Candy Bites prompted a lively pace from the outside and then rallied to a 3 1/4-length win in the $50,000 Babst/Palacios Memorial at Beulah Park Saturday afternoon.
Trained by Jeff Engler, Candy Bites took the lead under Yuri Yaranga entering the stretch of the six-furlong race and extended the margin to the wire. Pacesetter and favorite Klassy Korbin settled for second, a length in front of Raise the Reward in third. Both the second- and third-place finishers were trained by Jeff Radosevich.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A marquee matchup pitting reigning Horse of the Year Wise Dan and crack turf horse Point of Entry failed to materialize Saturday in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs, following the midafternoon scratch of Point of Entry due to a wet turf course.
But Wise Dan did his best to still make the Grade 1, $546,400 Woodford Reserve memorable on the Kentucky Derby undercard, dominating in a 4 3/4-length win over Optimizer.
[DRF LIVE AT THE KENTUCKY DERBY: News updates, photos, videos]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Delaunay absolutely dominated his competition Saturday in the 79th running of the Grade 2, $443,600 Churchill Downs Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard.
With Rosie Napravnik aboard, Delaunay got a perfect stalking trip, tracking Trinniberg past the half-mile pole before gliding past with ease, winning by four lengths for his seventh win in eight starts since being claimed by Tom Amoss on behalf of owner Maggi Moss.
Delaunay, a 6-year-old gelding, returned $5.80 as favorite in a field of nine older horses. He finished in 1:22.35 over a sloppy track.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Stephanie’s Kitten, away from the races for seven months, returned with a flourish, rallying from last under Julien Leparoux to win Saturday’s Grade 2, $288,750 Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs.
Returning to her favorite course, and getting the kind of ground over which she has excelled, Stephanie’s Kitten rallied five wide down the lane and outfinished 2-1 favorite Hungry Island to win by a neck. It was three lengths back to Daisy Devine in third.
The win kept owner-breeder Ken Ramsey on a major roll this spring in Kentucky.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Aubby K gave Ralph Nicks the first Grade 1 victory of his training career when she splashed to a 1 1/2-length victory over Burban in Saturday’s $345,600 Humana Distaff under rainy skies at Churchill Downs.
[DRF LIVE AT THE KENTUCKY DERBY: News updates, photos, videos]
Trainer Cathal Lynch and JMC Stables do not have a very long association. But based on what they have done in a few months, it looks like the start of a successful partnership.
Lynch and JMC Stables are 5 for 10 in their first season working together, with three other starters hitting the board for an 80 percent in-the-money record. The stable’s co-stars have been Gotogo Bye, 2 for 3 since being claimed for $10,000 last October, and the lightly raced 4-year-old gelding Bowman’s Beast, who bids for his third straight win in Monday’s $47,000 feature at Parx Racing.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Berlino Di Tiger put away Southern Dude after an extended early duel, then had just enough left to hold off Chamberlain Bridge in posting an 11-1 upset Saturday in the Grade 3, $138,250 Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs.
Leandro Goncalves was aboard Brazilian-bred Berlino Di Tiger in the five-furlong race, which was run under a steady drizzle and over a turf course labeled “good.” Always prominent from the outside, the 5-year-old horse edged clear leaving the eighth pole, then was just good enough to prevail by a nose.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The versatile filly Scarlet Strike is a stakes winner on turf. She also has placed in stakes on turf, dirt, and synthetic tracks in the last year.
For the next few months, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer wants to focus on Scarlet Strike’s apparent strength, racing her three times in stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf at the Betfair Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting.
Live Lively, winner of the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream, had to be euthanized Saturday morning after fracturing both sesamoids in her left foreleg at the conclusion of a workout at Belmont Park, trainer Mark Hennig said.
Live Lively, who had finished second to Dreaming of Julia in the Gulfstream Park Oaks, was kept out of Friday’s $1 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs and was preparing for a start in the $500,000 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico on May 17.
Two of the most successful mares to have raced at Finger Lakes over the past three seasons, Lisa’s Booby Trap and Nicole’s Miss El, will challenge male sprinters in Tuesday’s allowance feature. The five-furlong race, for horses who have not won an allowance or any race for New York-breds this season, attracted a field of six.
