CINCINNATI - Indian Ink held off a late-charging Mini Mom to win the $50,000 Vivacious at River Downs Saturday afternoon.
Trained by Mike Rone, Indian Ink was kept just off the pace while pressing the early leader, Oriental Princess, to upper stretch. Jockey Perry Ouzts asked the 5-year-old mare for her best in upper stretch and she responded to lead by three lengths in upper stretch. Ouzts went to work late on Indian Ink and she was all out to hold off Mini Mom and jockey Cesar Ccamaque.
Concord Point turned back a sustained run from Exhi to post easily his richest career victory Saturday in the Grade 2, $750,000 West Virginia Derby, the annual showcase event at Mountaineer Racetrack in Chester, W.Va.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Champagne d'Oro, second to Franny Freud in last month's Prioress Stakes, took advantage of Franny Freud's sudden retirement on Thursday by speeding to a 4 1/2-length victory over Bonnie Blue Flag in the Grade 1, $250,000 Test Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Saturday at Saratoga.
The win was the second major victory in New York this year for Champagne d'Oro, who captured the Acorn Stakes on Belmont Stakes Day.
Too Tough Pete, the longest shot on the board at 20-1, challenged the pacesetter at the midway point on the second turn and pulled clear in the stretch to score a 3 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s $50,000 Genesee Valley Breeders’ Handicap for New York-breds at Finger Lakes.
Jockey Paul Nicol Jr. kept Too Tough Pete just off Remarkable Storm as he set early fractions 23.37 seconds, 47.73, and 1:12.31 in the 1 1/16-mile race. Too Tough Pete moved to the front on the final turn and was three lengths clear at the top of the stretch.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Ranger Rob broke in full stride and set all the pace en route to post a handy five-length win over eight 2-year-old Ohio-bred rivals in the 50,0000 Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes at Thistledown on Saturday.
Wild Bling finished second, 8 1/2 lengths clear of 4-5 favorite No Garlic.
Ranger Rob is owned and trained by Jeffrey Jackson and was ridden by Ernesto Oro.
He covered the six furlongs in 1:12.76 over a fast track and returned $24.40.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sharp Secretary inherited the lead from pacemaker Simply Spiteful early in the stretch en route to her first stakes score in the $151,200 Duchess at Woodbine Saturday.
It was the third win on the card for leading rider Eurico Da Silva, who put Sharp Secretary in an early outside stalking position. Simply Spiteful opened up a substantial on the backstretch, while setting fast splits of 22.16 and 44.12 seconds in the seven-furlong sprint.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Muscle Massive edged Lucky Chucky by a half-length in the $1.5 million Hambletonian for 3-year-old trotters on Saturday at the Meadowlands Racetrack.
Driver Ron Pierce got his third Hambletonian win; trainer Jimmy Takter won the trotting classic for the second time. The time was 1:51 for the mile, the second fastest in the 85-year history of the stakes. Muscle Hill set the mark of 1:50.20 last year.
Muscle Massive got his fourth victory in eight starts this season. It was his sixth win in 14 career races.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Bill Mott added another accomplishment to his Hall of Fame career Saturday when he became just the ninth trainer in Thoroughbred racing to record 4,000 winners in North America. The milestone victory came when Mystic took the seventh race at Saratoga, a first-level allowance race on turf.
Mott, 57, joined a club that includes Dale Baird, Jack Van Berg, King Leatherbury, Jerry Hollendorfer, Steve Asmussen, Scott Lake, Richard Hazelton, and D. Wayne Lukas.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Rafael Bejarano needed one Friday evening to revive his Del Mar season.
Bejarano rode four winners on an eight-race program Friday. Along the way, Bejarano won the Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes on the highly regarded 2-year-old filly Wickedly Perfect and put a dent into jockey Joel Rosario’s lead in the standings.
Rosario began the day with an eight-race lead over Bejarano, but had only a five-race advantage after Friday. Bejarano was delighted by his four-win day, hoping the success could lead to even better results in coming days and weeks.
Lori Smock has a New Hampshire cell-phone number, a half-dozen mares boarded in Florida, a 25-horse string stabled at Hoosier Park in Indiana, and, for the first time, a set of horses spending the meet at Presque Isle Downs in western Pennsylvania. And Smock, from all appearances, has a major player for Tuesday’s featured seventh race at Presque Isle in comebacking Allie’s Event.