ELMONT, N.Y. – John Velazquez felt Air Support was cruising so nicely in behind the pacesetting Bombaguia that he thought he was going to win Saturday’s Grade 2 Bowling Green Handicap at Belmont Park by open lengths.
But when Velazquez pulled Air Support outside and into the clear for the stretch drive, he had a much different feeling.
“He forgot that he was running,” Velazquez said. “That scared the heck out of me.”
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Gantry is “not a definite” to advance to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint after he finished second, beaten two lengths by Delaunay, in the $50,000 Temperence Hill on the Super Derby undercard Saturday at Louisiana Downs.
Blazing Bling probably is the best 2-year-old filly to race in Ohio this year, and she has won multiple stakes races for Ohio-breds over the summer. But purses in the Buckeye State can’t compete with its slots-enhanced neighbors, and when Blazing Bling starts in an allowance race on Tuesday at Presque Isle Downs, she’ll be racing for the biggest pot of her six-start career, $56,000.
Wesley Ward was at Aqueduct on Friday to watch Judy the Beauty breeze, then flew home to south Florida for a couple of days to see his children. Ever on the move, Ward was scheduled to be at Kentucky Downs by Monday afternoon to watch one of his many promising young horses, Holdin Bullets, make a long-awaited return to action.
ARCADIA, California – Acclamation resumed training Saturday morning at Santa Anita, with an outside chance he could still make the Breeders’ Cup. But time is not on his side.
“There’s still a chance he could run in the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Don Warren said Friday. “Everything would have to go perfect.”
Fortunately, everything has gone well the past month for Acclamation as he recovers from a strained ligament that knocked him from training in August and prevented an attempted repeat in the Pacific Classic. The injury was at the back of his left pastern.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Ontario Racing Commission has approved Woodbine’s request to drop 11 Thursdays from the schedule, beginning this week.
Thursday racing had not been conducted at Woodbine since mid-July and the only Thursdays now remaining on the schedule will be Dec. 6 and Dec. 13, the final two weeks of the meeting when entries should be plentiful.
Canadian invader Eternal Rule extended his career record to 6 for 7 when dominating all the running Friday in the $250,000 Presque Isle Downs Mile in Erie, Pa.
Ridden by Jesse Campbell, Eternal Rule took the lead shortly after the start, shook off longshot I’m Steppin’ It Up after turning for home, then finished comfortably ahead of a belated run from Alma d’Oro. The winner returned $6 as favorite after finishing the mile in 1:37.57 over the Tapeta synthetic .
POMONA, Calif. – Upsets were the theme on Friday at Fairplex Park, where the 13-day Los Angeles County Fair meet began with a $16.20 surprise by Candy and Thunder in the $49,000 Beverly Lewis Stakes.
Racing over a dirt track that produced slow times, Candy and Thunder gave jockey Juan Hernandez and trainer Leandro Mora their first stakes wins at Fairplex, and iced a pick-six carryover into Saturday of $18,115.
Candy and Thunder won by three-quarters of a length over 9-10 favorite My Selection, a front-runner compromised by the speed of the track.
DEL MAR, Calif. – If those significant increases in advance deposit wagering for Del Mar’s meeting looked too good to be true, turns out they were.
Del Mar announced late Friday that bets run through advance deposit wagering provider TVG had mistakenly credited an additional $9,681,116 in handle to Del Mar from Aug. 21 through Sept. 3, an error that was discovered during a post-meeting audit.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio – Eyes Super Freaky held off Bold Captain by 1 1/4 lengths to capture the $50,000, 1 1/4-mile Governor's Buckeye Cup on Friday at Thistledown, his third win in a row and second stakes victory this year.
Eyes Super Freaky settled within striking distance four wide while with the second flight under Luis Gonzalez, responded readily when set down on the second turn, and made the lead at the top of the stretch. Bold Captain made a determined late run but could not get to the winner
It was four lengths back to Only Boy in third.
