Sadie’s Soldier, under patient handling by Diego Saenz, rallied out of the final turn and drew steadily clear the final furlong to successfully defend his title in the $50,000 John Henry Stakes on Saturday night at Evangeline Downs.
Bauers Got Hours also turned in a late run to finish second, 5 1/4 lengths back and a neck in front of Its Mr Slew to You, who was a head better than 7-5 favorite Quality Control.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Forty Tales and Capo Bastone capped a sensational run-up to the 139th Kentucky Derby for trainer Todd Pletcher by finishing one-two in the 89th Derby Trial on a chilly, rainy opener to the 38-day Churchill Downs spring meet Saturday night.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A string of tricky winners at Betfair Hollywood Park on Saturday has led to a pick six carryover of $120,940 for Sunday’s program
Sunday’s pick six covers the fourth through ninth races on a nine-race program that begins at 1 p.m. Pacific.
There is also a carryover of $20,789 in the $1 super high five on Sunday’s ninth race.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Jockey Rafael Bejarano is closing in on his 3,000th career win in a hurry.
Saturday, he won three races at Betfair Hollywood Park, all stakes on California Gold Rush Day, including the $300,000 Snow Chief Stakes with Surfcup.
Through Saturday, Bejarano, 30, has 2,989 wins. He won four races at Hollywood Park on Friday to take an early lead in the spring-summer meeting that began on Thursday.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Heavily favored Evelyn’s Dancer paid $3.40 for her front-running win over Overvalued in the 6 1/2-furlong $50,000 Brighouse Belles for fillies and mares at Hastings Saturday.
Breaking alertly from her outside post in the seven-horse field, Evelyn’s Dancer carved out honest fractions of 22.48 and 45.64 seconds over a sloppy track that clearly favored speed. Overvalued made a strong bid on the stretch turn, but was easily repelled by Evelyn’s Dancer. Terlani made a late move to finish third.
PHOENIX – Red Zeus validated his heavy favorite status at Turf Paradise on Saturday, but it wasn’t easy. The 3-year-old Red Zeus captured the $56,129 Gene Fleming Breeders’ Derby, one of five stakes on Arizona-bred Day at the Phoenix track.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Curvy Cat, a former $8,000 claimer, gave trainer Jerry Hollendorfer his third stakes win on Saturday’s California Gold Rush program at Betfair Hollywood Park in the $126,000 B. Thoughtful Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares.
Hollendorfer expects even more in the future from the 4-year-old Curvy Cat, who her first stakes in the B. Thoughtful over 7 1/2 furlongs.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Six different riders and six different trainers won the six stakes races for Illinois-breds on Saturday at Hawthorne, and on an afternoon when wealth got shared all around, the 3-year-old filly My Option looked like a horse who would be taking home plenty more loot - in Illinois-bred stakes, if not beyond – before her career is out.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Diamond Joe became the first Nebraska-bred to capture the $84,000 Bosselman/Gus Fonner Stakes in what was one of the most stirring runnings in the 24 years of the event.
Diamond Joe was the slight favorite 2-1 over California invader Joy Boy in the field of eight older horses going a mile and a sixteenth. Trained by Chuck Turco and ridden by Jake Olesiak, Diamond Joe displayed the same sort of grit he showed last year in winning nine consecutive races and earning a berth in the Oklahoma Derby.
