ARCADIA, Calif. – Defending champion Game On Dude has been assigned top weight of 123 pounds for the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap next Saturday.
The winner of the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 5 in his 2012 debut, Game On Dude will spot his rivals from three to 13 pounds, although that margin could be narrowed if some riders are unable to make lower weight assignments.
PHOENIX - The big question in Saturday’s $75,000 Turf Paradise Derby was whether the local contingent could possibly fend off a strong raiding party from Southern California.
Chalk one up for the locals.
Taylors Deal, making his first start since capturing the Lost in the Fog Juvenile here Dec. 26, led a sweep of the top three spots by the local contingent in the 1 1/16-mile test for 3-year-olds.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The Factor is unbeatable at seven furlongs, the latest evidence a front-running win in Saturday’s $200,000 San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita.
This time, for his fourth career win at the distance, The Factor spoiled the 2012 debut of Amazombie, the champion sprinter of 2011, who could only finish third.
The Factor is the latest success for the red-hot trainer Bob Baffert, who has won with 15 of his last 16 runners dating back to Game On Dude’s win in the San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 4.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark.- Comedero made a triumphant return to the races Saturday at Oaklawn Park, when he won the $50,000 Nodouble in hand in his first start since battling back from a severe infection. He withstood pace pressure in the six furlong race for Arkansas-breds, shook his rival, then cruised home in 1:10.52.
“He’s a racehorse,” said Cliff Berry, who was aboard Comedero for Peter Redekop and trainer Michael Stidham.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Calder based Yara, beaten 22 lengths in her only other graded stakes appearance, withstood a race long pace battle before outgaming Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up Grace Hall by a neck to register a shocking victory in Saturday’s $250,000 Davona Dale at Gulfstream Park.
In the Bonapaw Stakes on Dec. 17, Chamberlain Bridge got the clear outside run, defeating Country Day by one length. The positional tables were turned Saturday in the Colonel Power Stakes as were the results, with Country Day home by a length over Chamberlain Bridge in the $75,000 turf sprint.
Country Day, a 6-year-old Klein family homebred by Speightstown, had lost his last five starts before Saturday’s race, but one of those defeats produced a big payday, when Country Day finished second in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
NEW ORLEANS – El Padrino has been described as extremely laid-back by his trainer, Todd Pletcher, but he showed Saturday in the Grade 2, $300,000 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds that he can be a street fighter, too.
El Padrino outdueled Mark Valeski by a nose following a furious stretch drive, then had to survive a claim of foul by Rosie Napravnik, the rider of Mark Valeski, before being declared the official winner of this prep for the Louisiana Derby on April 1.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – In what trainer Kiaran McLaughlin described as a “pleasant surprise,” the Brazilian-bred Here to Win skimmed the rail en route to a one-length victory over Keertana in Saturday’s $100,000 The Very One at Gulfstream Park. Perfect Shirl finished a distant eighth as the 9-5 favorite making her first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
NEW ORLEANS - Nates Mineshaft, the longest shot in a race named for his sire, pulled off a front-running, upset victory in the Grade 3, $125,000 Mineshaft Handicap for older horses on Saturday at Fair Grounds, a race marred a serious injury suffered by Thiskyhasnolimit, who broke down going to the half-mile pole.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Roman Tiger, a 28-1 shot, slipped through along the rail in the stretch under Angel Serpa and was up in the final strides to top a trio of longshots in the Grade 3, $150,000 Tampa Bay Stakes over a mile and a sixteenth of turf Saturday.
