ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Never Retreat didn’t surrender in Sunday’s $301,400 Dance Smartly Stakes, in which she held off favored Bay to Bay and Mekong Melody in the late going to take the Grade 2, nine-furlong turf route for fillies and mares.
Never Retreat ($10.10), based at Arlington with trainer Chris Block, had been to Woodbine twice before, which resulted in two runner-up placings in stakes. She polished off an excellent field Sunday under Shaun Bridgmohan.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer on Sunday confirmed Blind Luck as a starter for Saturday’s $750,000 Delaware Handicap, renewing that filly’s rivalry with Havre de Grace.
The two powerhouse fillies have met five previous times with Blind Luck winning the Delaware Oaks and the Alabama last year and Havre de Grace winning last year’s Fitz Dixon Cotillion and this year’s Azeri at Oaklawn Park. In last year’s Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, Blind Luck finished second and Havre de Grace was third, behind Unrivaled Belle.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Christophe Clement knows where he’s going to run his multiple Eclipse champion Gio Ponti this fall. It’s what he does with the 6-year-old multiple stakes winner the rest of the summer that he hasn’t quite figured out yet.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Though she has gone badly off form in the last eight months, Life At Ten may be headed back to defend her title in the $750,000 Delaware Handicap when that race is run Saturday at Delaware Park.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said that he is “leaning toward’’ running Life At Ten in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap after watching her breeze five furlongs in 1:00.66 Sunday morning over the Belmont Park main track. Life At Ten worked in company with Belmont Stakes runner-up Stay Thirsty.
ELMONT, N.Y. - On the day before he was to welcome Uncle Mo back into his barn, trainer Todd Pletcher said he believes getting last year’s 2-year-old champion ready for next month’s Grade 1 King’s Bishop at Saratoga is “doable.’’
Uncle Mo has not run since finishing third in the Wood Memorial - his first career loss - at Aqueduct on April 9. He was scratched out of the Kentucky Derby the morning before the race due to an internal issue that was subsequently diagnosed as a rare liver disease called Cholangiohepatitis.
ALTOONA, Iowa - The undefeated Iowa-bred 3-yea- old filly Ginger Added handled her first try around two turns with aplomb when she cruised to a 2 3/4-length victory in Saturday evening's $106,276 Iowa Stallion Stakes at Prairie Meadows.
PLEASANTON, Calif. – Rapidly improving Sherman Bartlebort broke sharply from the rail and was never headed as he scored an easy victory in the $62,010 Everett Nevin Alameda County Futurity on Saturday at the Alameda County Fair.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - The up-and-coming Skip a Smile indicated his intent to be a player in the region's handicap ranks on Saturday, when he closed fast for a half-length win over favorite Lydia's Last Step in the $75,000 Assault Stakes at Lone Star Park.
"He's a very exciting horse," said Steve Asmussen, who trains Skip a Smile for the horse's breeder, Rose Mary Chandler.
Cold Cash 123 defeated two champions while setting the fastest qualifying time for the Grade 1, $899,523 Rainbow Derby for Quarter Horses during trials Saturday at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. The finale will be held July 23.
Cold Cash 123 ($14.80) was in the first of seven trials, which went as the third race. He broke out at the start and then closed with a flourish to win by 2 1/4 lengths. Cold Cash 123 covered 440 yards in 20.76 seconds, which was not far off the track record of 20.73 that Strawkins set winning the Ruidoso Derby in 2006.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The transformation of First Dude from consistent also-ran to major stakes winner is complete.
On Saturday, First Dude won his first Grade 1 stakes, and third consecutive race, in the $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup, earning a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in November. Last year, First Dude finished second or third in six consecutive graded stakes for 3-year-olds and was eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
