OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Cornelio Velasquez said it was easier than it looked.
Sent off an overwhelming 1-9 favorite, San Pablo had to work hard to fend off Isn’t He Perfect approaching the stretch before drawing clear to a 4 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s $75,000 Shots Are Ringing Stakes at Aqueduct. Isn’t He Perfect finished second by 1 1/2 lengths over Sam Sparkle. C V Eis was last. Rustler Hustler and Socialsaul scratched.
Following Monday’s nine-race program, racing resumes at Santa Anita on Thursday with a four-day racing week. The major race next weekend is Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Palos Verdes Stakes over six furlongs. The list of nominees is led by Amazombie, the leading contender for the Eclipse Awards as the nation’s outstanding sprinter of 2011.
Saturday at Santa Anita, Amazombie worked six furlongs in 1:15.60. Trained by Bill Spawr, Amazombie has won his last two starts – the Ancient Title Stakes here in October and the BC Sprint at Churchill Downs a month later.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Mr. Commons, the winner of the Grade 2 Sir Beaufort Stakes on Dec. 26, will stay on turf for the $150,000 Arcadia Stakes over a mile on Feb. 4, trainer John Shirreffs said.
The winner of two turf stakes for 3-year-olds in 2011, Mr. Commons has yet to beat older horses on turf, but has raced in top company. Last year, he was second in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile and Grade 2 Oak Tree Mile and fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile against older horses.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jeranimo has won his last two starts in Southern California and is the defending champion in Monday’s $150,000 San Gabriel Stakes at Santa Anita. When the San Gabriel was last run in December 2010, Jeranimo was 4-1. Expect a much shorter price on Monday.
“Now, we’re the target,” trainer Mike Pender said.
Owned by B.J. Wright, Jeranimo won the Grade 2 Oak Tree Mile here in October, finished seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5, and was an impressive winner of the Grade 2 Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park on Nov. 26.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The 3-year-old division at Gulfstream Park will get even stronger this week with the expected arrival of Ever So Lucky, Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard’s Kentucky Derby prospect, who has been training on the farm in Camden, S.C., over the last several weeks.
Sheppard planned to fly out after the races on Saturday to oversee Ever So Lucky’s third and final workout on the farm, scheduled for five furlongs, on Sunday morning.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After Deliburnsky won a pair of stakes in New Jersey and Maryland, trainer Tony Wilson was planning to give his gelding a little vacation. Deliburnsky apparently had other ideas.
“He came out of the race fine,” Wilson said, referring to Deliburnsky’s victory in the Dave’s Friend at Laurel Nov. 26. I” talked to the owner and said I’d like to try one more time.”
That time comes Monday when Deliburnsky seeks his third consecutive stakes score in the $75,000 Jimmy Winkfield, the featured event on Aqueduct’s nine-race Martin Luther King Jr. Day card.
Silver Heart and Beware of the Bop, a pair of mares with a remarkable combined record of 24 for 52 at Charles Town’s bullring, including stakes wins three months ago on the West Virginia Breeders’ Classic card, renew their rivalry in Tuesday night’s featured eighth race.
The millionaire Bold Chieftain will meet four rivals Monday in his final racing appearance, which comes in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race at Golden Gate Fields.
The 9-year-old Bold Chieftain has won 18 of 46 starts and $1,673,171. He will stand at stud this season at Victory Rose Farm in Vacaville, Calif., for a listed fee of $3,000.
Golden Gate Fields will honor Bold Chieftain on Sunday, Jan. 22 with a poster giveaway to all fans in attendance. Bold Chieftain will also be paraded in front of the grandstand.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - A series of tight finishes gave Oaklawn Park’s opening-day crowd of 18,087 lots to cheer about Friday, and the trend carried right through to the feature race when Color Me Blue found room along the inside and forged to a neck win over Twice in the Appeal in the $75,000 Fifth Season.
“I got a little scared at the end,” said winning trainer Brian Williamson.
Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. will sent out Jersey Juvenile Stakes winner Salad Girl for her 3-year-old debut in the Gasparilla on the Pasco Stakes undercard at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday. Salad Girl, a winner of 2 of 3 lifetime, is one of several in the field with strong early speed, which could set things up for the late-running Venetian Sonata, who finshed fifth here in the six-furlong Sandpiper in her local debut.
