ARCADIA, Calif.- Hanging around Clocker’s Corner at Santa Anita over the weekend, jockey agent Tom Knust heard countless theories and predictions regarding jockey Patrick Valenzuela’s decision to retire from riding last Friday.
Put simply, there were not too many believers among the racing flock that Valenzuela would stay retired.
“The bet is who will come back first – Jenine Sahadi or Patrick,” Knust said.
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - Good Reason Sa ended a wildly-successful career, and may have earned a championship, with a victory in Saturday’s $750,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos for older Quarter Horses.
A 4-year-old, Good Reason Sa will stand at stud in Oklahoma in 2012.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Weemissfrankie, one of the nation’s top 2-year-old fillies, was scheduled to undergo surgery on Sunday afternoon after being diagnosed with a non-displaced condylar fracture following a fourth-place finish in Saturday’s Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet Stakes.
Trainer Peter Eurton said that prominent veterinarian Dr. C. Wayne McIlwraith was scheduled to conduct the surgery at an equine clinic in Cypress, Calif., not far from Los Alamitos Racecourse, on Sunday afternoon.
“She did get injured,” Eurton said. “It’s a non-displaced fracture.”
Trainer Gary Contessa wasn’t planning on running Sam Sparkle in Sunday’s $60,000 Hunch Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct and only did so when a first-level allowance race didn’t fill.
To the surprise of virtually no one, La Gran Bailadora dominated the $50,000 My Charmer Stakes on Saturday night at Turfway Park, continuing her pattern of excellence over the Polytrack surface at the Florence, Ky., track.
La Gran Bailadora, a 4-year-old Afleet Alex filly bred and owned by central Kentucky banker Tracy Farmer, returned $3.20 as a three-length winner of the 1 1/16-mile race and now has won 5 of 7 starts over the Turfway Poly. Victor Lebron was aboard for trainer Mike Maker.
Ted’s Folly unleashed a devastating, six-wide move around the final turn in Saturday night’s $300,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park, then flew past his rivals in the stretch to notch his sixth straight win. He scored by 1 1/4 lengths over Reckless Jerry, while it was another head back in third to Pee H Dee.
Henry Dominguez, who last weekend set a Zia Park record for trainer earnings while winning his sixth title at the track, continued his hot pace Saturday when he won the first Thoroughbred stakes of the Sunland Park meet with Jam’n Jackson.
INGLEWOOD, Calif.- Largely forgotten after four consecutive losses in stakes, Killer Graces proved why Hollywood Park is her favorite racetrack with a 14-1 upset in Saturday’s $402,000 Hollywood Starlet Stakes.
The Grade 1 Starlet for 2-year-old fillies was Killer Graces’s third stakes win at Hollywood Park this year. She has yet to win a stakes at another venue, having been beaten in races at that level at Del Mar and Fresno earlier this year.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Illinois-bred maiden-special-weight races at Hawthorne this fall offer a $33,000 purse, but Real Power picked a better spot to win the first race of his career, rallying from last of nine to beat his stablemate Yankee Dealer by one length in the $88,125 Jim Edgar Futurity on Saturday at Hawthorne.
Charlie Smith bred String King and owns String King, and String King gave Smith his first win as a trainer with a narrow victory in the $100,000 Turf on the Louisiana Champions Day undercard at Fair Grounds.
