Isn’t He Clever was a blowout winner of the $75,000 San Juan County Commissioners Handicap at SunRay Park in Farmington, N.M., on Sunday, leading throughout for a 16 3/4-length win.
Casa de Cambio, his uncoupled stablemate, finished second to give owners J. Kirk and Judy Robison and trainer Henry Dominguez a sweep of the race’s top two spots. The $2 exacta paid $21.40.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The two Grade 1 races at Betfair Hollywood Park on Saturday will have small fields.
As of Sunday, there were five probable starters for the $300,000 Shoemaker Mile on turf and five or six candidates for the $250,000 Triple Bend Handicap over seven furlongs on the synthetic main track.
The 2012 winners of both races are back this year.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Rosengold extended his streak of stakes wins to three in Sunday’s $74,670 Tsunami Slew at Betfair Hollywood Park, a race that featured a more desperate finish than his previous victories.
At Santa Anita in March, Rosengold won the Baffle Stakes for turf sprinters by a length and the Pasadena Stakes over a mile by a half-length. The Tsunami Slew was his first start since the Pasadena Stakes on March 29. Rosengold ($3.60) was fully extended to hold off a late surge by 2-1 Pure Loyalty, winning by a neck in the one-mile turf race for 3-year-olds.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Riding the River won the 111th running of the Grade 2 King Edward Stakes for the second year in a row under Todd Kabel at Woodbine on Sunday.
Riding the River ($4) stalked the leaders in fourth on the backstretch in the one-mile turf route and then made a three-wide bid into contention on the turn. He hit the front early in the stretch before holding off a determined Valentino Beauty to score by a head in 1:33.24 over ground that was upgraded to firm before the race.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Just two weeks after his victory in the Belmont Stakes, Palace Malice got back to work Sunday, breezing a half-mile in 49.45 seconds by himself over the Belmont training track.
“He came out of the Belmont so well, and I was getting ready to ship him up to Saratoga,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I just felt like he was telling me to give [him] a breeze, so we did.”
Pletcher said Palace Malice got his final quarter in 24 seconds “and looked great doing it, very much in hand.” Pletcher is pointing Palace Malice to the Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 27.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The top 3-year-old fillies on the East Coast could be headed for a showdown in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 20 at Saratoga, their connections indicated Sunday.
Close Hatches, the 7 1/4-length winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Mother Goose over 1-5 favorite Dreaming of Julia, is expected to make her next start in the $300,000 Coaching Club, a 1 1/8-mile race around two turns, trainer Bill Mott said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Five of the leading candidates for the Queen’s Plate breezed on the main track here Sunday, as Nipissing, Dynamic Sky, Spring in the Air, His Race to Win, and Up With the Birds all got in their penultimate workouts.
The $1 million Queen’s Plate, a 1 1/4-mile race for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, will be run July 7.
Nipissing, the winner of the June 9 Woodbine Oaks for trainer Rachel Halden, was clocked in 48.20 seconds for her four furlongs under regular rider Steven Bahen.
Jax and Jill looked far superior to her competition on paper and that’s exactly how it played out on the racetrack Saturday night at Charles Town. A 3-year-old West Virginia-bred filly ridden by Gerald Almodovar for trainer Scott Lake and owner Robert Cole Jr., Jax and Jill ($2.20) cruised to a nine-length victory in the $50,800 It’s Binn Too Long Stakes.
In winning for the sixth time in eight lifetime starts, Jax and Jill ran 4 ½ furlongs in 50.85 seconds and raised her bankroll to $171,425. Three of her wins have come in stakes restricted to West Virginia-breds.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fittingly on a Western-themed nighttime Saturday card at Churchill Downs, one even including jockeys riding a mechanical bull between races, it was a Texas-bred filly, Fiftyshadesofgold, who proved an eight-length winner of the $113,400 Debutante for 2-year-old fillies.
