Vanquisher continued his penchant for winning close decisions when he barely overtook Timeless Fashion to win Monday night’s $75,000 Labor Day Stakes at Mountaineer Racetrack.
It was the third straight stakes victory for the 6-year-old Vanquisher ($6), with all three wins by a half-length or less.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Gotta Have Her successfully defended her title on Monday in the Palomar Handicap, winning the Grade 2, $150,000 grass race for older fillies and mares after overcoming a dawdling pace.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Tom Proctor chose to run Keertana in Monday’s $100,000 Glens Falls Stakes at Saratoga to see if his filly could possibly be considered for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf later this year.
After Keertana slid up the rail under Jose Lezcano and drew clear for a 3 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3 race, Proctor got his answer.
“Wouldn’t you have to try her off that race?” Proctor said. “I was seeing if I could go to the dance, that’s all.”
CINCINNATI – Tanzana battled to victory Monday in the $100,000 Cradle Stakes at River Downs in a symbolic tribute to the struggles his trainer, Garry Simms, has endured in recent months.
With Leandro Goncalves riding, Tanzana was kept a few lengths off the pace of the Cradle, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for 2-year-olds, before surging late to prevail by a half-length over longshot Conservative Value.
Bridgetown lowered the Monmouth Park course record for about 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf with his front-running victory Monday in the $104,000 Gilded Time Stakes for 3-year-olds.
The 13-10 favorite, Bridgetown was clocked in 1:00.67.
The Gilded Time and the $95,200 Sorority for 2-year-old fillies were the featured events on the final day of Monmouth's summer meet before a Labor Day crowd of 8,616.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Boys At Tosconova maintained his spot among the leaders of the juvenile male division with a solid 1 3/4-length victory in Monday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Trainer Danny Miller and jockey Florent Geroux notched the first graded stakes win of their respective careers Monday when pacesetting Dade Babe ran away with the Grade 3, $100,000 Pucker Up Stakes at Arlington Park.
Dane Kobiskie clinched his second straight leading trainer title at the Maryland State Fair at Timonium by sending out four more winners on Monday’s closing-day card.
Kobiskie wound up with 10 winners from 28 starters, earning the largest share of a $10,000 bonus that went to the top four trainers at the meeting.
J. D. Acosta rode two winners on Labor Day and 10 overall to earn his second riding title in the past three years at Timonium. Jenna Joubert nearly caught Acosta on closing day when she rode three winners to wind up with nine.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The two horses involved in a controversial bumping incident during the Del Mar Derby on Sunday emerged from the race on Monday in a manner most befitting what had happened the previous day, with Twirling Candy, the runaway winner after bolting five furlongs from the wire, just fine, and Summer Movie, who finished last after being interfered with, “a little bit body sore,” according to his trainer, Art Sherman.
Jockey Jamie Theriot swept both six-figure stakes on Monday’s Labor Day holiday card at Parx Racing, upsetting the inaugural running of the $300,000 Smarty Jones for 3-year-olds with Thiskyhasnolimit and guiding defending champion Chamberlain Bridge to a come-from-behind score in the $251,000 Turf Monster Handicap.