Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:00

Resentless captures Ontario Lassie

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Resentless ($3.50) went right to the front and never looked back en route to notching her first stakes Sunday at Woodbine in the $150,400 Ontario Lassie.

Chantal Sutherland rode Resentless, who set slow fractions in the route for Ontario-bred 2-year-old fillies before drawing off in the stretch. She prevailed by 5 1/4 lengths over Tee Game, in a time of 1:43.98 for 1 1/16 miles. Moment of Majesty finished another neck back in third in the six-horse field. All Star Heart was a vet scratch at the gate.

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:00

Coy Cat over stablemate at Turfway

Coy Cat surged to the lead with an outside rush and edged away down the stretch to defeat her Paul McGee-trained stablemate, School Girl, in the $50,000 Holiday Inaugural, the highlight of a nine-race card that kicked off the holiday meet Sunday at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.

With Larry Sterling Jr. riding for the Jay Em Ess Stable, Coy Cat paid $30.60 after finishing six furlongs in 1:10.44 over Polytrack. School Girl, a 20-1 shot under Jon Court, was three-quarters of a length behind the winner and another half-length before She's Extreme.

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:00

Another Grade 1 for Running Brook Gal

Runnning Brook Gal, who is the nation's top-ranked 2-year-old Quarter Horse, closed out her big year with a half-length win over First Prize Leesa in the Grade 1, $305,000 Southwest Juvenile Championship at Zia Park on Sunday.

Runnning Brook Gal ($4.20) broke well in the Southwest Juvenile and was prominent throughout as she covered 440 yards in 21.23 seconds. Paul Jones trains the filly for A&C Racing and Roping. She was ridden by Ramon Sanchez.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 00:00

Ramsammy earns his 2,000th victory

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Jockey Emile Ramsammy scored career win No. 2,000 aboard Perfect Student in Sunday's eighth race at Woodbine.

Ramsammy, who will turn 47 on Dec. 11, is a two-time Sovereign Award winner as Canada's top rider. His career highlights include victories in the Queen's Plate aboard Victor Cooley (1996) and Edenwold (2006).

Ramsammy is a native of Trinidad, which is where he won his first race in 1980.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 00:00

The Usual Q.T. grabs Hollywood Derby

Benoit & Associates
A maiden in August, The Usual Q.T. became a Grade 1 winner in Sunday's $300,000 Hollywood Derby.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A winning streak that began in a maiden race for statebreds at Del Mar in August shows no sign of ending for The Usual Q.T.

Sunday, the 3-year-old gelding won his third consecutive stakes, and most prestigious race to date, in the $300,000 Hollywood Derby at Hollywood Park.

Ridden by Victor Espinoza, The Usual Q.T. ($11.40) had an ideal trip in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby. The Usual Q.T. stalked pacesetter Straight Story to early stretch, took the lead passing the eighth pole, and won by 1 1/2 lengths over 5-2 favorite Battle of Hastings.

Sat, 11/28/2009 - 00:00

Lonesome Creek topples heavy favorite again

When Lonesome Creek won the ATBA Sales Stakes at Turf Paradise on last month at 12-1, beating 1-5 favorite Got an Itch back into second, it was surely viewed as a surprise. That can't really be the reaction now as Lonesome Creek made it two straight over her more ballyhooed rival when she captured the $63,836 Arizona Breeders Futurity filly division at Turf Paradise on Saturday.

Twenty minutes later, Pinal validated his 12 3/4-length win in the trial for this, easily taking the $67,710 colt-and-gelding division.

Sat, 11/28/2009 - 00:00

Friesan Fire resurfaces at Fair Grounds

Friesan Fire will make his first start since the Preakness Stakes, and first for trainer Steve Asmussen, in a high-level optional claiming race on Thursday at Fair Grounds.

Friesan Fire was one of six horses entered in a mile-and-40-yard allowance race also open to $100,000 claimers. The race also includes Fair Grounds-loving Good and Lucky, a stakes winner over the main track. But Friesan Fire figures to be an odds-on favorite under Shaun Bridgmohan.

Sat, 11/28/2009 - 00:00

Evolutionist takes advantage of stalking trip

Hodges Photography/ Lynn Roberts
Evolutionist and jockey James Graham win Saturday's Woodchopper at Fair Grounds by 2 1/2 lengths.

Evolutionist got a perfect stalking trip under James Graham, and gave trainer Bill Mott his second stakes win of the young Fair Grounds season with a decisive and popular victory late Saturday afternoon in the $58,200 .

Bred by Kinsman Farm and owned by Kinsman Stable, Evolutionist sports an excellent pedigree by A.P. Indy, and out of Dream Supreme and off a close fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Perryville Stakes around one turn on Keeneland Polytrack, Evolutionist was made the overwhelming favorite in the Woodchopper, a one-mile grass race.

Sat, 11/28/2009 - 00:00

Ventura wins one for Frankel in career finale

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - This, Humberto Ascanio said, was the one he wanted.

Ascanio, the long-time assistant to trainer Bobby Frankel, got his first Grade 1 win on Friday in the Citation Handicap with Fluke, then came right back on Saturday at Hollywood Park to win another Grade 1 race, this time with the brilliant mare Ventura, who closed her career with a 1 3/4-length victory in the $300,000 .

"That's the one I wanted. This one. For him," Ascanio said of Frankel after posing for pictures with Ventura.

Sat, 11/28/2009 - 00:00

Spill results in no-contest at Beulah

GROVE CITY, Ohio - The seventh race at Beulah Park on Saturday was declared a no-contest when jockey Wilkin Ortiz was thrown from his mount, Pacarrie's Magic, at the start.

Pacarrie's Magic, a 7-year-old gelding, stumbled at the start of the one-mile event and Ortiz tumbled to the ground. He lay motionless in the stretch of this one-mile track as the horses reached the far turn and the track stewards had the announcertell the riders to pull up as the gate crew tried to wave the field down.