MIAMI - Musical Romance may be the most notable older filly and mare stabled at Calder this summer but Angelica Zapata is quickly establishing herself as a star in her own right.
Angelica Zapata returned from an 11-week vacation to dominate six overmatched rivals in Saturday’s $75,000 Stage Door Betty Handicap, drawing off to an easy 7 1/2-length victory over longshot My Pal Crisy for her fourth straight stakes win. Callmethesqueeze finished third.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Bear’s Peak wore down favored Jenna’s Wabbit in deep stretch to take the $125,800 Overskate Stakes at Woodbine Saturday.
Second choice Royal Egbert set moderate fractions of 22.86 and 45.24 seconds while being pressed by Jenna’s Wabbit in the seven-furlong sprint for Ontario-sired stock. Jenna’s Wabbit assumed command from a fading Royal Egbert early in the stretch, before giving way to Bear’s Peak, who scored by 1 3/4 lengths in 1:22.46.
Justin Stein rode Bear’s Peak for the Bear Stable and trainer Reade Baker.
Optimizer spent the first 12 races of his career as a deep closer on dirt. But something happened in his second time on turf that enabled Optimizer to display early speed he had never before shown.
One start after wiring a group that included older horses in a first-level optional $35,000 claimer at Saratoga, Optimizer used his newfound speed to take Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,625 Kent Stakes for 3-year-olds at Delaware Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Amazombie worked six furlongs in 1:13.20 on Saturday, moving closer to a two-race fall campaign designed to defend his title as the nation’s champion sprinter.
Amazombie is scheduled to start in the $250,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 6 followed by the $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 3. Both races are over six furlongs. In 2011, Amazombie won the same races. The Santa Anita Sprint Championship was then known as the Ancient Title Stakes. The BC Sprint was run at Churchill Downs.
Derby Kitten has been freshened and is ready to take on seven other foes in a third-level optional claiming event at Presque Isle Downs on Tuesday evening, according to trainer Mike Maker.
“He is doing very well,” Maker said. “He had a nice work last week.”
Derby Kitten has not been out since May 26, when he finished last in the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap at Churchill Downs going 1 1/2 miles on turf. Maker decided to give Derby Kitten time off after that race, which kept him winless in five races this year.
Hihopesemptypockets got stuck on the also-eligible list when he was entered in a first-level allowance going a mile on Saturday’s Pennsylvania Derby undercard at Parx Racing. Unable to draw into the main body of the field, Hihopesemptypockets was re-entered in a race with the same allowance conditions and the same distance in Tuesday’s Parx feature.
No big deal, right? Well, if you’re counting money, which is the point of the game for both bettors and horsemen, running on Tuesday is a huge difference.
Silverest began her career by losing 18 consecutive races over a span of three seasons. Since mid-July, however, the 4-year-old Silverest has put together a three-race winning streak, which gives her more wins on the main track than the combined records of the five other fillies she faces in Monday’s featured seventh race at Delaware Park.
Despite her seeming advantage in a field where the others are a collective 3 for 18 on dirt, Silverest may be a shaky proposition in a first-level optional $20,000 claimer at a mile and 70 yards.
A change of scenery, and racing surface, has kept Include Me Out on schedule for an important start in the $250,000 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita next weekend.
Saturday at Santa Anita, Include Me Out worked six furlongs on turf in 1:13.80, the first time she has exercised on the surface. Trainer Ron Ellis chose a turf workout at Santa Anita for Include Me Out because of a recent renovation of the Hollywood Park main track.
Hollywood Park reopened its main track for training on Saturday after a week-long renovation that included rewaxing the synthetic surface.
B J’s Estercita, an easy winner the last two times she raced on the main track, looks formidable again despite taking a slight rise in class for Monday night’s featured eighth race at Mountaineer Racetrack.
The one-mile race for fillies and mares is open to third-level allowance horses, nonwinners of four lifetime, and $25,000 claimers. The 5-year-old B J’s Estercita is the only runner among a field of six entered for the optional claiming tag.
