Christmas for Liam will be tough to catch if speed is holding on the main track Monday at Monmouth Park.
The 4-year-old Christmas for Liam figures to be on, or just off, the pace in the supporting event, the $75,000 Skip Away Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.
He used those tactics to cruise to consecutive allowance wins at Gulfstream. They didn’t work as well last time when pushed into a blistering pace by Haynesfield in the Grade 3 Westchester Stakes at Belmont.
Trainer Bob Baffert has had a stranglehold on the Lone Star Derby since winning its inaugural running in 1997 with Anet. But for the first time this year, the race will have a new look. The $200,000 Lone Star Derby has been moved to turf after losing its Grade 3 status for 2011.
“I wish it was dirt,” said Baffert, who has also won the race with Wanna Runner (2006), Mythical Power (2009), and Game On Dude (2010).
INGLEWOOD, Calif.-Jockey Joe Talamo made the most of a very limited opportunity on Saturday.
Serving the first day of a three-day suspension for causing interference in the Milady Stakes last weekend, Talamo was eligible to ride only one race at Hollywood Park on Saturday – the $150,000 American Handicap for turf milers.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Jockey Tony McNeil and his sons, jockeys Bryan and Erik McNeil, each won a race on the Lone Star Park card Saturday.
Bryan McNeil, 27, won the first, with Donegal Gold ($16.20). Tony McNeil, 54, took the fourth with Jonesicula ($7), and Erik McNeil, 24, won the eighth with Holy Saint ($3).
“That’s the first time that all three of us won a race on the same card,” said Tony McNeil. “We’ve come so close before, all of us.”
The amazing 10-year-old gelding Catlaunch won the $50,000 Michael F. Rowland Memorial Stakes for the sixth time in the last seven years on Saturday at Thistledown.
He was all out to beat Beau Mec by a neck at the end of the six furlongs, which was covered in 1:12.00 over the fast racing strip. Ramblin Mike finished third, three lengths farther back.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Crimson China rallied from last in a five-horse field to win the $70,000 Lamplighter Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park. The favorite, Crimson China paid $3.
A stablemate of Animal Kingdom in H. Graham Motion’s barn at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland, Crimson China made his second start on turf Saturday in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds on the turf. He raced twice last year in England, picking up a win and a second on Polytrack.
ELMONT, N.Y. - As the only Grade 1 winner in the field, Hibaayeb was the class of the six fillies and mares entered in Saturday’s $150,000 Sheepshead Bay Stakes at Belmont Park. Hibaayeb transferred that class from the paper to Belmont Park’s inner turf course with a solid one-length victory in the Grade 2 stakes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In an incredibly tight finish that nearly resulted in a triple dead-heat, Keertana was the narrowest of winners Saturday in the 74th running of the Grade 3, $111,200 Louisville Handicap at Churchill Downs.
Favored at 3-2 over her six male rivals, Keertana, a 5-year-old mare, prevailed by a nose over Bearpath, with Guys Reward another nose back in third. El Crespo was fourth, while Musketier, the 8-5 second choice, finished fifth.
Jockey Julien Couton, initially reported as suffering only back bruises in a Friday spill at Golden Gate Fields, will miss eight to 12 weeks with compression fractures to the seventh and eighth thoracic vertebrae, track physician Dr. David Seftel reported Saturday.
“A reread of his CAT scan revealed the fractures,” said Seftel, who said there was no evidence of any spinal cord impairment.
