MIAMI - Trainer Stanley Gold would rather have seen Saturday’s $75,000 Judy’s Red Shoes Stakes run on a firm turf course or switched to the main track rather than having it left on a course rated somewhere between “good” and “yielding.” But no matter the surface, nobody was beating Gold’s top 3-year-old filly Awesome Belle on this day.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – Maid of Heaven, bred and owned by the Dreamfields Farm of Steve Cauthen, held off Charming She Is to post her first stakes victory Saturday in the inaugural running of the $75,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon at turf-only Kentucky Downs.
Ridden by Leandro Goncalves, Maid of Heaven surged into contention with a quarter-mile to go in the 1 5/16-mile race before having just enough left to last by a head over Charming She Is. Fleur de Lilly was another neck back in third in a field of seven.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The pick-six went unhit Saturday for a second consecutive card at Belmont Park, resulting in a two-day carryover of $164,621 entering Sunday’s 10-race program.
The pick-six Sunday begins with race 5 (2:52 p.m. Eastern) and will be an all-turf affair.
No one hit the wager on Friday, which resulted in a $33,443 carryover into Saturday’s card. The double-carryover was sealed Saturday when longshot specialist Wilmer Garcia, a seven-pound apprentice, guided Boyz Night ($80) to victory in the nightcap.
Charged Cotton proved she could handle two turns last time out when she stretched out from 5 1/2 furlongs to a mile. Saturday, she handled an even longer distance while winning her stakes debut.
Sent off the 7-5 favorite in a field of 10 Maryland-bred fillies and mares, the 3-year-old Charged Cotton ($4.80) rallied from fifth to post a 1 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 All Brandy Stakes at Laurel Park.
ELMONT, N.Y. – If there was one concern trainer Chad Brown had regarding Samitar entering Saturday’s Grade 1 Garden City Stakes at Belmont Park, it was the filly’s ability to get the distance of 1 1/8 miles.
In her first start at the distance, Samitar showed it was no problem as she took the lead from Ciao Bella inside the sixteenth pole and then outgamed Somali Lemonade to the wire to win the $300,000 Garden City by a head. It was 1 3/4 lengths back to Tannery in third.
MIAMI - The leaders of the local 2-year-old division met with mixed results Saturday at Calder after Rose to Gold dominated the $100,000 Brave Raj Stakes for juvenile fillies but Sr. Quisqueyano suffered his first defeat at the hands of Itsmyluckyday in the $100,000 Foolish Pleasure.
Rose to Gold launched her career with a sensational 13-length victory in the one-mile Lindsay Frolic and came back on three weeks’ rest with a similarly lopsided 13 1/2-length decision over Caraquista and a thoroughly overmatched field of 2-year-old fillies in the one-mile and 70-yard Brave Raj.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The aptly named Kentucky shipper I’m Boundtoscore led all the way to post an upset in the $251,000 Summer Stakes at Woodbine on Saturday, earning a fees-paid trip to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in the Win and You’re In contest.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When it comes to running in stakes races, trainer Christophe Clement has often been accused of being on the conservative side, only entering when his horses are live on the toteboard.
So, Clement took some satisfaction Saturday when Naples Bay, dismissed at 13-1, held off a late challenge from 6-5 favorite Dealbata to win the Grade 3, $150,000 Noble Damsel by 1 1/2 lengths at Belmont Park.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Smoke the Devil rallied to win the $76,750 Charles Hesse III Handicap, the richest of three stakes Saturday during Monmouth Park’s 10th annual New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival.
The 10-race card was devoted exclusively to statebreds on a crisp afternoon. Elvis Trujillo had a big day, winning a pair of stakes on a chalky day as the favorites came through in all three.
Hermosillo, winner of the Hesse in 2009 and 2011, made a bold bid for a third victory. The 8-year-old led the way into the lane before weakening to finish third.
