Not even a poor start could prevent Whiskey Romeo from winning his third straight race.
Despite stumbling coming out of the gate and nearly unseating jockey Stewart Elliot, Whiskey Romeo made the lead and cruised to a 2 1/4length victory in Saturday’s $101,500 Marylander Stakes for 2-year-olds at Laurel Park.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Purple Egg ran down heavily favored Brave Dave in deep stretch to come away with a hard-earned length victory in the $75,000 Inaugural Stakes, the co-feature on opening day of the Tampa Bay Downs meeting.
Under strong handling by Roberto Alvarado Jr., Purple Egg ralllied outside into the furlong grounds of the six-furlong stake for 2-year-olds and collared Brave Dave in the final 40 yards.
The win was the third straight for Purple Egg and follows tallies at Monmouth Park and Parx Race Track.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Singlet ended her 3-year-old season the way she started it - with a sprint stakes victory at Aqueduct.
Receiving a stalking trip from Mike Luzzi, Singlet took over from Curlina at the five-sixteenths pole, opened up a clear advantage in upper stretch, and had more than enough to hold off the late-running Kid Kate to win the $75,000 Garland of Roses by 1 1/4 lengths.
The race for Zia Park’s training title is a tight one between Justin Evans and Henry Dominguez, and there is a chance it could be decided Tuesday in the $55,000 Truth or Consequences. Both men have starters in the overnight stakes for 2-year-old fillies that goes as the 10th of 11 races on the closing-day card in Hobbs, N.M.
New York-based trainers Bruce Levine and Richard Dutrow Jr. will be making high-percentage moves when they bring in contenders for Monday’s $50,000 feature at Parx Racing.
Itsagoodtendollars, claimed by Levine for $50,000 on behalf of Mike Repole last March, will take a substantial class drop and shorten from a mile to 6 1/2 furlongs for Monday’s second-level optional $25,000 claimer. The Dutrow-trained 3-year-old Charlie’s Quest will be coming back just four days after winning a one-mile race at Aqueduct.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The losses are starting to accumulate for Willa B Awesome, the top 3-year-old filly in Southern California during the first four months of 2012.
Since winning the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks in March and the Melair Stakes for California-bred fillies in April, Willa B Awesome is winless in four starts.
She will be expected to reverse that trend in the $200,000 Bayakoa Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park on Saturday, trainer Walther Solis said. The Grade 2 Bayakoa Stakes for fillies and mares is run over 1 1/16 miles on the main track.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The long drive up the turnpike from Calder Race Course to Payson Park didn’t seem quite so bad on Friday night for trainer Philip Oliver – not after his 19-1 Closing Range had led throughout several hours earlier to upset the La Prevoyante Handicap for the first graded stakes win of her still young career.
Midnightlowdown paid $163.60 to win in a stakes on the $2 million New Mexico Cup program when last seen in action at Zia Park. He’s back in the track’s entries on Monday, to lead an allowance sprint for New Mexico-breds that highlights the penultimate card of the meet in Hobbs, N.M.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Another horse died at Hawthorne Race Course on Saturday morning after displaying symptoms consistent with the equine herpesvirus that has killed four other animals and disrupted the track’s fall-winter race meeting since mid-October.
Test results that would confirm the presence of the virus won’t be available until Tuesday, but the horse was found down in its stall and unable to rise. Equine herpesvirus, or EHV-1, in its gravest form causes a loss of coordination and inability to stand.
Todd Pletcher’s roster of soon-to-be 3-year-olds grew deeper Friday night when Capo Bastone, the third-place finisher in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, arrived in the trainer’s barn at the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida.
Previously with John Sadler in Southern California, Capo Bastone went 1 for 4 on that circuit with a maiden win at Del Mar, followed by a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity and a third in the Grade 1 FrontRunner at Santa Anita prior to his third in the Juvenile.
