ELMONT, N.Y. – Unable to find the proper maiden race to fill at Delaware Park for her 2-year-old Jack’s in the Deck, trainer Robin Graham opted to supplement him to Sunday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Flat Out earned a 113 Beyer Speed Figure winning Saturday’s Grade 2 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park, a number that puts the 5-year-old among the upper echelon of the older male division.
The 113 was the highest figure earned this year on dirt beyond one mile and is equal to the figure Tizway earned winning the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at one mile here May 30.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – One of the two winning tickets worth $207,087 in Saturday’s pick six at Hollywood Park was purchased ontrack for $48, according to track officials.
The other ticket was purchased at Santa Anita, but the exact cost of that ticket was not available Saturday evening.
The $48 ticket used one to three horses per race and singled the winners of the day’s two Grade 1 races. To achieve the lucrative payoff, the winning ticket included two high-priced longshots using a format of 3x1x2x2x1x2.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Courageous Cat’s gritty win in Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Shoemaker Mile at Hollywood Park left winning jockey Patrick Valenzuela in a forecasting mood after the race.
“This horse is so much better than when I rode him in the Shadwell Mile,” Valenzuela said, referring to a third-place finish in the Grade 1 race at Keeneland last fall. “I can almost guarantee he’ll win the Breeders’ Cup Mile, even if they bring that filly over.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The winning move in Saturday’s $250,000 Triple Bend Handicap at Hollywood Park was made in the first furlong. Jockey Joel Rosario put Smiling Tiger on the lead.
From there, Smiling Tiger set a modest pace for a Grade 1 race, never faced a serious challenge, and won the seventh stakes of his career by a convincing 3 1/4 lengths.
The win established Smiling Tiger as California’s leading sprinter as the division heads toward Del Mar later this month.
Wally Van bolstered his strong record against fellow Colorado-breds on Saturday, when he drew out to a seven-length win in the $40,165 Colorado Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Derby at Arapahoe Park.
It was Wally Van’s third win against statebreds from four starts against such company. Earlier in his career, he won his maiden and a trial in races restricted to Colorado-breds.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – The Grade 1, $750,000 United Nations Stakes was a victory for the home team as Teaks North came roaring home Saturday to win the premier turf event of the season at Monmouth Park.
Teaks North is now a perfect 4 for 4 over the course at the track where he summers. This victory opened a range of vistas.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Chaos continues to reign in the older male division, as two weeks after Pool Play, the longest shot on the board, won the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs, Flat Out won Saturday's Grade 2, $300,000 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park as the longest shot in the six-horse field.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Giving Calvin Borel his fifth winner of the day, Exfactor pounced on a too-fast pace and glided past the tired front-runners to post a 2 3/4-length victory Saturday in a scratch-laden 110th running of the Grade 3, $111,500 Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs.
