ARCADIA, Calif .- For a closer, Qaraaba’s wins have little drama.
She closed from last to win her U.S. debut in an optional claimer by a comfortable 1 1/2 lengths at Betfair Hollywood Park on Nov. 15. In her graded stakes debut in Sunday’s $150,000 Robert Frankel Stakes at Santa Anita, Qaraaba rallied from last of nine to win the Grade 3 race by 1 1/4 lengths with something in reserve.
Ridden by Julien Leparoux, Qaraaba ($7.20) finished 1 1/8 miles on a good turf course in 1:49.20.
The Quarter Horse champion Prospect to the Top won his second consecutive Grade 1 race on Sunday, when he led throughout in the $350,000 Championship at Sunland Park. He won by a half-length over Jess Featureme Quick, while it was another half-length back in third to First Blazin Love.
Prospect to the Top ($7) came into the Championship off a 1 3/4-length win in the Grade 1 Zia Park Distance Championship on Dec. 2. In the race Sunday, he covered 400 yards on a track rated fast in 19.03 seconds. Oscar Rincon rode Prospect to the Top for Joel Tavarez and trainer Brandon Muniz.
With a 2-year-old and a veteran 4-year-old, trainer Peter Miller won races at Santa Anita on Saturday with horses who could be part of major stakes in coming months.
Miller won a maiden race over a mile on the main track with Appealing Tale, who was racing around two turns for the first time. Later in the day, Comma to the Top won the sixth race of his career in the $100,000 Daytona Stakes over six furlongs.
Flashback, one of Bob Baffert’s top 3-year-old prospects for 2013, has resumed training after missing a workout last Friday because of concern over his condition.
Flashback was moments from a workout when jockey Martin Garcia and Baffert decided, via radio communication, to abandon the workout. At the time, Flashback did not have a fluid motion in his hind end. After being observed at the barn later that morning, no injuries surfaced.
Baffert said that Flashback galloped on the main track on Saturday and Sunday, and was scheduled to undergo a nuclear scan test on Monday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Paynter, the Grade 1 winner who battled colitis and laminitis in the second half of 2012, returned to trainer Bob Baffert’s stable at Santa Anita on Saturday evening.
A 4-year-old in 2013, Paynter will resume training this winter for an intended return to racing. Just having Paynter back in the barn after two serious ailments has been an inspiration, Baffert said on Sunday
“I can’t believe he’s alive,” Baffert said. “He’s really tough, mentally tough. He’s a tough sonofagun.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - What a difference a year makes.
Due to a quirk in the schedule, the restricted Ocala Stakes was run twice in 2012. The first time, on Jan. 8, Successful Song finished seventh and last, beaten more than 20 lengths. The second time, on the final racing day of the 2012 season at Gulfstream Park, Successful Song rallied to defeat the 4-5 favorite Golden Mystery, perhaps closing out her career, with a half-length triumph in the Ocala.
Populist Politics recaptured his best form Saturday night at Delta Downs, when he darted to a 2 1/2-length win over Idefromthebayou in the $70,000 B-Connected. The win came one start after Populist Politics ran an uncharacteristic 10th as the favorite in the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic at Fair Grounds.
The B-Connected was restricted to Louisiana-breds who had not won a stakes in 2012.
Storms Surprise pulled a 19-1 upset in the $85,000 Red Hedeman Mile at Sunland Park on Saturday, when he darted to a 4 2/3-length win over 4-5 favorite Attila’s Hurricane. It was another neck back in third to Indication N M.
The race was for 2-year-olds bred in New Mexico.
Storms Surprise ($40.80) settled off the pace set by Attila’s Hurricane, who led the field through fractions of 23.84 seconds for the opening quarter and 46.84 for the half-mile. Storms Surprise took over after six furlongs in 1:11.51, and went on to cover the mile on a track rated fast in 1:38.54.
ARCADIA, Calif. - With a new jockey, Comma to the Top was up to his old habits on Saturday, racing bravely on the lead to win the $100,000 Daytona Stakes on a wet-fast main track at Santa Anita.
Comma to the Top won his sixth stakes in the Daytona, and surpassed $1 million in career earnings. He has earned $1,027,696 in his 25-race career.
Luzianna Man capped an unforgettable year for trainer Charlie Lopresti when he overtook the filly Yankee Union in the final strides to post his first stakes victory Saturday in the $50,000 Holiday Cheer at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky.
“When he got in gear, he really took off,” said Lopresti, whose year has been highlighted by the exploits of the likely 2012 Horse of the Year, Wise Dan. “He’s even a lot better horse than he showed in this race.”
