INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Narrowly beaten in the Grade 2 Honeymoon Handicap last month, Trois Aureole handled a drop in class to win her first stakes in Sunday’s minor $69,400 Le Cle Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park.
Ridden by Joe Talamo, Trois Aureole ($4.80) closed from fourth in a field of five to win the one-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies by 1 1/2 lengths over 12-1 Long Face. Lady Ten, the 6-5 favorite, finished third.
Trois Aureole was timed in 1:36.25.
Jockey Mario Gutierrez, who rose to national prominence after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes with I’ll Have Another, said Sunday that he plans to ride sparingly, if at all, during Del Mar.
Gutierrez said he will ride at Hastings Park, with occasional trips to Emerald Downs.
Gutierrez expressed frustration at his lower number of mounts in recent weeks. He traveled on the weeks of the Triple Crown, but has been based at Hollywood Park in the last month.
“I only ride a couple of horses every day,” he said before the races Sunday.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The late summer racing schedule for Hollywood Gold Cup winner Game On Dude will not be finalized until next month.
Saturday, Game On Dude won his third stakes of 2012 in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at Betfair Hollywood Park, holding off stablemate Richard’s Kid to win the race over 1 1/4 miles by 1 1/2 lengths. The win gave trainer Bob Baffert a sweep of the Gold Cup exacta.
Sunday, Baffert reiterated his plans for Game On Dude and Richard’s Kid in coming months. Both will be sent to Del Mar next week, where they will resume training.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – I’ll Have Another made his final public appearance Saturday before a small but appreciative crowd at Betfair Hollywood Park, just days before starting quarantine for stud duty in Japan.
In between the third and fourth races on the same program as the Hollywood Gold Cup, I’ll Have Another was walked in the paddock and paraded on the racetrack.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Mucho Macho Man came out of his authoritative victory in Saturday’s Grade 2 Suburban Handicap in good order and returned early Sunday morning to his base at Saratoga, where he will make his next start.
It remains to be seen, however, whether that next start will come in the Whitney on Aug. 4 or the Woodward on Sept. 1. Both races are Grade 1, $750,000 events run at 1 1/8 miles.
MIAMI – Trainer Curtis Garrison reported that Field Commission suffered a condylar fracture in his right hind leg during the running of Saturday’s Grade 2 Smile Handicap at Calder. Field Commission was scheduled to have surgery Sunday.
Field Commission, who returned from an 18-month layoff to win the Ponche Handicap here four weeks earlier, was stalking the pace of Artefacto when pulled up suddenly by jockey Manny Cruz nearing the half-mile pole of the six-furlong Smile.
ALTOONA, Iowa – Beware the Devil glided up to his favored stablemate Rudy's Edge on the far turn, forged clear into the stretch, and went on to a decisive 5 1/2-length tally in the $99,598 Iowa Stalllion Stakes.
Patiently handled by Alex Birzer, who was registering his meet leading win No. 73, the Lynn Chleborad-trained Beware the Devil outstayed his six rivals while covering the mile and 70-yard distance in 1:43.77.
Highly touted Broken Sword lived up to her advance billing as she scored an 11-length victory in the $53,700 Juan Gonzalez Memorial on Saturday at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton.
The Broken Vow filly brushed the gate coming out under Russell Baze, but was third in a three-way head-and-head pace duel outside of leaders Island Fashion and Set’n On Ready through a brisk 21.81-second opening quarter.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Game On Dude was leading the field into early stretch in Saturday’s $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup at Betfair Hollywood Park when jockey Chantal Sutherland heard Rafael Bejarano closing in on Richard’s Kid.
Bejarano was shouting at Sutherland that he was going to catch her, which only made Sutherland more determined not to let a win in the Gold Cup get away.
“Rafael said, ‘Here I come, Chantal,’” Sutherland said. “I got a little nervous when Rafael said that.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif.- Quiet Oasis has grown up quite nicely during the Betfair Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting.
A filly once prone to being overeager early in her races has learned to settle. The results at the current meeting include a win in the Grade 3 Wilshire Handicap in April, a second in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes in May, and a win in Saturday’s $150,000 Royal Heroine Stakes over a mile on turf.
