OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The last time Pretension shipped to New York from Maryland, he suffered a narrow loss to Swag Daddy in the Damon Runyon Stakes at Aqueduct.
Saturday, two months after that loss, Pretension earned a modicum of revenge, taking the lead in midstretch from Sportswriter and holding off a late challenge from 3-4 favorite Swag Daddy to take the $75,000 Sweet Envoy Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths over Aqueduct's inner track. Swag Daddy got past Sportswriter to get second by one-half length.
Lacie Slew made a wide move under rider Joe Rocco Jr. leaving the eighth pole and went from fourth in a field of five to the one-length winner of Saturday's $100,000 Maryland Racing Media Stakes.
The 8-1 Pilot Point Lady made the early pace in the 1 1/8-mile Maryland Racing Media, setting fractions of 24.88 seconds, 48.67, and 1:13.01, with the 6-5 favorite, Acting Happy, in close pursuit while Rocco saved ground aboard Lacie Slew. Pilot Point Lady led Acting Happy by a head entering the stretch. Those two bumped a furlong out, and Acting Happy would fade to fourth.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Just call it the Todd Pletcher Hutcheson.
Pletcher won the 3,000th race of his training career earlier on Saturday’s card. Six of those victories had come in Gulfstream Park’s seven-furlong Hutcheson. A couple of hours later, Pletcher got his seventh Hutcheson trophy after Thunder Moccasin cruised to an easy and popular 6 3/4-length victory over Il Villano in the Grade 2 dash for 3-year-olds.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jonathan Sheppard said a combination of a week’s worth of bad weather and the prospects of a wet track prompted his decision to scratch Kentucky Derby hopeful Ever So Lucky from his much-anticipated 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s seven-furlong Hutcheson at Gulfstream Park.
“He needed some good, strong gallops during the week, especially after we gave him a conservative work because of the wet track at the beginning of the week,” Sheppard said at his barn during training hours Saturday. “The track wasn’t great that day and it’s been sloppy since.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite a pedigree that suggests she would prefer to run a distance of ground, Singlet continues to show her prowess sprinting.
Singlet won her third consecutive six-furlong race, outfinishing a stubborn Corderosa in the final three-sixteenths to take Saturday’s $75,000 Dearly Precious Stakes by a neck at Aqueduct. Corderosa, who appeared uncomfortable racing on the inside, finished second by 2 3/4 lengths over Lisa T. Well Kept, who dueled between horses down the backside, finished last. Marvelous Margaret scratched.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The $400,000 Gotham Stakes lost its early favorite when the connections of Withers Stakes winner Alpha said they were pointing to the Wood Memorial on April 7.
The Grade 3 Gotham picked up a new favorite in Hansen, whose connections confirmed Saturday that last year’s champion 2-year-old male will make his next start in the 1 1/16-mile Gotham at Aqueduct on March 3.
At $400,000 – an increase from $250,000 a year ago – the Gotham has the same purse as the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 26.
Three new challengers, including a pair from Kentucky attempting to transfer good form on Polytrack to dirt, step forward against Charles Town’s reigning queen Silver Heart in Tuesday night’s featured $35,000 overnight handicap for fillies and mares going seven furlongs.
Sam Houston Race Park in Houston is experiencing double-digit gains in handle three weeks into its season, and one of the keys to its success has been Monday racing. The track reached a Monday milestone this past week, when $1,790,127 was bet on its 10-race card from all sources.
“Last Monday was our biggest day for a Monday handle ever,” said Andrea Young, the president of Sam Houston.
The track first began incorporating Monday racing into its schedule in 2010, testing the concept for four dates in March. It became a regular part of the track’s racing calendar in 2011.
ARCADIA, Calif.– Uh Oh Bango, a three-time stakes winner and the runner-up to Game On Dude in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 5, will make his next start in the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap on March 3, trainer Kory Owens said on Friday.
For the Grade 1 Big Cap, run over 1 1/4 miles, Owens is hoping that the race scenario will favor Uh Oh Bango at the expense of Game On Dude. In the San Antonio over 1 1/8 miles, Game On Dude disputed the pace for the first half-mile, led by three lengths on the turn, and pulled away to win by 5 1/4 lengths.
