Early in his career, Justin Phillip struggled to master the intricacies of being a racehorse, but at age 5, he has smoothed out the wrinkles.
Justin Phillip was nothing if not professional in winning the Grade 3, $250,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on Saturday at Oaklawn Park. The 6-5 favorite, Justin Phillip got a great trip under leading rider Ricardo Santana, who won the first graded stakes of his career.
Street Girl got past E B Ryder just before the wire to win Saturday’s $100,000 Calder Oaks.
The 1 1/16-mile race, originally scheduled for turf, was shifted to a sloppy and sealed main track. As a result, Summer of Fun, who would have been a heavy favorite, was scratched, along with two other 3-year-old fillies, leaving just five runners.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Java’s War overcame an awful start before gathering himself and streaking down the stretch for a dramatic neck victory Saturday in the 89th running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For much of Saturday’s $300,000, Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland, the race appeared to be a virtual repeat of last year’s running. Daisy Devine, last year’s front-running winner, was again cruising on the lead, poised to lead throughout.
The connections of Get Happy Mister picked a good time to try their horse at two turns for the first time. Breaking on top in the $100,000 Northern Spur Stakes for 3-year-olds on Saturday at Oaklawn Park, Get Happy Mister took an early lead and never let it go, winning by 2 1/4 lengths over favored Looking Cool, with Red Wings another 2 1/4 lengths back in third.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - A day after winning the first Grade 1 race of his career in the $500,000 Apple Blossom, jockey Joe Johnson was suspended three days by the Oaklawn Park board of stewards for his ride aboard victorious On Fire Baby. The ruling issued Saturday afternoon addresses the run into the first turn of the mile and a sixteenth race that On Fire Baby won wire-to-wire by a half-length, over Tiz Miz Sue.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Last Full Measure had none of her nine opponents beaten passing the quarter pole Saturday, but on the wire, the 5-year-old mare had her first stakes victory when she rolled to a 17-1 upset in the Grade 1, $300,000 Madison Stakes at Keeneland.
Making her first start in a one-turn race, Last Full Measure and jockey Corey Nakatani outran Byrama and Joel Rosario in the final 100 yards to win by a neck. Jamaican Smoke, who led most of the seven-furlong race, faded to third, another 1 1/4 lengths back, with Drama Drama along for fourth.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Cluster of Stars kept her perfect record intact while capturing her first graded stakes Saturday, taking a scratched-reduced renewal of the Grade 2, $200,000 Distaff Handicap by 2 3/4 lengths at Aqueduct.
Under the hot-riding Junior Alvarado, Cluster of Stars broke on top and was passed along the inside by Los Ojitos at the three-furlong marker before regaining command of the race in midstretch and drawing clear as the 1-5 favorite.
Miss d’Oro rallied to get second by 1 1/4 lengths over Los Ojitos. Nakano finished last.
There may have been more talent-laden runnings of the Shakertown at Keeneland, but Saturday’s 17th renewal undoubtedly ranks among the most exciting.
In a blanket finish in which the top five finishers were separated by a half-length at the wire, Havelock prevailed by a nose over 2-1 favorite Something Extra in the Grade 3, $100,000 Shakertown on the Blue Grass Stakes undercard.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The team that made history last May in Kentucky returned nearly a year later to wow another big crowd, this time taking the Grade 3 Commonwealth Stakes on the Blue Grass Stakes undercard Saturday at Keeneland.
Owner Paul Reddam, trainer Doug O’Neill, and jockey Mario Gutierrez – the same combination that won the 2012 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs with I’ll Have Another – were the winning connections when Handsome Mike got a terrific outside trip to capture the 27th running of the $175,000 Commonwealth Stakes.
