Wed, 09/12/2012 - 23:48

Fairplex Park: Triple-carryover pick six yields 32 winning tickets; Pedroza in spill

POMONA, Calif. – Order was restored Wednesday evening at Los Angeles County Fair, where the pick six that began with a $214,764 triple carryover finally was hit.

Bettors poured $1,165,895 into the pick six, which returned $25,817.80 to 32 winning tickets.

While form settled on the twilight card, the Fairplex jockey colony went into disarray. Martin Pedroza, the track’s all-time leader with 691 wins, went down in a spill in race 7 and was transported to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center for X-rays.

Wed, 09/12/2012 - 17:45

Arlington Park notes: Nates Mineshaft back to work

Reed Palmer Photography
Nates Mineshaft got a break from the summer heat.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Nates Mineshaft, who hasn’t raced since a close third-place finish in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster on June 16, is back in steady training. He posted a three-furlong workout Sept. 5 at Arlington, and is being pointed to the $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup on Oct. 8.

“We gave him a little freshener during the heat of the summer,” said trainer Austin Smith. “He seems to be doing all right. He’s a pretty cool character.”

Wed, 09/12/2012 - 17:28

Churchill Downs notes: Shackleford has bullet breeze

Tom Keyser
A minor illness kept Shackleford out of the Forego.

Shackleford took a big step toward getting back to the races by breezing a bullet half-mile in 46.60 seconds Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs. The 4-year-old colt had not breezed since coming down with a minor illness, forcing him to be scratched as the morning-line favorite from the Sept. 1 Forego at Saratoga.

“He’s back doing good again,” said trainer Dale Romans. “That little setback we had is behind us.”

Wed, 09/12/2012 - 17:19

Arlington Park: Rare Event a speedy part of diverse Pucker Up cast

Coady Photography
Volcat wins the Grade 3 Virginia Oaks last time out.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Earlier this month, Keeneland-based trainer Phil Oliver invaded Arlington Park with a relatively unknown 4-year-old gelding and took home first money in the Grade 3 Washington Park Handicap when Middie won in a romp at odds of 14-1. This weekend, it is Vicki Oliver, Phil’s wife, who is coming to Chicago to try a graded stakes. Bettors should be so lucky to get anything close to 14-1 on Rare Event, Oliver’s entrant in Saturday’s Grade  3, $175,000 Pucker Up Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Wed, 09/12/2012 - 17:08

Belmont: La Cloche back home for Noble Damsel

Tom Keyser
La Cloche has collected three of her four career victories at Belmont.

One thing La Cloche has in common with her Grade 1-winning younger sister Winter Memories is a fondness for the turf courses at Belmont Park. Saturday, La Cloche returns to her preferred surface when she faces eight opponents in the Grade 3, $150,000 Noble Damsel Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile.

Wed, 09/12/2012 - 16:37

Belmont: Karlovy Vary recovers quickly enough to make Garden City

Barbara D. Livingston
Karlovy Vary will compete for the first time since July 29 when she runs in Saturday's Garden City Stakes.

ELMONT, N.Y. – What looked to be the ideal spot for Karlovy Vary turned out to be anything but when she came out of her third-place finish in the Nani Rose Stakes on July 29 at Saratoga with a significant cut to the cannon bone of her right foreleg, an injury that could have been a lot worse.

“We got lucky,” trainer Rusty Arnold said. “It missed the suspensory by a quarter of an inch.”

Wed, 09/12/2012 - 16:21

Emerald Downs: Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds clash

AUBURN, Wash. – While it’s not the feature race, and the purse is just $4,600, the first race at Emerald Downs on Friday night could be the most entertaining race on the card. An eclectic group of six $7,500 claimers – three Thoroughbreds, three Quarter Horses – will compete over 870 yards, the first such race of the meeting and just the fifth race for Quarter Horses this summer as Emerald winds toward the end of its 81-day meeting Sept. 23.

Wed, 09/12/2012 - 16:02

Remington Park: Conkigo will have to be caught in Turf Sprint

The $50,000 Remington Park Turf Sprint for Oklahoma-breds on Friday night is a simple read: Conkigo is the speed of the race. He established himself as such with a front-running win in the $49,000 allowance prep for the five-furlong stakes Aug. 24. It came one start after Conkigo wired open-company rivals in an optional $20,000 claiming sprint at Will Rogers Downs.

“He is best going to the front,” said Martin Lozano, who trains Conkigo for Gary Owens.

Wed, 09/12/2012 - 15:55

Fairplex: Fightin Mean Mad looks tops in Shepherd

POMONA, Calif. – A buying spree at the inaugural Del Mar paddock sale in late July produced two big winners already for trainer Jeff Bonde.

Perhaps the best is yet to come.

Fightin Mean Mad, the $200,000 sale-topper, makes her first start for Bonde and owner Jerry Durant in the Phil D. Shepherd Stakes for 2-year-old fillies Friday at Fairplex Park. The $50,000 stakes is hers for the taking.

“We paid a lot of money for her, and hope she can do something special,” Bonde said.

Wed, 09/12/2012 - 15:46

Belmont: Sunny Desert returns to route in Judy Soda

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Sunny Desert will make her first start at one mile since breaking her maiden at Aqueduct in March.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Though Sunny Desert has won her last two starts sprinting, trainer John Parisella has always felt the 3-year-old filly is better going a route of ground.

Friday, Sunny Desert gets the chance to stretch out to a mile for the first time since winning a maiden race at Aqueduct by 15 1/4 lengths in March when she runs in the $85,000 Judy Soda Stakes at Belmont Park.

Sunny Desert, a daughter of Wild Desert, takes on seven rivals in the Judy Soda, carded as the fifth of nine races here on Friday.