Trainer Greg Tracy and jockey Fernando Perez teamed up to win both divisions of the $50,000 Two Year Old Sales Stakes at Northlands Park on Saturday.
Both horses were solid favorites. My Daddy’s Girl paid $3.10 for her 2 3/4-length win in the fillies division. Considering the ease of Golden Cup’s 5 1 /4-length win in the colts division, the $4.10 win price was an overlay.
Trainer Buff Bradley and his father, Fred, saw the departure of the stable star in May when multimillionaire Brass Hat was retired. But it seems it took their modest stable just a few months to find another one, or at least a star in the making.
Groupie Doll turned in that kind of a performance Saturday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Gardenia Stakes at Ellis Park, dominating a full field of older rivals in her stakes bow and pushing her record to 3 for 4.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Although favorites swept all three races Saturday in the International of Festival Racing at Arlington Park, earlier longshot winners led to lucrative payouts in the guaranteed pick four and pick five that both ended with the Arlington Million (race 10).
Race 6 was won by Triple Overtime at 10-1, and Race 7 was won by Santina Dond at 31-1. They were followed by Treasure Beach ($5) in the Secretariat (race 8), Stacelita ($5.60) in the Beverly D. (Race 9), and Cape Blanco ($6.20) in the Million (Race 10).
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Savvy Supreme and jockey Elvis Trujillo survived a stewards’ inquiry to win the Grade 3, $159,000 Monmouth Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday at Monmouth Park.
Savvy Supreme surged to the front midway on the final turn and led by one length turning for home. She started to drift out in the lane, even with Trujillo whipping from the right side, and eventually wandered into the path of the oncoming Miss Valentine.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Aidan O’Brien did not travel to Chicago for Arlington Million Day. Call his performance Saturday long-distance precision surgery. O’Brien has well more than 100 horses in training at Ballydoyle, his home base in Ireland, and chose exactly the right pair to come to America.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The promising Tu Endi Wei held off a closing Northern Passion to take the $161,000 Ontario Debutante Stakes at Woodbine on Saturday.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Treasure Beach did nothing to discourage the proposition that he was the best horse ever sent overseas to run in the Secretariat Stakes, running down loose-on-the-lead Ziyarid to win by a neck Saturday at stormy Arlington Park.
His victory made trainer Aidan O'Brien a two-time Secretariat winner and gave the Europeans just their third victory in the Grade 1, $400,000 turf race for 3-year-olds. Jockey Colm O'Donoghue won in his first race at Arlington Park.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Russian émigré Gennadi Dorochenko bagged a big one Saturday when he sent out Santina Dond to a 31-1 upset in an absolute mad scramble in the $68,000 Hatoof Stakes, which led into the three Grade 1 International Festival of Racing events at Arlington Park.
Sassy Image, the top older filly and mare sprinter in the country, worked five furlongs in 59.97 seconds before the renovation break Saturday morning in preparation for a start in the Grade 1, $250,000 Ballerina here at Saratoga on Aug. 27.
Sassy Image has won three consecutive stakes, including the Grade 1 Humana Distaff, Grade 2 Winning Colors – both at Churchill Downs – and the Grade 1 Princess Rooney at Calder in her most recent start. In the Princess Rooney, Sassy Image rallied from 18 lengths back to win.
“She worked super, she’s a machine,’’ Romans said.
At Monmouth Park, Belmont Stakes winner Rule On Ice drilled five furlongs in 58.80 seconds, the fastest of 28 breezes at the distance.
According to trainer Kelly Breen, Ruler On Ice, under regular jockey Jose Valdivia Jr., began his drill five lengths behind stablemates Galaxy Kat and Magical Myth, caught that pair at the eighth pole, and finished five in front at the wire.
“It was a very impressive workout time-wise as well as visually,’’ Breen said. “He looks great.’’
