LOUISVILLE, Ky. – While Shackleford strode off into the proverbial sunset by providing a storybook ending to his racing career Friday night in capturing the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, questions lingered the following day about whether the runner-up, Take Charge Indy, also is finished racing and headed for stud duty.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Due to a temperature, Jersey Town has been scratched from Saturday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Cigar Mile - a race he won in 2010 - at Aqueduct and has been retired from racing, according to trainer Barclay Tagg.
Associate, a 20-1 longshot, was also scratched from the Cigar Mile by trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., who said his colt was suffering from an infection in a pastern.
Those scratches leave the Cigar Mile with a field of five topped by the filly Groupie Doll. Also entered are Stay Thirsty, Buffum, Hymn Book, and Coil.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Kindle, a 4-year-old filly by Indian Charlie, won her second stakes in three starts in Friday’s $66,950 Cool Air Stakes for female turf sprinters.
Ridden by Edwin Maldonado, Kindle ($5.40) led throughout the six-furlong race, winning by 2 3/4 lengths over Broken Dreams. Schiaparelli was third in the field of five.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Data Link had a perfect trip under red-hot jockey Garrett Gomez to win Saturday’s $250,000 Citation Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park, the ideal finish to an already successful 2012 campaign for the 4-year-old colt.
The second choice in the betting, Data Link ($7) closed from fourth in a field of seven to win by a convincing 2 1/4 lengths over pacesetter, and 2-1 favorite, Ultimate Eagle. Doubles Partner finished third.
Gomez, who had four wins on Friday’s 10-race program, brought Data Link to the outside in early stretch and got a quick response.
ALBANY, Calif. – Hudson Landing won a head bob from Control Seeker to capture the Grade 3, $100,000 All American Stakes at Golden Gate Fields on Friday.
Hudson Landing’s nose was in front two strides from the wire and was just behind Control Seeker’s one stride later. But in the final stride, it was narrowly in front, giving the 5-year-old Maria’s Mon gelding his second graded stakes victory of the year at Golden Gate Fields. He also won the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile on the turf in April.
Hudson Landing paid $9.20 to win.
A group of horses was allowed to leave the Hawthorne Race Course backstretch Saturday, the first time horses have been permitted to depart Hawthorne since the Illinois Department of Agriculture quarantined the track Oct. 26 after an outbreak of equine herpesvirus.
The horses, trained by Gary Scherer, were bound for a private facility in Kentucky, according to an Internet posting by the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. has a bruised lower back but did not suffer any fractures as a result of a spill in which he was involved during the running of Friday's eighth race at Aqueduct.
Ortiz, 20, was to remain hospitalized overnight at Jamaica Hospital and be released on Saturday, according to his agent, Tony Micallef. He will not ride over the weekend.
Okie Ride shuttled to a 3 3/4-length win over Fifth Date in the $50,000 Silver Goblin Stakes run on a special afternoon card Friday at Remington Park. It was another three-quarters of a length back in third to Ferdie Mac.
Okie Ride ($3) stalked the pace early in the 6 1/2-furlong race for Oklahoma-breds, as Stickrossmountain led through an opening quarter in 22.65 seconds. Fifth Date took over through a half-mile in 45.72, pushed along by an advancing Okie Ride. In the stretch, Okie Ride drew clear, covering distance on a track rated fast in 1:16.62.
NEW ORLEANS - For much of his life, the 3-year-old gelding Unlatch couldn't do anything right. Lately, he can do no wrong.
Unlatch ($8.40) won his third straight race while successfully jumping from allowance to stakes competition in the $75,000 Woodchopper Stakes on Friday at Fair Grounds. He made the lead at the top of the stretch with a sharp move under Jamie Theriot, and held off Aldous Snow by a neck despite seeming to lose his focus in the late stages.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A blazed-faced chestnut named Shackleford went out in a blaze of glory, earning an emotional victory for his connections in the final start of his standout career Friday in the 138th running of the Grade 1, $447,000 Clark Handicap, the annual fall showcase at Churchill Downs.
With hometown trainer Dale Romans and dozens of supporters rooting their hearts out in the shadows of the Churchill lights, Shackleford dug down deep in the stretch to protect his race-long lead, taking the 1 1/8-mile race by a length over his race-long pursuer, Take Charge Indy.
