POMONA, Calif. – There was no hiding the acrimony between jockeys Martin Pedroza and Christian Santiago-Reyes, who ended opening week at Fairplex Park on Sunday tied in the standings at six wins each. Hostility between the riders was evident in an exchange following the $50,000 Jim Kostoff Stakes on Sunday when Pedroza accused Santiago-Reyes of careless riding into the first turn.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Awesome Feather, last year’s champion 2-year-old filly who has not raced yet this year, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.98 over Belmont Park’s main track Monday morning. It was her third breeze since returning to the work tab after a two-month hiatus.
“Awesome Feather is doing really well, we’re taking it week to week with her,” trainer Chad Brown said. “She went nice and smooth and well within herself.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Courageous Cat, the probable favorite for the Woodbine Mile, had his final major tune-up at Saratoga on Sunday morning, breezing five furlongs on the training turf course in 59.95 seconds.
“He worked well,” trainer Bill Mott said. “He was off easy and finished up well.”
Courageous Cat heads a prospective field of 11 or 12 for the Woodbine Mile, a turf race for 3-year-olds and up that offers Grade 1 status and a purse of $1 million.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – There are memorable days, and then there are days like the one experienced last Saturday by Ashlee Brnjas.
In her fifth year as private trainer for the Colebrook Farm of her father, John Brnjas, the 30-year-old Ashlee Brnjas was married Saturday afternoon and put the icing on the wedding cake when Reconnected became her first stakes winner here in the $125,000 La Prevoyante.
“I can honestly tell you, I don’t really know which one I was more excited about,” Brnjas said. “I was walking down the aisle and literally half an hour later, I won the race.”
Freaky became the first Quarter Horse to win all six of the major stakes for older horses offered at Los Alamitos when he edged Snitcher by a head in Sunday night’s $100,000 Go Man Go Handicap.
Freaky, a 6-year-old who was the world champion Quarter Horse of 2009, has also won the track’s Champion of Champions, the Los Alamitos Winter Championship, the Vessels Maturity, the Spencer Childers California Breeders Championship Handicap, and the Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship. Overall, he is an eight-time stakes winner at Los Alamitos.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Oh Canada, one of the leading 3-year-olds at Woodbine, will prep for the Sept. 24 Ontario Derby in a second-level optional $62,500 claimer here Wednesday night.
Oh Canada will meet older opposition for the first time in the seven-furlong sprint. He took his season opener April 16 in the six-furlong Woodstock Stakes and then wound up third three weeks later in the rapidly run Queenston Stakes over seven furlongs.
Boonstock should appreciate the move back to a sprint when he runs in a $15,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds and up at Northlands Park on Wednesday. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for nonwinners of two drew seven horses and goes as the sixth race.
POMONA, Calif. – Luckarack posted a mild upset in the Jim Kostoff Stakes on Sunday at Fairplex Park, where a pick six carryover of $39,460 is up for grabs Wednesday on the twilight card. First post Wednesday is 4 p.m. Pacific.
The $50,000 Kostoff, a sprint for 3-year-olds, was not without controversy; jockeys Martin Pedroza and Christian Santiago-Reyes exchanged words while weighing out after the race.
Imco Spirit set a Zia Park track record Sunday, when he won the $100,000 Premiere Cup Handicap in a blazing 1:07.13 for six furlongs, easily erasing the previous record of 1:08.60. He won by four lengths over 2-5 favorite Native Ruler, while it was another neck back in third to Pack Your Bags.
The Premiere was the first stakes of the Zia Park meet that opened Saturday in Hobbs, N.M.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Northern Causeway might have been the smallest horse in the Grade 3, $200,000 British Columbia Derby, but he showed the most heart by holding off Jebrica to win the 1 1/8-mile feature.
Trained by Len Kasmerski, Northern Causeway paid $8.50 as the favorite in the 12-horse field.
