LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Daisy Devine proved her class when blowing a big early lead before digging in to defeat Julia’s Love in a thrilling stretch-long duel Saturday in the 39th running of the Grade 3, $111,500 Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs.
Calvin Borel guided Daisy Devine, a Grade 1 winner carrying topweight of 122 pounds, to a long lead entering the backstretch of the 1 1/8-mile turf race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Up With the Birds mounted a powerful four-wide rally from sixth to win the $250,000 Coronation Futurity going away under a hand ride from Eurico Da Silva at Woodbine on Saturday.
Up With the Birds ($4.30) collared the favored Star Contender early in the stretch of the nine-furlong route for 2-year-olds, en route to a 3 1/2-length score in 1:51.13. Star Contender stalked a quick pace before finishing a clear second over His Race to Win, who, like Up With the Birds, is owned by Sam-Son Farm and trained by Malcolm Pierce.
MIAMI - Cash Rules had to work a little harder than expected but in the end, the 1-5 favorite got the job done, leading throughout to post a 1 1/2-length victory over He's Spectacular in Saturday's $150,000 Carl G. Rose Classic at Calder.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Ron Ellis had three runners in the Breeders’ Cup, and while none of them won, two finished in the money, and, best news of all for the trainer, it appears all three will remain in training for 2013.
The best-known of Ellis’s trio is Rail Trip, who rallied for second in the Dirt Mile behind Tapizar after finding himself caught in traffic for much of the race.
“It was a tough track to close on,” Ellis said the other morning at Betfair Hollywood Park. “He’s not used to running that way. I was pretty proud of him.”
Captain Genius is at the top of his game, and trainer Joe Woodard feels like Tuesday’s $85,000 Mountaineer Sophomore Sprint is a perfect spot for his 3-year-old to get his third win in four starts at Mountaineer.
“He was in with a super bunch older horses in his last, and although this is a tough race, I think it is an easier spot than his last,” Woodard said.
Woodard noted that the winner of Captain Genius’s last race, St Maximus Gato, “is a well established older sprinter,” and he called the second-place horse, Mega Rush, “a winning machine.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Did they stop making jambalaya down there in New Orleans? What’s with this exodus of Cajun jockeys to south Florida for the winter?
“Pretty funny, huh?” asked Robby Albarado, one of a trio of notable riders who are forsaking their Louisiana homeland and Fair Grounds this winter to ride instead at Gulfstream Park, which starts a four-month meet Dec. 1. “We all have our different reasons for going. I’m just looking to make some inroads with some new people, hopefully pick up a nice 3-year-old.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Take Charge Indy breezed three furlongs Saturday in 35.60 seconds over a fast main track at Churchill Downs with regular rider Calvin Borel aboard, in the colt’s first workout since he finished third in his comeback race, the Oct. 27 Fayette Stakes.
Take Charge Indy and Borel won the Florida Derby before finishing 19th in the May 5 Kentucky Derby, from which the colt exited with an ankle injury. He led most of the way before finishing third, beaten 2 1/2 lengths, in the Fayette at Keeneland.
King Henny fought off a pack of challengers to win the first stakes race of his career Friday night in the $100,000 Clever Trevor for 2-year-olds at Remington Park. The Drifter, the favorite seeking his third stakes win, was pulled up after leading the field through an opening quarter. The race was a prep for the $300,000 Springboard Mile on Dec. 9.
A pair of $125,000 New York Stallion Series races for 2-year-olds share top billing on Sunday’s nine-race program.
The Great White Way division for colts and geldings (race 3) and the Fifth Avenue division for fillies (race 8) each drew seven-horse fields.
Two other Stallion Series races for older sprinters, the Thunder Rumble and Staten Island, were rescheduled for Wednesday after failing to fill.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The pace will be softer but the distance will be farther when sprinter Reneesgotzip stretches to a mile on turf in the Matriarch at Betfair Hollywood Park on Nov. 25.
Reneesgotzip finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita, missing by a 1 3/4 lengths after chasing a blazing pace.
