SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There was very little drama to Sunday’s $150,000 Lake Placid Stakes at soggy Saratoga, especially after the Grade 2 stakes was transferred from the turf to a sloppy main track.
The surface change reduced the starting lineup from six to just three starters and in the end, the Lake Placid proved a one horse affair with It’s Tea Time cruising to a convincing 7 1/4-length victory over Hatheer with Triple Cream finishing another 13 lengths further back in third.
COLUMBUS, Neb. - Honkytonk Stomp scored his third straight win at the meet and second in stakes company as he shook off a challenge from Bingosablumin to win the $10,875 Van Berg Derby at Columbus on Saturday night.
Honkytonk Stomp, trained by Dudley Graham and ridden by Jordan Olesiak, moved to the front in his first attempt beyond six furlongs while under a strong hold. He eased up a bit turning into the backstretch of the mile and 70-yard Van Berg, was briefly passed by a pair of rivals, but surged back clear before reaching the final turn.
Black Belt, a 3-year-old facing older horses for the first time, made it 3 for 3 shipping into Charles Town for stakes restricted to West Virginia-breds. But the biggest news in Saturday night’s $51,200 Frank Gall Memorial Stakes was the rare flop turned in by defending West Virginia Breeders Classic champion Russell Road.
Lentenor, a full brother to 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, will return to the turf after a one-race experiment on dirt in the Florida Derby in Tuesday’s featured eighth race at Delaware Park.
Lentenor is among the main body of 10 3-year-olds in an optional $40,000 claimer that is also open to allowance runners who have never won two races. The race, scheduled for 7 1/2 furlongs on grass, also has three horses on the also-eliigible list.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Take the Points, a multiple Grade 1 winner on the turf, has been retired from racing due to an injury to his right foreleg, his connections announced Sunday.
“He has a fractured splint in his right front,” said Todd Pletcher, who trained Take the Points for the Starlight Partners of Jack and Laurie Wolfe and Don and Barbara Lucarelli. “Just with the timing, where he is in his career, the thought of doing surgery and trying to bring him back next year doesn’t make sense. There’s not really time to get anything accomplished at the end of this year.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Despite a power outage that left him unable to bring his horses to the main track early, and heavy rains that left the Oklahoma training track sloppy, trainer Todd Pletcher still worked a handful of his major stakes horses Sunday morning.
Life At Ten, who is targeting next Sunday’s Grade 1 Personal Ensign Invitational here and a meeting with Rachel Alexandra, worked five furlongs in 1:02.82 in company with the 2-year-old Stopspendingmaria over the Oklahoma training track.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Devil May Care, fourth as the favorite in Saturday’s Alabama may get another crack at the winner, Blind Luck, in the $750,000 Cotillion Stakes at Philadelphia Park on Oct. 2.
Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Devil May Care, and Jerry Hollendorfer, the trainer and part-owner of Blind Luck, both mentioned the Cotillion, a 1 1/16-mile race restricted to 3-year-old fillies, as possible next spots for 3-year-old fillies en route to the Breeders’ Cup.
Atta Boy Roy won what might have been his final prep for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint in hand on Saturday night, when he cruised by 5 1/2 lengths in the $200,000 Remington Park Sprint Cup.
The six-furlong race shared a card with the $150,000 Governor’s Cup won by Shadowbdancing.
DEL MAR, Calif. - For the fourth time this year, Evening Jewel won a graded stakes on Saturday at Del Mar.
This time was different, however. Evening Jewel overcame trouble on the final turn to win the $300,000 Del Mar Oaks by a half-length over Harmonious after a stretch run along the rail that left trainer Jim Cassidy admiring the filly’s ability on the day of his 65th birthday.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Winning the Arlington Million two years in a row is hard. No horse, not even John Henry, who won two Millions three years apart, ever has done it. But two hundred yards from the finish line in the 28th Arlington Million on Saturday, Gio Ponti, the 2009 winner and the 4-5 favorite in Saturday’s race, was home free. And then he was not.