DEL MAR, Calif. - Bench Points remained unbeaten after two starts with a sharp rally through the stretch of Wednesday’s $100,000 Graduation Stakes at Del Mar.

Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Bench Points closed from seventh in a field of 10 while saving ground throughout to outfinish Joy Boy by 2 3/4 lengths. Blingboy finished third, with 2-1 favorite Stormin Rae sixth.

Bench Points ($6.60) ran 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.79. Bejarano kept Bench Points on the rail until midstretch when he rallied between Joy Boy and Blingboy

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Javier Castellano continued his torrid Saratoga summer while the Canadian-based trainer Roger Attfield continued his successful invasion of the New York turf stakes program Wednesday at Saratoga.

Despite having to go six wide in the stretch, Castellano guided Miss Keller to a one-length victory over Keertana in the $70,000 De La Rose Stakes. It was three lengths back to Dreamt in third.

Wasted Tears will leave her Retama Park base Friday for Del Mar, where she will run in the Grade 2, $250,000 John C. Mabee Stakes on Aug. 15, said her trainer, Bart Evans. Wasted Tears will be seeking her seventh straight win, with her most recent score coming May 31 in the Grade 3, $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff at Lone Star Park.

Nelson Desouza, who won his first race at Hoosier Park last Sunday, took the long way to get to Indiana racing.
Desouza, 28, had a cousin who was a jockey in his native Brazil.
“My cousin was a very good jockey and I have a similar build, “ Desouza said. “I knew my weight wouldn’t be a problem so I decided to give it a try.”
After attending the jockey school in Brazil, where he met current Hoosier rider Leandro Goncalves, Desouza had immediate success.

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.”

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.