Proud of My Roots, coming off a fourth-place finish for a $20,000 claiming price at Woodbine, surged through the stretch under jockey Jesse Campbell for a half-length victory in Tuesday’s $75,000 Rainbow Connection Stakes, a five-furlong turf race for Ontario-sired fillies and mares at Fort Erie.
“She broke very sharp; I just couldn’t make the lead,” Campbell said. “So I just went to Plan B quick and let her find her own way around there, and it worked.
Louisiana Downs has a $492,866 super pick five jackpot carryover into Thursday’s card. The wager, which has a 50-cent minimum and runs on the last five races, has not been hit since June 27.
Last weekend, there was some confusion over whether the jackpot had been hit. If one individual ticket has the winners of the five races, the entire pool is paid to that person. If there is more than one winner, 50 percent of that day’s pool is paid out and the rest goes into the jackpot pool.
Action at the claim box was brisk through the first four days of the meet, with 20 horses being claimed for $585,000.
On Saturday, there was an 18-way shake for Velvet Cap, runner-up in race 11, who went to Rick Schosberg. There was a 12-way shake for that race’s winner, Road Agent, who went to Jamie Ness.
As a product of Grade 1 winners A.P. Indy and Island Sand, expectations probably were pretty high for Martini Brother when trainer Nick Zito and owner Len Riggio had him.
But, unable to succeed on the flat, Martini Brother seems to have found a home as a steeplechaser, and on Thursday, he’ll seek his third straight win in the $75,000 Jonathan Kiser Novice Stakes at 2 1/16 miles over national fences.
Trainer James Iselin is hoping the “real Willet” will show up on Thursday when the New York-bred filly makes her second start of the year in the $100,000 Lottsa Talc Stakes, the co-feature on Thursday’s 10-race program at Saratoga.
DEL MAR, Calif. – When trainer Ron Ellis brought Centralinteligence off a long layoff earlier this year, he used two races as preps for the main goal, and saw it all pay off with a victory in the Grade 1 Triple Bend Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park.
Ellis is desirous of similar results with another of his sprinters, Majestic City, who makes his third start off a layoff in the Grade 1, $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes on Sunday at Del Mar.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Ian Wilkes didn’t like what he saw when Fort Larned worked five furlongs in 1:03 and change here last Saturday, so he wheeled the defending Breeders’ Cup Classic champion back out three days later and got the results he was looking for – and then some – as Fort Larned breezed five panels in 1:01.20 over a sloppy track Tuesday.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Goldencents left California for the Kentucky Derby in late April as the state's leading 3-year-old, weeks removed from a sharp win in the Santa Anita Derby.
He returned less than a month later as an afterthought in the division. A 17th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby on May 4 and a fifth in the Preakness Stakes on May 18 left Goldencents without standing among the nation's 3-year-olds.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When it comes to Preakness winner Oxbow, trainer D. Wayne Lukas hopes that by doing less with him in the morning, he’ll get more out of him in the afternoon.
When Oxbow returns to the races in Sunday’s $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, he will look conspicuous by his absence from the work tab. In fact, Oxbow will show just one published workout – a five-furlong move in 1:02 on July 6 at Churchill Downs – in between the Belmont Stakes and the Haskell, a span of 50 days.
The top two finishers in the Grade 3 Arlington Oaks last Saturday at Arlington Park, My Option and Frivolous, could have a rematch in the $75,000 Hatoof Stakes on the Aug. 17 Arlington Million undercard.
