OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The connections of C C’s Pal felt their 5-year-old mare was doing so well that, if permitted, they would have run her in both the Ladies Handicap and Interborough Stakes on Sunday at Aqueduct.

New York rules don’t permit that and believing the Ladies was an easier spot than the Interborough, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. chose the longer of the two races and was rewarded when C C’s Pal cruised to a 2 3/4-length victory over Bahama Bound in the $75,000 Ladies.

Unitas ran the best race of his career at Delta Downs in October, and upon his return to the Vinton, La., oval Saturday night, he became a stakes winner in the $60,000 B-Connected.

The race shared a card with the $60,000 Lookout won by Rileys Monarch ($18). Both races were for 3-year-olds and up, and both were restricted to Louisiana-breds who had not won a stakes in 2011.

River Bear rallied off a hot pace to break open what had been a competitive race when moving on to a five-length triumph Saturday night in the 24th running of the $50,000 Holiday Cheer at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Ron Ellis saved the best for the last day of the year, sending out Teddy’s Promise to a decisive victory in the Grade 1, $300,000 La Brea Stakes, a race in which Turbulent Descent was a dull sixth of nine as the 1-2 favorite.

Teddy’s Promise ($35), just 6-1 on the morning line, floated up because of the inordinate action on Turbulent Descent, who not only was a short price in the win pool, but had heavy action in the show pool that led to outsized prices on the first three finishers.

Cold Cash 123 needed a top effort Saturday in the Grade 1, $350,000 Championship at Sunland Park to solidify his ranking as the nation’s leading Quarter Horse. He delivered. Big time.

Beer Meister, who got a crack at a Grade 3 and Grade 2 stakes last spring, relished the return to his backyard and the site of his biggest win as he rallied to capture Saturday’s $35,000 Luke Kruytbosch Stakes for 3-year-olds at Turf Paradise.

Beanwah’smachine remained unbeaten in four starts by winning a division of the Louisiana Futurity on Saturday at Fair Grounds, where a 2-year-old filly, Summer Applause, threw her hat into the ring as a horse to consider for early-2012 dirt-route stakes in New Orleans.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -  Apriority left it all out on the track and a little in the winner’s circle, too, after surviving an eventful start to get up in the final stride and nail pacesetter Zero Rate Policy by a nose in Saturday’s $100,000 Mr. Prospector at Gulfstream Park.

All-sources handle at Charles Town rose 14.5 percent in 2011, according to figures released by the West Virginia track on Friday night.

The overall handle for the 232-day season was $221,392,855, up from $193,261,857 in 2010, when the track held 231 live cards.

Average daily handle was a record $954,260. The track also set records for total all-sources handle in a single month ($26,558,179 in March), handle on a single race (Charles Town Classic, $784,267), and 18 consecutive live cards with a handle of $1 million or more, (Feb. 8 to March 3).

OZONE PARK, N.Y. -  A disappointing year came to surprisingly successful conclusion Saturday for trainer Pat Kelly at Aqueduct when Spa City Fever upset the $75,000 Alex M. Robb Stakes by a head over Icabad Crane. Sent off the second-longest shot in the seven-horse field at 34-1, Spa City Fever returned $71.

Taking advantage of a stumbling start by the expected front-runner Stormy’s Majesty, Spa City Fever got away with soft fractions on the lead under Alan Garcia and then held off a late charge from a bottled up Icabad Crane to get his first victory in nine starts this year.