LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’s always a case of the rich getting richer when Todd Pletcher sends out a winner, but the results of the Coolmore Lexington Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland provided an interesting twist to that familiar scenario.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Considering how little his day-to-day has to do with Chicago racing, Todd Pletcher has carved quite a niche in the Grade 3 Sixty Sails Handicap. Pletcher won his fourth Sixty Sails on Saturday with Disposablepleasure, who, like his previous race winners, Fleet Indian and Life At Ten, looked like a very progressive horse winning here at Hawthorne.
Neither some extremely bad gate manners nor a slow start could prevent Bold Affair from winning the $75,000 Primonetta Stakes at Pimlico for the second straight year.
Bold Affair ($3), the best older female sprinter in Maryland, normally gives the assistant starters trouble loading into the gate. But she was more temperamental than usual Saturday. Jockey Abel Castellano had to dismount and it took five men to finally get the 5-year-old Bold Affair into the gate.
“She always has a hard time to get into the gate,” Castellano said. “I was just glad we finally got in.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Lady of Shamrock won Saturday’s $150,000 Santa Barbara Handicap at Santa Anita in the stewards' room.
After finishing second by 1 1/2 lengths to pacesetter Viva Carina, Lady of Shamrock was put up to first when the stewards reversed the order of finish, ruling that Viva Carina drifted to the inside in the final furlong and interfered with Lady of Shamrock.
Viva Carina was an 8-1 shot; Lady of Shamrock was favored and paid $2.60. Viva Carina ran 1 1/4 miles on turf in 2:00.91.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Outsider Rootham Triple E’s gamely turned back the favored Leinan in the stretch to notch her first stakes win in Saturday’s $168,000 Star Shoot, the opening-day feature at Woodbine.
Just Got In set fast, wind-aided splits of 21.80 and 44.48 seconds, while Rootham Triple E’s stalked in third heading into the turn. Rootham Triple E’s made a two-wide bid for the lead inside the quarter pole and went on to prevail by a half-length in 1:10.87.
Summer Front displayed the form that made him a two-time stakes winner as a 3-year-old last season when he rallied from fourth in the stretch to score as the odds-on favorite in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Miami Mile at Calder.
In his first start of the season last month, Summer Front encountered some traffic trouble and did well to make a late move to pick up a third-place finish against high-priced optional claimers. That prep was clearly enough to have him ready to fire his best shot Saturday.
Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella is preparing the major stakes winners Champ Pegasus and Indy Point for stakes at Hollywood Park.
Champ Pegasus, unraced since a second in the Grade 2 Clement Hirsch Turf Championship in October 2011 at Santa Anita, is a candidate for the $200,000 Charles Whittingham Handicap over 1 1/4 miles on turf June 8.
Champ Pegasus, 7, won the 2010 Clement Hirsch Turf Championship when the race was a Grade 1 and was second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs that year. Champ Pegasus was sidelined by a series of injuries in 2012.
Practically the entire field of seven older sprinters in Tuesday’s $50,000 Clem McFadden Memorial Route 66 Stakes at Will Rogers Downs is coming back quickly from a good performance.
Five horses who were either first or second within the past three weeks are wheeling back for the six-furlong open stakes, including recent restricted stakes winner Johnny Whip and old-timer Humble Smarty, a 17-time winner who returns to his best distance following a strong effort in a two-turn stakes at Oaklawn Park.
Warren’s Amber, the winner of the Evening Jewel Stakes at Santa Anita in 2012, has had five workouts in recent weeks, preparing for an expected 2013 debut in the $125,000 B. Thoughtful Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park on Saturday.
For some trainers, five workouts would not be enough to have a 4-year-old filly ready for the B. Thoughtful, which is run over 7 1/2 furlongs for California-bred fillies and mares. But trainer Jorge Gutierrez thinks Warren’s Amber has gained enough from the workouts, and he is willing to try the race with the filly, owned and bred by Ben Warren.
A pair of Pennsylvania-breds who dominated fellow 3-year-old statebreds will attempt to beat older horses and open company in Monday’s $47,000 feature at Parx Racing.
Patrick S, a six-length winner at Penn National 2 1/2 weeks ago, and Energetico, who beat Patrick S by 3 1/4 lengths in early March, look like the prime contenders in a first-level allowance at 5 1/2 furlongs on the main track.
