconds.
With his victory, Vodka With Ice, an 8-year-old Stoli gelding, earned a berth in the Grade 1, $350,000 Bank of America Challenge Championship on Nov. 9 at Los Alamitos.
DEL MAR, Calif. – She’s a Tiger, the winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante, will take a familiar path this fall toward a potential start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Trainer Mac Robertson sent out four stakes winners on Minnesota Festival of Champions Day at Canterbury Park on Sunday – three with jockey Alex Canchari in the saddle and two for owner Malkerson Stables – but the star of the day was Heliskier.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Gabriel Charles answered a nearly year-old question with his win in the $251,250 first division of the Del Mar Derby on Sunday: He most certainly is capable of winning top races around two turns.
With only a sprint stakes win on turf to his credit, Gabriel Charles won for the first time beyond 6 1/2 furlongs in the first division of the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby, closing from eighth in a field of 10 to win by 1 1/4 lengths over Gervinho.
Trainer Jeff Mullins described the win as “gratifying.”
Feature Hero picked the perfect day to run the race of his life at Ruidoso Downs on Sunday.
The 3-year-old gelding ran a flawless 440 yards to win the $2,809,784 All American Derby, the richest race in Quarter Horse history. Ridden by Jimmy Brooks for trainer Eddie Willis, Feature Hero ($49.80) edged the fastest qualifier, Bon Accord, to win by a neck.
Point Break Dash was third in the field of 10, a length behind Feature Hero.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There were five winning tickets sold for Sunday’s pick six at Saratoga, each worth $104,934.
There was a carryover of $139,854 entering the card, and an additional $675,144 was wagered into the pool Sunday.
The winning sequence of 10-1-2-4-4-4 included Recepta ($6.50), Scat Away ($13.40), Five Iron ($12.80), Sweet Reason ($7), Abraham ($8.60), and Golden Rule ($15.20). The consolation payout (5 of 6) was $787.
Monday is closing day at Saratoga, and the entire pick-six pool must be distributed.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The California Horse Racing Board is conducting an investigation into the race-day administration of an amino-acid solution to a horse trained by Doug O’Neill on Aug. 24, Del Mar stewards said over the weekend.
The incident resulted in the withdrawal of Cinco de Mario in the hours before a starter allowance Aug. 24.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Five Iron shipped across the border from Woodbine and ran the locals off their feet, leading from start to finish to register a 2 1/2-length victory over 2-1 favorite Notacatbutallama in Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Saranac Stakes at Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There never was any real suspense in the race for leading owner, trainer, and jockey at the sesquicentennial Saratoga meet. On Sunday, one day before the meet ended, the leaders in those categories were honored in a ceremony in the winner’s circle following the seventh race.
Ken and Sarah Ramsey have won 22 races, setting a single-meet record at Saratoga, 11 more than Darley Stable and Drawing Away. The Ramseys had horses in three of Monday’s 10 races.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Trainer Steve Asmussen won the Grade 3 Sapling Stakes for the fifth time with Dunkin Bend, and Miss Behaviour romped in the Sorority Stakes for fillies, as Monmouth Park presented its premier 2-year-old stakes Sunday.
The $96,000 Sapling and the $104,000 Sorority were the last major stakes of the meet.
Dunkin Bend rallied widest of all to take the four-horse Sapling by 1 1/4 lengths over Yes I’m Lucky. Ricardo Santana Jr. was aboard as Dunkin Bend, the even-money favorite, improved to 2 for 3 in his stakes debut.
