OLDSMAR, Fla. – Will Phipps, who won a race on Friday and then unleashed a promising Unbridled Song 3-year-old filly named Lorelei’s Song on Sunday to win at first asking for his sixth win of the meeting, reports he will not race in New York this summer as he has in the past, instead taking his stable first to Colonial Downs and then on to Delaware when that Virginia oval closes.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – There weren’t many happier people on the planet Sunday night than Charlie Lopresti, who was absolutely ecstatic after watching Wise Dan dominate the Ben Ali Stakes at Keeneland in a record-setting performance after a five-month layoff.
Wise Dan, bred and owned by Morton Fink, earned a 117 Beyer Speed Figure from his 10 1/2-length victory, which came in 1:46.63 and broke both the Polytrack and stakes record.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita completed its 72-day winter-spring meeting on Sunday with a 7 percent increase in total all-sources handle and a 1 percent increase in ontrack attendance and handle compared to the corresponding 70-day meeting in 2010-2011, the track announced. The meet began Dec. 26 and ended Sunday.
Officials at Santa Anita, which is owned by the Stronach Group, did not release handle or attendance figures.
Crossing the Line, a 10-year-old gelding, Grade 2 winner, and for years a favorite at the John Sadler barn, will leave on a winning note. After taking 10 of 20 starts including the Del Mar Mile Handicap in 2007, Crossing the Line has been retired, Sadler said on Sunday.
Crossing the Line won the final start of his career March 22, a $25,000 claimer on the Santa Anita downhill turf course, and was named claimer of the meet at the winter season that concluded Sunday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Potential Kentucky Derby starters Mark Valeski, Optimizer and Isn't He Clever worked after the renovation break at Churchill Downs on Monday, while a fourth, Trinniberg, breezed Monday at Calder. Daddy Nose Best and Sabercat both turned in Derby works earlier that morning.
AUBURN, Wash. – The Pacific Northwest has long been a birthing ground for speed records, and on Sunday at Emerald Downs, a horse bred in Washington, Hollywood Harbor, ran 5 1/2 furlongs on dirt faster than any other horse in the history of North American racing.
