INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Paynter’s thrilling comeback win in an allowance race at Betfair Hollywood Park on Friday was more than a brilliant performance. It was very fast, too.
Paynter ran seven furlongs in 1:21.86, earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 114 in his first start since overcoming colitis and laminitis last summer and fall.
On Saturday, trainer Bob Baffert said Paynter emerged from his victory in ideal shape.
“It was nothing for him,” Baffert said. “He handled it really well.”
It’s time for Sentimental Lass to show whether she still wants to race or would be better off beginning a new career as a broodmare.
Unable to regain the form that made her the winner of a $100,000 stakes as a 2-year-old and the runner-up to 2010 juvenile filly champion Awesome Feather in a minor stakes in 2011, the now-5-year-old Sentimental Lass looks to win her first race in nearly two years in Tuesday’s $25,000 allowance feature at Finger Lakes.
Rain continued to fall in the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, area on Saturday, washing out the opening weekend of the 2013 meeting at Marquis Downs.
Marquis Downs races only on Fridays and Saturdays and racing is scheduled to resume this week.
In the last five years, Penn National-based trainer Tim Kreiser has won with only one horse making the switch from a dirt sprint to a turf route. That horse happens to be Relay Bill, who upset the $100,000 Capital City Stakes at odds of 22-1 last August. The now-4-year-old Relay Bill is scheduled to make his first start on grass since that victory in Monday’s sixth race at Delaware Park.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Jockey Shane Laviolette, aboard A Wish for My Lady, achieved his 2,000th career win Friday evening at Prairie Meadows.
Laviolette guided A Wish for My Lady, the 4-5 favorite, to the front in a five-furlong maiden-claiming event for Iowa-bred fillies, and they were never challenged over a sloppy surface for an 8 1/4 length win.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The 64 horses in Woodbine’s Barn 3 all have tested negative for the equine herpesvirus and will be allowed to resume training after being under quarantine since Tuesday.
Barn 1, where the virus first surfaced with the death of a 2-year-old filly on Monday, remains under full quarantine. All horses in both barns will be retested on Monday.
No horses will be allowed to exit Woodbine without Ontario Racing Commission approval until at least June 19.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wise Dan had another sizzling breeze Saturday morning at Keeneland while trainer Charlie LoPresti continued to mull the future possibilities for the 2012 Horse of the Year.
Wise Dan went five furlongs in 58.80 seconds over the Polytrack surface at the Lexington, Ky., track and still is tentatively pointing to the Grade 2 Firecracker at Churchill Downs on the night of June 29, said LoPresti, although that itinerary is subject to change, dependent on what transpired Saturday night in the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill.
Heavy rains created potentially unsafe track conditions and resulted in the cancellation of live racing at Marquis Downs on Friday evening, the scheduled opening day of a 26-day meeting.
A decision on Saturday's card is pending.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Paynter, one of the top 3-year-olds of 2012 who was seriously ill last summer and fall with colitis and laminitis, scored an emphatic victory in his comeback race at Betfair Hollywood Park on Friday.
Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Paynter led throughout a seven-furlong allowance race, pulling away from seven overmatched rivals to win by 4 1/2 lengths in 1:21.86. The allowance race was Paynter’s first start since winning the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park last July.
ELMONT, N.Y. - John Velazquez expressed more relief than joy when he guided Galloping Giraffe from last to first to win Belmont's sixth race Friday, giving the jockey his 5,000th career win in North America.
"Well, finally we get it done, right? Jeez, it took four weeks to do it," Velazquez said. "Great. Put it behind me. Let's move on to the next one."
Velazquez, 41, became the 28th jockey to reach the 5,000-win plateau and the third one this year. Calvin Borel won his 5,000th in March and T.D. Houghton in May.
