ARCADIA, Calif. – The longshot Miss Match closed resolutely and just did get up in the final strides to defeat favored Switch in the Grade 1, $300,000 Santa Margarita Invitational Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, a race marred by an injury to Always a Princess, who fell near the wire and fractured both sesamoid bones in her left front ankle, but likely can be saved for breeding purposes, her trainer, Bob Baffert, said late Saturday.
Around the last turn of the century, Lu Ravi won three stakes races in New Orleans, including the Fair Grounds Oaks. Her daughter, Ravi’s Song, is making like mama.
Five-year-old Ravi’s Song, the first horse produced by Lu Ravi to show much on the racetrack, won the $98,000 New Orleans Ladies Stakes on Saturday by 1 1/2 lengths, using the same kind of flashy stretch run she employed capturing the Pelleteri Stakes on Feb. 12 at Fair Grounds.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.- No bute, no Lasix, no respect!
And no problem for the gritty Tackleberry, who continues to confound the experts and outrun just about everybody’s expectations except those of his owner-trainer Luis Olivares. Saturday, Tackleberry held off Soaring Empire and Tizway to add the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap to his earlier victories this winter in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Sprint and Sunshine Millions Classic.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - In a performance called “effortless” by her rider, Mike Smith, Joyful Victory established herself as one of the most exciting 3-year-old fillies in the country on Saturday when she cruised home by 8 3/4 lengths in the Grade 3, $125,000 Honeybee at Oaklawn Park.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Inherit the Gold passed his sternest test to date with an easy two-length victory over odds-on favorite Yawanna Twist in Saturday’s $65,000 Kings Point Stakes for New York-breds at Aqueduct.
Yawanna Twist, the 4-5 favorite, finished second by 2 3/4 lengths over Spa City Fever. Mine Over Matter and Stud Muffin completed the order of finish. Thunder Chief scratched.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Prominent from the outset, Denomination dueled with favored Zagora through a long drive and came away with a hard-earned neck victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 Hillsborough Stakes on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs.
Under a well-judged ride by Frederick Lenclud, Denomination followed Cherokee Queen as she cut out a leisurely pace that included a half-mile in 49.53 seconds and six furlongs in 1:13.46. Denomination then went up from the outside to challenge turning for home.
Longshot Watch Me Go beat Crimson Knight, an even longer shot, by about a head to win the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, both horses checking in several lengths in front of heavily favored Brethren, who finished third.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - “He was the Derby favorite going in and he’s the Derby favorite coming out!”
That’s pretty much how trainer Todd Pletcher summed up Uncle Mo’s 3-year-old debut, an easy 3 3/4-length victory over a game but overmatched Rattlesnake Bridge in Saturday’s inaugural edition of Gulfstream Park’s $100,000 Timely Writer.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Jockey Daniel Centeno, leading rider at Tampa Bay Downs, will be sidelined through the remainder of the meet as a result of injuries sustained when he was unseated from his mount shortly after the start of Friday's fourth race.
Centeno, who held a commanding lead in the jockey's race with 78 wins coming into Friday's program, was aboard Alajwad Dancer, a 4-year-old first time starter, in a five-furlong maiden claiming sprint when the horse broke slowly, then raced greenly after the break, swerving to the inside then back to the outside.
