A chilled-out version of Valli With a Vow is making strong strides. Valli With a Vow won just once in her first nine starts, but she swept to a powerful allowance-race victory Oct. 31 over Woodbine’s grass course, and was equally sharp Saturday at Fair Grounds capturing the $60,000 Pago Hop under James Graham.
“She was very relaxed” going into the Pago Hop,” said Ruth Schmidt, assistant to trainer Josie Carroll. “That was part of her issue: She wouldn’t relax.”
MIAMI - On paper, it was obvious there was very little early speed in Saturday’s $100,000 Tropical Turf Handicap at Calder. That fact was not lost on trainer Marty Wolfson or jockey Luis Saez.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Favored Inglorious dodged a loose horse en route to a decisive victory Saturday at Woodbine Racetrack in the $151,600 Ontario Lassie Stakes for Ontario-bred 2-year-old fillies.
Inglorious ($4.40) stamped herself as a serious prospect for next year’s Woodbine Oaks by winning the 1 1/16-mile route by 5 3/4 lengths. She also won her only other outing, which came in the six-furlong Fanfreluche Stakes Oct. 24.
Set up by hotly contested pace established by favored Waccamaw, late-running Perfect for You flew down the outside of the track to catch the front-running favorite and win Saturday’s $50,000 Holiday Inaugural at Turfway Park.
Trainer Chris Englehart and jockey John Davila Jr. continued their dominance as Finger Lakes wrapped up its 49th season of live racing on Saturday.
Englehart, 55, a native of Canandaigua, N.Y., saddled 131 winners this season to clinch his eighth consecutive leading trainer title. He did not come close, however, to his track-record 158 wins set in 2009.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Mike Hushion’s faith in Nicole H was restored Saturday as the 3-year-old filly rolled to a 2 1/2-length victory in the $65,000 Garland of Roses Handicap at Aqueduct. Meese Rocks, who bobbled at the break, rallied to be second by a head over Tar Heel Mom.
The victory was the third of the afternoon for Hushion and fourth for jockey Ramon Dominguez.
The 3-year-old filly Music Please remained undefeated while stepping up to face stakes company for the first time when she came from off the pace to overtake 7-5 favorite Heaven’s Voice to win Saturday’s $50,000 Squan Song Stakes at Laurel Park.
Ridden by Eric Camacho for trainer Rodney Jenkins, Music Please ($9.80) made a late move to overtake Heaven’s Voice by three-quartrers of a length while covering the seven furlongs in 1:25. My Misty’s Echo finished third as the 2-1 second choice in a field of six Maryland-bred fillies and mares, all seeking their first stakes win.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Zenyatta had more than 125 visitors on the Hollywood Park backstretch on Saturday, as some of her most devoted fans spent the morning watching the popular mare gallop on the training track and grazing at the barn.
Zenyatta is scheduled to be flown to Kentucky on Monday, where she will be paraded at Keeneland at approximately 4 p.m., Eastern. She will be shipped to nearby Lane’s End Farm, where she will reside as a broodmare.
Jockey Felipe Valdez, who was unseated in a spill in Friday’s second race at Hollywood Park, remained hospitalized overnight at Centinela Medical Center for observation, according to track officials.
Valdez, 32, fell from Score for Fun shortly after the start of a maiden claimer over 7 1/2 furlongs. He was on the ground briefly before transported via ambulance to a hospital. According to the jockey’s friends, he briefly lost consciousness in the incident.
Valdez has had one win at the current meeting, and has won 38 races this year.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Gourmet Dinner is likely to make his next start in the $750,000 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park on Dec. 18. The Grade 1 CashCall Futurity could be the first of several starts for the multiple stakes winner in Southern California this winter, trainer Steve Standridge said.
