Jockey Gerard Melancon had a productive day last Saturday. He won the colt and gelding division of the $100,000 John Franks Memorial Sales Stakes on the Steve Asmussen-trained Powerfully at Evangeline Downs at night after winning the $50,000 Stardust Stakes at Louisiana Downs aboard Fort Hood for trainer Brett Brinkman.
“I think I may have done that once before,” recalled Melancon about his riding stakes double at two tracks. “I just don’t remember when. I must be getting old.”
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DRF Past Performances
BOSSIER CITY, La. – Summertime has set in with a vengeance in the Ark-La-Tex region this week. Wednesday was Day 4 of a heat wave here, with the thermometer topping out at or above the century mark with little relief in the forecast. Triple-digit temperatures along with the infamous Louisiana humidity make Louisiana Downs one of the hottest racing venues anywhere.
Trainer Richard Rettele isn’t sure where he will be this Sunday. After galloping horses early, he will saddle horses in the afternoon at Pinnacle Race Course or Thistledown, unless he’s riding Quarter Horses for his wife, Carol, at Hoosier Park. Whatever he’s doing, he won’t be taking it easy on his 70th birthday.
“Well, I only gallop eight or 10 each day,” Rettele said Tuesday. “I do have to take it easy somewhat.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Smiling Tiger gave owners Phil Lebherz and Alan Klein and trainer Jeff Bonde their first wins in a Grade 1 race in the Bing Crosby Stakes last weekend. Finding a schedule that gets Smiling Tiger to another Grade 1 race they yearn to win – the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs in November – may take a few weeks.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – John’s Call won not one, but two Grade 1 races at the age of 9, continued racing until age 10, retired with more than $1.5 million in earnings, had a stakes race named after him at Saratoga, and was rewarded by his trainer, Tom Voss, by being his stable pony, a job he thoroughly enjoyed.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – He has won six of his last seven starts, including the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs. But just how good Blame is may not be known until Saturday, when he takes on Quality Road in the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Good things come to those who wait. It’s a cliché that applies to racing fans tuned in to Arlington Park for Friday’s nine-race program, and to the connections of the 4-year-old gelding Successful Dan.
Successful Dan, a perfect 3 for 3 to begin his career, races for the first time since June 13, 2009, when he starts in the featured ninth race here Friday. The mid-afternoon card picks up quality as it goes on, with a second-level allowance preceding the featured nightcap.
AUBURN, Wash. – If all goes according to plan, Quarter Horse racing will be an integral part of the 2011 racing menu at Emerald Downs, track officials confirmed last weekend.
To get a logistical jump on the matter, Emerald will host a 350-yard challenge race for Quarter Horses near the end of the current meeting in late September.
ALTOONA, IOWA – Friday’s inaugural running of the Prairie Meadows Juvenile Mile will close out the open stakes program at the meet. The $60,000 stakes for 2 year olds was added to the schedule this year to give emerging talent an opportunity to test their stamina.
Donnie K. Von Hemel has entered a couple of prospects. The colt, Sherriff Cogburn, is coming off a seven-length victory in a maiden race at Arlington Park. The filly, Larue Lovelake, finished fifth in the Prairie Gold Lassie after winning her maiden at Prairie Meadows.