Mon, 06/27/2011 - 15:49

Belmont Park: Bold Warrior looks like the choice

ELMONT, N.Y. – Three optional claiming races and the first turf sprint of the season for 2-year-olds are on tap as a six-day holiday week gets under way Wednesday.

Bold Warrior, an up-and-coming 3-year-old who was scratched from the Grade 2 Woody Stephens on Belmont Stakes day, will break from the outside in a field of five and looms a prohibitive choice in race 3, a $52,000 sprint at seven furlongs with first-level allowance conditions.

Mon, 06/27/2011 - 14:19

Woodbine: Carroll savors second Plate victory

Michael Burns
Jockey Luis Contreras celebrates his Queen's Plate victory aboard Inglorious.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Is the second time just as sweet?

Josie Carroll had her first Queen’s Plate winner in 2006 when Edenwold, a colt owned by Albertans Jim and Alice Sapara, turned the trick at 16-1.

This past Sunday, Carroll was back in the Queen’s Plate winner’s circle with another set of Albertans, Vern and Donna Dubinsky, and their filly Inglorious, who was sent off as the third favorite at 9-2.

Mon, 06/27/2011 - 14:17

Indiana Downs: Snow Top Mountain tries to break through

Snow Top Mountain will be looking for her first stakes win Wednesday night in the $100,000 Girls Incorporated of Shelbyville Shelby County Stakes at Indiana Downs, and trainer Tom Proctor thinks the 4-year-old has a good chance to accomplish the goal.

“We wanted to get a stakes win for her and we thought this would be a good spot,” Proctor said. “But it did come up pretty tough and looks to be a nice race.”

Mon, 06/27/2011 - 14:01

Hollywood's Royal Heroine to mark turf return for Harmonious

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Harmonious, the winner of two Grade 1 races for 3-year-old fillies last year, is expected to make her first start on turf in five months in Monday’s $150,000 Royal Heroine Mile for fillies and mares.

Mon, 06/27/2011 - 14:01

Hollywood Oaks winner Zazu headed to Alabama

Benoit & Associates
Zazu, guided along the rail by Joel Rosario, gets past Plum Pretty to win the Hollywood Oaks.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Zazu will be pointed for the $500,000 TVG Alabama Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 20, said trainer John Sadler.

Zazu won the Grade 2 Hollywood Oaks at Hollywood Park on Saturday, catching Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty in the final furlong of the race over 1 1/16 miles.

Mon, 06/27/2011 - 12:10

Los Alamitos: Separate Fire nails Ed Burke Million Futurity

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - Separate Fire continued her domination of the 2-year-old division at Los Alamitos on Sunday with a near-perfect win in the $1,126,000 Ed Burke Million Futurity.

Ridden by Ramon Sanchez, Separate Fire ($6.60) broke well and led throughout the 350-yard race, winning by a neck over Kindly Fellow. Oceanik, the longest shot in the field at 41-1, finished third in the field of 10. Separate Fire was timed in 17.30 seconds.

Mon, 06/27/2011 - 12:10

Queen's Plate also-rans to take shot in Prince of Wales

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes, the 1 3/16-mile dirt race at Fort Erie that is the second leg of Canada’s Triple Crown, may or may not be on the agenda for Queen’s Plate winner Inglorious. But the connections of Hippolytus, Pender Harbour, and Bowman’s Causeway, the second- through fourth-place finishers in the Queen’s Plate, already have indicated a willingness to proceed to the Fort Erie showpiece.

Hippolytus, one of three horses in the Queen’s Plate trained by Mark Casse, finished 2 1/2 lengths behind the winner at odds of 61-1.

Mon, 06/27/2011 - 08:26

Woodbine: Lucky Be Me rounding into form

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – After beginning the year with two fourth-place finishes, stakes winner Lucky Be Me is exiting an improved effort and should be prominent in Wednesday’s fourth race at Woodbine, a 1 1/16-mile Ontario-sired allowance for fillies and mares.

Mon, 06/27/2011 - 08:16

Northlands: Lit’sgoodlookngray figures to launch late move

Lit’sgoodlookngray should have plenty of speed to run at in a $13,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds and up at Northlands Park Wednesday. The six-furlong sprint drew eight horses and will go as race 7 on the nine-race card.

Sun, 06/26/2011 - 22:43

Emerald Downs: Zayda put up after wild Pepsi Cola finish


Sunday's $50,000 Pepsi Cola Stakes at Emerald Downs on Sunday turned into a mad scramble in the final yards, and when the smoke had cleared the top five finishers were separated by less than a length, and the first-place finisher had been disqualified.