OLDSMAR, Fla. - Ranging up three wide after a half-mile, See I A rallied past 40-1 longshot Gary D leaving the furlong marker and went on to post a 1 3/4-length victory in the $60,000 Pelican Stakes before 3,265 fans.
Under a well-judged ride by Huber Villa-Gomez, See I A returned $17 while posting his fifth straight win and 11th from 28 career starts.
Trainer Eddie Johnston is preparing the good Louisiana-bred turf horse Snakebite Kit for a start against open stakes competition in the Jan. 22 Colonel Bradley Handicap, but in Wildrally, Johnston had an able back-up for the $60,000 Dixie Poker Ace on Saturday at Fair Grounds. Under Anna Rose Napravnik, Wildrally came between horses at about the eighth pole and won the Dixie Poker Ace by one length over 4-5 favorite Kissimmee Kyle.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Edward Evans would have been proud.
Dance Quietly, the first starter from the Evans stable since his death on Dec. 31, rallied through a huge opening along the rail in the stretch and was able to outfinish Moonlit Malibu to win Saturday’s $65,000 Busanda Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths at Aqueduct.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Determinato rebounded off a poor effort to pull a 14-1 upset Saturday in the $100,000 Spectacular Bid Stakes at Gulfstream Park after stalking favored Gangsterontherun into defeat and holding on to win by 1 1/4 lengths.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The New York Racing Association is looking into a breakdown in communication that led to an injured jockey being left unattended to in the paddock for several minutes and nearly prompted the cancellation of the final three races on Saturday’s card at Aqueduct.
Trainer Al Stall is about to swing into stakes action at Fair Grounds and Louisiana points beyond, but Grade 1 winner J.B.’s Thunder will not be among the stable’s participants, Stall said Friday.
J.B.’s Thunder won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland last October after capturing his career debut in a Saratoga turf route, but he finished a distant ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and Stall, after watching J.B.’s Thunder post one slow three-furlong Fair Grounds drill, is pulling the plug on any Triple Crown possibilities.
Kathmanblu, considered among the leading 3-year-old filly prospects this season, worked five furlongs here at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, covering the distance in 100.80 in company with stablemate Hyperlink, breaking off a length behind and finishing on even terms before galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.80. Jockey Julien Leparoux, Kathmanblu’s regular rider, was up for the drill.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mucho Macho Man, among the leading candidates for the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Jan. 30, took his first major step in that direction by working a bullet five furlongs in 59.01 seconds Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
In the spring of her 3-year-old season two years ago, Holdontoyourdream was good enough to finish third in the Grade 2 Comely in New York. As a lightly raced 3-year-old last year in Italy, where she won her first two career starts by a combined nine lengths, Marseria was regarded highly enough that Team Valor International purchased her and brought her to Saratoga for a minor turf stakes.
Neither horse has come close to fulfilling once high expectations, but both look intriguing while trying something different in Monday’s featured ninth race at Parx Racing.
MIAMI – Calder Race Course has responded to Gulfstream Park’s decision last week to apply to the Florida Division of Business and Professional Regulation for racing dates in December 2011 by announcing its intention to race year-round beginning in April and continuing through 2012. The December dates traditionally have belonged to Calder.
