SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Sweltering weather played havoc with the holiday plans at Canterbury Park on July 4 with all activities being moved to Saturday, including the wiener dog championships, a hot dog eating contest and the $75,000 Northbound Pride Oaks.
The Northbound Pride will be contested at one mile over the turf course and has a field of six, one fewer runner than the original draw.
Last early in a compact field of five, favored Bailouttheminister ($4.80) made a strong move in the stretch to wear down leader Ain't No Other to score his first stakes victory in the $79,300 Sam J. Whiting Handicap at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, Calif., on Wednesday.
Guam Typhoon made setting a track record for six furlongs at Colonial Downs look effortless during Wednesday’s $50,000 Chesapeake Stakes.
Sent directly to the front by jockey Daniel Centeno, the 6-year-old Guam Typhoon ($2.60) was hand-ridden to the wire while coasting to a 2 3/4-length victory in track-record time of 1:07.86. The old record of 1:07.97 was set by Immortal Eyes on July 3, 2011.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A slow pace in the first half of Wednesday’s $150,000 Swaps Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park gave Blueskiesnrainbows a comfortable one-length lead, but did little to convince jockey Joe Talamo that the race was over.
“We were walking,” Talamo said. “I didn’t know if that was slow enough the way the track has been playing. Not too many horses have been winning on the front.”
MIAMI – An inch was as good as a mile for odds-on favorite Frolic’s Revenge in Wednesday’s $55,000 Sweettrickydancer Stakes at Calder.
After winning her previous start, the Regal Gal, by 17 lengths, Frolic’s Revenge had to dig down deep before grinding out a nose decision over pacesetter Montessa G. in the one-mile Sweettrickydancer. Frolic’s Revenge, a homebred daughter of Vindication, ran down the leader, despite drifting out through the final sixteenth of a mile under jockey Luis Saez.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Get Serious uncorked a vintage effort, holding off the persistent El Commodore by a half-length on Wednesday to capture the Grade 3, $101,000 Red Bank Stakes on the turf at Monmouth Park.
The victory was the first for the 8-year-old gelding since the 2010 Red Bank. In between, the New York-bred career winner of just under $1.1 million fell out of sorts because of a leg infection and a series of softened courses that compromised his front-running style.
On Independence Day, Get Serious boldly proclaimed his comeback.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Bill Mott said he had no choice but to run Clear Attempt in Wednesday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Poker Stakes at Belmont Park.
“They forced me to do it,” Mott said, referring to the racing office. “The allowance races haven’t filled. So I said let me nominate to this. It wasn’t an impressive [field]. We took a shot.”
Jockey Leandro Goncalves knew what he was doing making the trip from Kentucky to ride just one horse on the July 4 holiday card at Delaware Park.
Cayllano made Goncalves’s trip worthwhile when she breezed to her second straight impressive victory in the $50,000 White Clay Creek Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.
Karma Police, claimed for $14,000 four months ago, became a stakes winner when she shipped to Finger Lakes to score in Wednesday’s $50,000 Niagara Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies.
Ridden for the first time by local jockey Pedro Rodriguez, Karma Police ($6.20) made a three-wide move to go after early pacesetter Saichi Sweepin, the 4-5 favorite, and got within a head of the leader after a half-mile in 45.09 seconds. Karma Police took command in midstretch and drew clear to win by 2 1/2 lengths while covering six furlongs in 1:11.76.
MIAMI – There will be 11 betting interests in Saturday’s Grade 1 Princess Rooney Handicap, six of whom are stablemates from the barn of trainer Marty Wolfson. And as of Wednesday, Wolfson said he intended to run his entire six-pack.
