FLORENCE, Ky. - Charming Vixen entered Saturday's $100,000 Tiznow Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies at Turfway Park as a maiden. More importantly, she left it as a stakes winner.
Always prominent under Calvin Borel, Charming Vixen surged to a clear lead entering the stretch and pulled clear to 3 1/2-length victory over longshot Heated Debate.
"I was very impressed," said Borel of the filly, who picked her first victory in four starts. "The main thing was trying to get her to relax."
Ahvee’s Destiny returns to Presque Isle Downs in her final season of racing Tuesday to face eight other older fillies and mares in a $54,000 allowance at five furlongs over the Tapeta surface.
Trained by Linda Rice, the 7-year-old Ahvee’s Destiny has run twice locally. In 2010, she won the Satin and Lace going 5 1/2 furlongs over the Tapeta surface. This season, Ahvee’s Destiny finished sixth on May 17 in an allowance event going five furlongs on Tapeta.
With Aqueduct’s casino expected to open in approximately five weeks, the New York Racing Association announced Saturday that purses for the 2012 Aqueduct winter and spring meets will increase by $8.6 million, or 36 percent, over 2011.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2012, daily average purses will increase to approximately $375,000 a day, or $100,000 more than what was distributed in 2011, according to a NYRA press release.
The unbeaten Weemissfrankie is ready for her start in the $250,000 Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita next weekend after her final workout over the track on Saturday, trainer Peter Eurton said.
Weemissfrankie worked five furlongs in 1:00 under exercise rider and former jockey Paul Toscano, the filly’s second workout since a convincing win in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante over seven furlongs on Sept. 3.
Nicole’s Miss El, who came close to scoring her first stakes victory when she sprinted against older horses at Saratoga last month, returns to her home track, where she is 5 for 6, for Monday’s featured eighth race at Finger Lakes.
The 3-year-old Nicole’s Miss El looks like a standout in a field of six New York-bred fillies and mares going six furlongs in a third-level optional $15,000 claimer.
Antioch Diamond, who won all four of his Remington Park starts in 2010, remained perfect at the current meet Friday night when he shook a stubborn Conkigo in the stretch to win the $50,000 Remington Park Turf Sprint.
It was Antioch Diamond’s second win at the 2011 meet, which opened in August, and it was also his second consecutive win in the Remington Park Turf Sprint.
POMONA, Calif. – Like grandmother, like granddaughter.
Chalula One won her first start at Fairplex Park on Friday, scoring a 1 3/4-length win in the $50,000 Bangles and Beads Stakes and invoking memories of granddam Mama Simba, the all-time stakes-winning filly or mare in Los Angeles County Fair history.
Mama Simba won five stakes at Fairplex, including the Bangles and Beads in 1991 and 1993. Richard Mandella trained Mama Simba and also trains Chalula One, a 5-year-old by Bertrando whose victory was the first stakes of her 4-for-15 career.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Ask the Moon, the winner of two Grade 1 stakes at Saratoga this summer, will make her California debut in Saturday's $250,000 Lady's Secret Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita.
The Lady's Secret, run over 1 1/16 miles, will mark the first meeting between Ask the Moon and Blind Luck, the champion 3-year-filly of 2010. Blind Luck has not started since winning the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap on July 16.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Twirling Candy, one of the top older horses in California this year, will make his next start in a Breeders' Cup race at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5 after missing training earlier this month because of a bruised foot, trainer John Sadler said on Friday.
Twirling Candy was not nominated for the $250,000 Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita next Saturday. Earlier this month, Sadler mentioned the Grade 1 Goodwood as an early autumn goal for Twirling Candy.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Banned, the winner of the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby and two other graded stakes this year, suffered sesamoid injuries during a workout on the turf at Santa Anita on Thursday and was scheduled to undergo surgery on Saturday in an attempt to stabilize the injury.
Trainer Tom Proctor said on Friday that Banned was a "good patient" in the 24 hours following the accident. "His chances are good," Proctor said. "He's making his chances better."
