Jockey Jose Ortiz was taken to North Shore University Hospital on Sunday complaining of back and shoulder pain as a result of a spill in the eighth race of Belmont Park’s closing-day card.
There was a second spill on the card in which jockey Cornelio Velasquez was uninjured after being thrown from his mount, Salsa Mambo, leaving the gate in the ninth race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Dixie Strike, rallying strongly down the center of the track, was a going-away one-length winner of Sunday’s $500,000 Prince of Wales at Fort Erie.
The 1 3/16-mile Prince of Wales is the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown that began with Woodbine’s 1 1/4-mile Queen’s Plate and concludes there with the Breeders’ Stakes over 1 1/2 miles of turf Aug. 5.
Trained by Mark Casse and ridden by Patrick Husbands, Dixie Strike was one of two fillies in the nine-horse field for the Prince of Wales, along with Irish Mission, who was the 8-5 favorite.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Trainer Todd Pletcher scratched Morrow Cove from the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks on Saturday, avoiding a showdown with Grace Hall.
Good call.
Pletcher employed the backup plan, running Morrow Cove instead in the $75,000 Serena’s Song Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Sunday at Monmouth Park.
She came through with a dominant victory, her first in a stakes.
Morrow Cove and jockey Paco Lopez pressed the pace set by Minesave. When Ageless ranged up three wide on the final turn, Lopez turned his filly loose.
It was no contest from there.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Dhaamer gave trainer Mike Mitchell and jockey Julien Leparoux a poignant victory in the $98,000 Sunset Handicap on Sunday, the closing day of the spring-summer meeting at Betfair Hollywood Park.
Sent off as a heavy favorite, Dhaamer had a perfect trip, stalking his three rivals to early stretch before rallying wide to win by 3 1/4 lengths over Romp. Quaintly, who set the pace, finished third, followed by Juniper Pass.
Only four started after the scratch of Renegade Storm.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Cryptic Message held off the favored first-time starter Spring in the Air to win the $150,800 Shady Well Stakes at Woodbine on Sunday.
Cryptic Message ($10.80) led most of the way to take the 5 1/2-furlong dash for 2-year-old fillies by a 1 1/2 lengths, in 1:04.42. Spring in the Air broke slowly from post 1 before closing inside to finish a clear second over another Mark Casse-trained runner, Bold Birdie. Bear’s Pearl checked in fourth in the 10-horse field of Ontario-breds.
The other shoe dropped on the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Sunday when trainer Bob Baffert said Kentucky Derby and Preakness runner-up Bodemeister will miss the July 29 race due to a temperature.
This news came five days after it was revealed that Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags would miss the Haskell – and the remainder of the year – due to a suspensory injury.
Bodemeister was found to have an elevated temperature at Baffert’s stable at Santa Anita on Saturday and was treated with antibiotics.
OMAHA, Neb. – Trainer Dan Coughlin collected his 1,000th career win Saturday at Horsemen’s Park as Osceola Lightning ($6.40) scored by a nose under Luis Ranilla in the fourth race.
Coughlin, who got his first career win in 1965 at the long-closed Madison Downs in Nebraska, also saddled Blue Lion in the race, and the pair battled through the stretch to be separated by a very short nose at the wire. It took several minutes for placing judges to separate the pair in the photo and hang the results.
OPELOUSAS, La. – Prominent from the outset, 6-1 outsider Unitas slowly edged away in the late going to capture Saturday night’s $50,000 Oak Hall Stakes at Evangeline Downs.
Dance Caller, who helped set the early pace while inside the winner, gave ground grudgingly in the late going to finish three-quarters of a length back in second and 1 3/4 lengths in front of favored Crystal Moment who was ridden by a visiting Calvin Borel. Second choice Sweetsouthernmoon came next, while defending Oak Hall champ Southern Style reported home a disinterested seventh in the field of nine.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Trainer John Sadler completed a sensational day at Betfair Hollywood Park on Saturday when Switch returned to her best form and rallied to win the Grade 2, $200,000 A Gleam Handicap, which gave Sadler his third graded stakes win on the day.
After running 1-2 in the Grade 3 Hollywood Juvenile Championship with Scherer Magic and Carson’s Crown early in the day, Sadler struck with back-to-back favorites, Lady of Shamrock in the Grade 1 American Oaks and then Switch.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The rail turned out to be Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith’s friend in Saturday’s $350,000 American Oaks at Betfair Hollywood Park.
Last month, Smith blamed himself for finishing second on Paynter in the Belmont Stakes. Paynter was beaten by Union Rags, who snuck through along the rail in the final sixteenth.
In the Grade 1 American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on turf, Smith rode favored Lady of Shamrock ($5) to a convincing 1 1/4-length win after saving ground throughout the 1 1/4 miles.
