LEXINGTON, Ky. - Record attendance highlighted Keeneland’s fall meet, which came to a close Saturday with gain in all-sources handle and a small drop in ontrack handle.
Attendance at the Keeneland fall meet totaled 259,710, a rise of 3.8 percent and an average of 15,277 over the 17-day meet, eclipsing last year’s record average attendance of 14,715.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Lady Ten won Saturday’s $100,000 Autumn Miss Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita, giving jockey Rafael Bejarano his seventh stakes win of the autumn meeting.
The feature race next Saturday – the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic - is the one that Bejarano covets.
“I’m pretty excited for next week,” he said of the whole Breeders’ Cup. “We expect to have a good week.”
Bejarano rode Lady Ten for trainer Bob Baffert, who will start projected favorite Game On Dude in the BC Classic. Bejarano has the mount on Game On Dude.
Ain't She a Saint came from near the back of the pack early to rally and win the $200,000 Frances Slocum at Hoosier Park on Saturday, closing night of the 2012 meet.
Trained by Jeff Greenhill, Ain't She a Saint ($9) was seventh in the field of 12 going into the far turn while saving ground. Jockey Malcolm Franklin moved the 3-year-old Indiana-bred Ain’t She a Saint to the outside and asked for her best on the turn and she responded, drawing off to win by seven lengths against older statebred fillies and mares.
The 3-year-old gelding The Pizza Man continued his string of consistent performances in the Illinois-bred ranks by drawing clear in Saturday’s $125,000 Buck’s Boy Handicap at Hawthorne.
In winning for the sixth time in seven races this season, The Pizza Man ($7.60) covered 1 1/16 miles on yielding turf in 1:46.55 while scoring by 2 1/4 lengths under Florent Geroux . His only loss came against open company in the Grade 3 American Derby. A son of English Channel, The Pizza Man races for owner Midwest Thoroughbreds and trainer Roger Brueggemann.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Newsdad, unplaced in four turf marathons since April, found a cutback in distance and shift to Polytrack a cure to his form woes, winning Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Fayette Stakes on closing day at Keeneland.
Off a bit awkwardly, jockey Julien Leparoux allowed Newsdad to relax in last early in the 1 1/8-mile Fayette as Take Charge Indy set lively early fractions of 47.98 seconds and 1:11.74 under mild pressure from Salto. Newsdad remained toward the rear for much of the race, before beginning to gain on the pack on the final turn.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Buffum had run races that would make one believe he was a stakes-caliber horse. But in four previous stakes tries, he came up empty.
On Saturday, Buffum finally broke through in a graded race, leading from start to finish under Eddie Castro to win the Grade 3, $150,000 Bold Ruler Handicap by 1 1/4 lengths at Belmont Park. Little Drama finished second by a half-length over Associate.
ALBANY, Calif. - Grade 1-placed Miss Empire ($3) showed her toughness in the lane, re-rallying to defeat Butterfly Soul by a neck to win the $100,000 Pike Place Dancer in her turf debut at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday.
Heavily favored in the field of six 2-year-old fillies that included two maidens, Miss Empire broke alertly and set the pace under Russell Baze.
Butterfly Soul, who finished 19 lengths behind her in the Grade 1 Chandelier at Santa Anita on Sept. 29, moved three wide on the far turn and stuck her head in front at the quarter pole.
The Maryland-bred Action Andy displayed a tremendous will to win in Saturday’s Frank De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park.
Racing alongside the 3-year-old Il Villano down the middle of the track in the stretch, Action Andy, under jockey Horatio Karamanos, reached the wire first by the tip of his nose to earn his fourth stakes victory this season.
The $350,000 De Francis Dash was the last and richest of six stakes on a Fall Festival of Racing program. The other five stakes were all $150,000 races on turf.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Based primarily on her pedigree, Afleeting Lady was an attractive broodmare prospect, which explains why Jon Clay’s Alpha Delta Stables and Rich Santulli purchased the 5-year-old mare privately this week from owners Bill Lauffer and William Cubbedge.
On Saturday, Afleeting Lady increased her value by capturing her first graded stakes, running past All Due Respect inside the eighth pole and bounding clear to a 3 1/2-length victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 Turnback the Alarm Handicap at Belmont Park.
