INGLEWOOD, Calif. - For the next 10 days, the focus of the final weekend of Hollywood Park and the opening day at Del Mar is on 3-year-olds - the established main-track stars and the up-and-coming hopefuls on turf.
Hollywood Park concludes its spring-summer meeting this Sunday, and the most lucrative race of the final weekend is Saturday's $200,000 Swaps Stakes for 3-year-olds over 1 1/8 miles on the synthetic main track.
No Hesitation underlined his position as the top 3-year-old on the grounds with a romping eight-length victory in Saturday's $50,000 Ky Alta Handicap at Northlands Park.
With his regular rider Rico Walcott in the irons, No Hesitation ($2.80) stalked the pace of Tiny Giant and Streakin' Mohican before launching a three-wide bid on the final turn and drawing off in handy fashion.
Streakin' Mohican held for second with Paseo Alegro finishing another 3 3/4 lengths back as the third-place finisher in the field of six for the one-mile handicap.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - So what if Awesome Gem needed 13 starts in Grade 1 races over 40 months to finally win a race at that level in Saturday's $500,000 at Hollywood Park?
For trainer Craig Dollase, the wait, and Awesome Gem's career along the way, made the victory even more gratifying.
"I've finally won the Hollywood Gold Cup," Dollase said. "It's pretty exciting. A lot of work went into keeping this horse sound over the years."
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Coyote Legend relished the return to the main track on Saturday, when he picked up his sixth career stakes win in the $75,000 Assault at Lone Star Park. The race was one of four restricted stakes on the Stars of Texas Day program that drew an enthusiastic ontrack crowd of 11,182.
INGLEWOOD, Calif - Jockey Martin Pedroza s 1,000th career win at Hollywood Park came with his most lucrative mount of the spring-summer meeting aboard E Z's Gentlemen in Saturday's $250,000 .
Pedroza, who was beaming with pride as he led the 5-year-old into the winner s circle, gave E Z's Gentlemen a perfect trip. Stalking pacesetter M One Rifle through an early pace of 22.82 and 45.03 seconds, Pedroza guided E Z's Gentlemen along the rail on the turn, and turned a one-length lead in the stretch to 3 1/4 lengths at the finish.
Trappe Shot proved to be a cool customer Saturday at Monmouth Park, winning the for 3-year-olds in his first trip around two turns.
Trappe Shot beat Nacho Friend by 2 1/2 lengths for his fourth straight win. It was an important learning experience following a trio of blowout victories.
In addition to passing his first two-turn test, Trappe Shot showed he could overcome a stumble at the start to rate in tight quarters. He also demonstrated a willingness to squeeze through a narrow opening on the fence when prompted by Alan Garcia.
MIAMI - Jessica Is Back completed an unprecedented, clean sweep by locally based horses of the four graded stakes on Saturday s rich Summit of Speed program at Calder and gave trainer Marty Wolfson his second graded stakes win on the card by wearing down 2-1 favorite Warbling in the . The Grade 1 Princess Rooney is a Win and You re In race for the Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
Earlier in the day, Pica Slew captured the Grade 3 Azalea, Wolfson s Coffee Boy won the Grade 2 Carry Back, and Big Drama was triumphant in the Grade 2 Smile Sprint. All are based at Calder.
MIAMI - Big Drama completed a memorable afternoon for the team of trainer David Fawkes, owner Harold Queen, and jockey Eibar Coa with a professional 1 1/2-length decision over the late-striding Mambo Meister in the , co-feature on Saturday's rich Summit of Speed card at Calder, and a Win and You're in race for the Breeders' Cup Sprint.
Fawkes and Coa had already combined earlier in the day to capture the $100,000 Frank Gomez Memorial with Queen's Little Drama, a 2-year-old half brother of Big Drama. But they saved the best for last in the Grade 3 Smile Sprint.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The champion is back.
Gio Ponti, the dual Eclipse Award winner last year as the top older male and the leading grass horse, scored his first win of 2010 on Saturday in the Grade 1, $600,000 at Belmont Park.
The trailer for most of the 1 3/8-mile race on the firm turf course, Gio Ponti surged in deep stretch to nail Mission Approved, the longest price in the race at 53-1, by a neck.
The victory ended a five-race losing streak dating back to his triumph in last year s Arlington Million that capped a string of four consecutive Grade 1 victories.
