FLORENCE, Ky. - Trainer Larry Jones entered the week having already one leading Kentucky Oaks contender in Honeybee winner Joyful Victory.
Now after Saturday, he has a second one in Summer Soiree, who ran herself into the Kentucky Oaks picture with wire-to-wire romp in the Grade 3, $100,000 Bourbonette Oaks on the undercard of the Vinery Spiral Stakes at Turfway.
Since trainer Tim Keefe took the blinkers off Eighttofasttocatch, the 5-year-old gelding has become a much better horse.
Racing without blinkers for the second time since mid-February, Eighttofasttocatch ($13) and jockey Sheldon Russell prevailed in a stretch-long duel with Marilyn’s Guy, ridden by Ricardo Chiappe, to win the first stakes of his career in Saturday’s $50,000 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial, the closing-day feature at Laurel Park.
Mambo Galliano got a terrific inside tracking trip under Jimmy Graham before wearing down Backtalk to capture the $150,000 Duncan Kenner Stakes at Fair Grounds on the Louisiana Derby undercard Saturday in New Orleans.
NEW ORLEANS - Mission Impazible returned to the scene of his greatest victory on Saturday and captured the Grade 2, $400,000 New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds, one year after taking the Louisiana Derby.
On or near the lead from the start, Mission Impazible ($5) kicked clear at the top of the stretch and went on to score a 1 1/2-length victory over Apart, who outdueled Giant Oak by a head for second.
After watching Harissa win last month’s Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park, New York-based trainer Mike Hushion indicated that the 4-year-old filly would probably return to her regular routine of racing in two-turn routes.
But when a soft spot with a $75,000 purse showed up at Parx Racing, Hushion apparently changed his mind. Harissa looks like a standout against six other fillies and mares in Tuesday’s 6 1/2-furlong Langhorne Stakes, the featured ninth race on a 10-race card.
Upperline proved a prompt favorite in the first stakes on the blockbuster Louisiana Derby card Saturday at Fair Grounds in New Orleans when pulling clear to a four-length triumph under Rosie Napravnik in the $96,000 Bayou Handicap.
Always in striking position in the field of five filly-mare turf runners, Upperline moved to challenge after turning for home in the 1 1/16-mile race, then sped clear after passing the eighth pole.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sunday’s $1 million Florida Derby, which figures to feature a small but select field topped by leading Kentucky Derby contenders Dialed In, Soldat, To Honor and Serve, and Stay Thirsty, will be typical of all the stakes racing scheduled here next weekend.
Miss Silver Ridge could advance to stakes competition with the right kind of effort Monday in the featured ninth race at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla. She will start as one of the top choices in the entry-level allowance for fillies and mares at 5 1/2 furlongs, and the race could serve as her springboard to the $60,000 Gold Finch at Prairie Meadows on April 22.
King Congie will be scratched as the second morning-line choice from Saturday’s Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park after incurring a strained hind leg during a routine gallop Friday morning at the Florence, Ky., track.
Jeff Lifson, regional representative for the colt’s owner, West Point Thoroughbreds, made the announcement Friday evening. King Congie was the 4-1 second choice in an original field of 12 3-year-olds in the Grade 3, $500,000 Vinery Spiral, the annual showcase event at Turfway. There is no also-eligibles list for the Spiral, so only as many as 11 will run.
NEW ORLEANS - Man of Strife was placed first via disqualification following a rough stretch run on Friday in the $75,000 Crescent City Derby, part of a day of stakes races for Louisiana-breds at Fair Grounds.
