ARCADIA, Calif. – After a brief hiccup, Beholder is back.
Compromised by an ulcer in her throat in her first start of the year, Beholder returned to her best form on Saturday at Santa Anita, leading her seven rivals on a fruitless chase as she romped to a 3 3/4-length victory in the Grade 1, $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Graham Motion and jockey Edgar Prado go back a long way. In fact, the pair have had so much success together over the years that Motion even gets emotional when asked to talk about his long association and friendship with the Hall of Fame rider.
Motion and Prado teamed up yet another time to win a graded stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park with Kitten’s Point, who benefitted from a perfectly judged ride to outlast the unlucky Tokyo Time by a neck in the $150,000 Herecomesthebride.
General Election powered from well off the pace under jockey Albin Jimenez to win his stakes debut Saturday in the 31st running of the $75,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky.
Shipping back to his Kentucky homeland for owner WinStar Farm and trainer Kellyn Gorder after two uninspiring first-level allowance tries at Fair Grounds, General Election returned $28 after finishing the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:46.13 over Polytrack. A field of 11 3-year-olds started, with Star Contender being an early scratch for trainer Mark Casse.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Rosengold has become a brave horse at Santa Anita this winter when allowed to set his own pace.
After winning a maiden race over 6 1/2 furlongs on a wet-fast track on Jan. 26 in his second start, Rosengold won his stakes debut in the $79,500 Baffle Stakes for 3-year-olds on the hillside turf course on Saturday.
Ridden by Martin Garcia, Rosengold ($11) set a modest pace of 22.05 and 44.20 seconds, and held off a late threat from 12-1 Will True Up to win by a half-length. Rosengold ran about 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:12.20.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Comma to the Top was caught late in last Saturday’s San Carlos at Santa Anita, and he was caught late once again in the Tom Fool Handicap on Saturday at Aqueduct. Only this time, the jet-setting Comma to the Top battled back to win by a nose over Saturday’s Charm, thereby putting an exclamation point on a busy week.
Comma to the Top flashed his California speed to grab the early lead while kept well out in the track by Joel Rosario, and ran the first quarter in a manageable 22.92 seconds while pressed by Head Heart Hoof.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Flatter This, who came into Saturday's $60,000 Challenger Stakes off fifth- and 10th- place finishes in his last two outings at Gulfstream Park, came to life with the change of scenery in the 1 1/16-mile featured stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, as he disposed of favored Prospective moving to the final furlong and drew off late for a 2 3/4-length upset of the 22nd running of the stakes for older runners.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - David Wilkenfeld wasn’t alive in the pick six at Aqueduct following Saturday’s Gotham Stakes - he said he didn’t play - but his dreams of the Kentucky Derby were certainly alive and well after the race.
Wilkenfeld, whose stable is named Pick Six Racing, owns Vyjack, who showed a new dimension by rallying from next-to-last in a field of 11 to win Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes to remain undefeated in four career starts.
Most people who live in the Mid-Atlantic region will be glad to say good-bye to Old Man Winter. Maryland-based trainer Ignacio Correas is not among them.
After watching his filly Walkwithapurpose cruise to her fifth straight victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Caesar’s Wish Stakes by 9 1/2 lengths, Correas admitted he would like to see Laurel Park’s winter meet continue for a while longer instead of ending on March 30.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Summer Applause put her disastrous 4-year-old debut behind her as she scored a handy 2 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Top Flight Handicap at Aqueduct.
Under John Velazquez, Summer Applause rallied from fourth position to take the lead in upper stretch, and though she loafed a bit when she struck the front, she was good enough to earn the victory. Twice the Lady, who got into a brief wrestling match with jockey Cornelio Velasquez down the backstretch, outfinished Sunny Desert by a neck for second.
Fusaichiswonderful, the star of Puerto Rico as a 2-year-old in 2012, notched her first mainland U.S. win when she rallied to a convincing 5 3/4-length decision over R Free Roll in Friday’s Primal Force Stakes. Grade 1 winner So Many Ways finished third following a poor start as the 3-5 favorite in her 3-year-old debut.
