LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Going into the first turn of Friday's $237,400 American Turf Stakes at Churchill Downs, Banned was only in front of three of the 11 rivals he was facing in the Grade 2 event. His jockey, Garrett Gomez, was a little concerned.
"Going into the first turn I thought sooner or later he'd start moving forward, but he really didn't," Gomez said. "He was actually kind of content with where he was at."
It soon became obvious that Banned was saving himself for the stretch run.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Blowing past rivals with ease in the stretch, Banned rallied from far back to easily win the Grade 2, $200,000 American Turf at Churchill Downs on Friday.
Aided up front by a hot early pace set by Great Mills, Banned settled kindly under jockey Garrett Gomez and uncorked a powerful closing rally that had been absent in his last two races. Trained by Tom Proctor for Glen Hill Farm, he raced 1 1/16 miles on a firm Churchill Downs turf course in 1:42.95, paying $8.60 as the favorite.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – More than a few racing people old enough to know the man’s history think trainer Richard Hazelton deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame. Enshrinement in the Hall probably won’t happen, but Hazelton, at age 80, is back in a familiar spot this spring – Arlington Park.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Fillies and mares are in the spotlight early and often on Sunday’s card at Belmont Park in seven races that include a trio of stakes on the main track – the $100,000 Park Avenue division of the New York Stallion at 6 1/2 furlongs, as well as a pair of $60,000 overnight stakes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Here’s something that has never been written before: First Dude is on a winning streak.
After winning just once in his first 14 starts, First Dude won his second straight race Friday and first stakes event with a furious rally down the center of the track under Martin Garcia to nip Regal Ransom by a nose at the wire to take the Grade 3, $300,000 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs. It was one-half length back to Equestrio in third.
In February, it looked like jockey Don Simington might not make the early part of the Louisiana Downs meet. The winner of the last three titles at the Bossier City, La., track, he suffered the “roughest” injuries of his career in a spill at Delta Downs. Simington broke nine ribs and his collarbone when his mount clipped heels and fell, and he also ruptured his spleen and punctured a lung.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – For a $70,000 race, the Alydar Stakes at Hollywood Park on Sunday carries significant importance.
Trainers Bob Baffert and Simon Callaghan have three starters between them and consider the race a prep to the $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 11, if one of them were to win.
Quarter Horse racing might have a new rivalry brewing. Streakin Down and Stolis Winner, who both broke a track record at Remington Park last month when finishing one-two in a trial for the $100,000 Oklahoma Challenge Championship, will break side by side in the Grade 2 finale on Sunday.
The Challenge Championship is one of three major stakes on an 11-race program that starts at 1:30 p.m. Central. The program also will feature five trial races for the Grade 2 Heritage Place Derby on May 28.
When Separate Fire won a 300-yard maiden race in 15.40 seconds at Los Alamitos on April 15, her status in trainer Paul Jones’s stable soared.
“I think Separate Fire will be one of my better 2-year-olds,” he said on Thursday.
Jones has more than 110 2-year-old Quarter Horses in training in California, New Mexico, and Oklahoma this spring. Led by Separate Fire, seven of them will start in time trials for the Kindergarten Futurity at Los Alamitos on Sunday evening.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bob Hess Jr., the trainer of Victoria’s Wildcat, may have to go into the movie business, because the result he fashioned for his filly proved prophetic Friday, when Victoria’s Wildcat, the beneficiary of a hot pace duel, came storming down the center of the track to take the Grade 3, $100,000 Eight Belles Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs.
