ETOBICOKE, Ontario – In the wake of sending out Bear Tough Tiger and Bear No Joke for a 1-2 finish here in Sunday’s Grade 3 Kennedy Road, trainer Reade Baker could not recall having furnished a similar stakes exacta during the course of his 101 previous career stakes victories.
It turned out that Baker’s memory was faulty as he won the 2006 Mazarine here with Coy Coyote and saddled runner-up A.P. Reality for different owners.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Taylor Said was named the British Columbia Horse of the Year at the annual awards dinner held last Thursday.
Trained by Troy Taylor, Taylor Said won five stakes races in a row including the Grade 3 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs. One of his most impressive performances was in the 1 1/8-mile B.C. Cup Classic where he romped by 6 1/4 lengths while toting 128 pounds. He was also named the B.C.-bred Horse of the Year and top handicap horse. He was bred by Clive and Linda Lytle and Can-A-Mex Farms.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - There is a pick six carryover of $105,448 for Thursday’s eight-race program at Betfair Hollywood Park.
The pick six was too difficult to hit on Sunday, especially after Better Lucky ($72.20) pulled an upset in the first leg, the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes. A win by Unbridled Command ($16) in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby in Sunday’s ninth race clinched the carryover even though the last race was won by favored Miss American Pie ($5).
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Six months ago, Unbridled Command did not have the poise to wait through the first half of a race and then make a sustained bid when asked by a rider.
Sunday at Betfair Hollywood Park, Unbridled Command did all of that to perfection. Making his Grade 1 debut, Unbridled Command closed from 11th in a field of 14 under jockey Javier Castellano to win the $250,000 Hollywood Derby by 1 1/2 lengths for his fifth consecutive win.
Secret Courage overtook favorite A Dream to Remember for a neck win in the Grade 1, $240,000 Southwest Juvenile Championship for Quarter Horses at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M. on Sunday.
A Dream to Remember, a daughter of the Thoroughbred mare Hallowed Dreams, who won the first 16 races of her career, held second. It was another three-quarters of a length back in third to Sassmaster.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Better Lucky recorded an upset win at 35-1 in Sunday’s $250,000 Matriarch Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park, a result that was almost as shocking as the unfortunate trip that ruined the chances of 8-5 favorite Dayatthespa.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Corey Lanerie was the leading jockey at the Churchill Downs meet, which ended Sunday, with 30 winners, six more than runner-up Shaun Bridgmohan. Lanerie was easily the leader here in the spring, too.
Dale Romans and Ken McPeek tied for leading trainer with 14 winners each in a race that came down to the River City, when Romans sent out eighth-place finisher Guys Reward. It was the 10th time Romans has won or tied for a Churchill title and the second for McPeek.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Capping a huge weekend for jockey Miguel Mena, Keep Up swept past a gang of leaders inside the sixteenth pole to post a 30-1 upset Sunday in the Grade 3, $115,700 River City Handicap on the closing-day program of the 21-day Churchill Downs fall meet.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Bear Stable runners Bear Tough Tiger and Bear No Joke ran one-two Sunday at Woodbine in the Grade 3, $157,000 Kennedy Road Stakes.
Favored Essence Hit Man and Something Extra dueled through fast splits of 21.84 and 44.18 in the six-furlong dash. Something Extra prevailed in the front-end battle before giving way to a stalking Bear No Joke in the stretch, but a wide-closing Bear Tough Tiger was along in time to score by neck in 1:08.77. Something Extra edged out Court of the Realm for third in the nine-horse field.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Nonios has been across the country and back since he last won a stakes, in the Grade 3 Affirmed Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park in June.
Along the way, he has run in some of the nation’s best races, with mixed results. Second in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in late July, Nonios was fifth in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga a month later and sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 3.
When he starts in Saturday’s $250,000 Native Diver Stakes at Hollywood Park, the competition will not be much easier.
