Hall o Fame trainer Nick Zito wasn’t quite able to pull off a surprise in last month’s Travers when his 3-year-old Fast Falcon was a rapidly closing third to dead-heat co-winners Alpha and Golden Ticket. Zito also finished a close second with Fort Loudon in the King's Bishop for 3-year-old sprinters.
But Zito did manage to knock off the two favorites in another graded stakes for 3-year-olds on Labor Day.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Apprentice jockey Eswan Flores has been prohibited from riding since Aug. 25 by the California Horse Racing Board because the initial sample from a random drug test came back positive for cocaine, multiple sources close to the situation have confirmed. The status of the split sample from the test, which was administered at the track Aug. 23, was not clear as of Monday.
A pair of lightly regarded maidens, one who had shown little in two previous starts and the other a first-time starter, swept the six-figure stakes for New York-bred 2-year-olds Monday at Finger Lakes.
Tequila Hero ($50) rallied from fifth in the stretch to take the $126,825 Aspirant for colts and geldings. Matchmadein heaven ($36.80) survived an inquiry for a bumping incident in midstretch to upset the $124,888 Lady Finger for fillies.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Shug McGaughey didn’t necessarily expect or even want Hit It Rich on the lead in Monday’s $150,000 Glens Falls. But in the end, the strategy paid off as Hit It Rich led every step of the way to post a comfortable 1 1/2-length victory over Bizzy Caroline in the co-feature on closing day of the 2012 Saratoga racing season.
Inspired beat Bounding Bi by one length on Monday in the $200,000 Turf Amazon for fillies and mares over a soft course at Parx Racing.
Flashing speed as she usually does, Inspired hooked up early with California invader Nechez Dawn right from the start. Inspired pulled clear of that rival entering the turn and was well in front turning for home. Bounding Bi recovered from a bad stumble at the break to get the place spot with a strong inside move.
Sensible Lady, the 7-5 favorite who had won three consecutive stakes coming in, was third.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Over at Doug O’Neill’s barn at Del Mar, the beat has gone on. And on. And on.
Under long-time assistant Leandro Mora, who took over the stable when O’Neill began a 40-day suspension last month, the barn has continued to pile up winners. Entering Monday’s races, Mora already had nine wins, which placed him in a tie for sixth in the standings. Combine his results with those of O’Neill, who had 18 wins before going to the sidelines, and the barn has produced 27 winners, eight more than leader Bob Baffert.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Maggi Moss usually doesn’t keep her really good horses long enough to accomplish this much.
But now that Moss has had her first Grade 1 winner, So Many Ways, she doesn’t sound too eager to part with her.
So Many Ways became Moss’s first Grade 1 winner with a 2 1/2-length victory in Sunday’s $300,000 Spinaway at Saratoga. It was the filly’s third win in as many starts and came six weeks after she won the Grade 3 Schuylerville here on opening day.
Scott Williams is looking forward to his last day as an apprentice rider this Wednesday at Northlands Park. Williams has five mounts on the eight-race card, which begins at 6 p.m. Mountain.
Williams rides Mountain Park for trainer Robert Kingston in a $12,000 claiming race for 3-year-old fillies that will serve as the midweek feature. The one-mile race drew six horses and goes as the fourth race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Wednesday night’s entire eight-race Woodbine card consists of low-level claimers, which makes for some perplexing handicapping puzzles, to say the least.
The sixth-race features some gritty older $16,000 runners, most notably One Big Gator, who should be favored in the 1 1/16-mile route.
One Big Gator finished 15th in the 2011 Queen’s Plate. He was subsequently competitive in Ontario-sired allowance company, but never notched his second win until he dropped to $12,500 last September.
