Trainer Michael Lenzini didn't get too excited during the running of the Bart Heller Stakes at Saturday Golden Gates Fields. Why should he? He'd run the race in his mind dozens of times, and the actual running was no different than the scenarios he had imagined.
The Lenzini-trained Our Minesweeper stalked odds-on favorite Court Mischief before edging away to win the one-mile Tapeta stakes for 2-year-olds by three-quarters of a length in 1:38.51. The pair ran one-two all the way.
Brian Cheyne, riding in just his fourth career race, guided Bubba Luke ($13.60) to victory at Fort Erie on Monday afternoon. Cheyne, a 20-year-old native of Fort Erie, had ridden two races on Sunday and one Monday before Bubba Luke's success in race four.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The connections of Grand Couturier saw exactly what they were hoping to see from their 6-year-old in Sunday's at Belmont Park. So, the next time Grand Couturier will be seen will be in the Grade 1, $600,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational here on Oct. 3. Grand Couturier won that race last year by 10 1/4 lengths.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Ventura, runner-up to Rahy's Attorney in , breezed five furlongs in 59.60 seconds on the main track here Monday in preparation for Sunday's renewal of the Grade 1, $1 million turf feature.
A field of 11 is in prospect for the Woodbine Mile, a Breeders' Cup Win and You're In race for 3-year-olds and up. The winner secures a berth in the Breeders' Cup Mile.
Ricardo Santana Jr., a 16-year-old apprentice jockey from Panama, has moved his tack to the United States and was scheduled to begin riding at Delaware Park on Tuesday. He is being represented by Ruben Munoz, the agent for journeyman jockey Gabriel Saez.
According to Munoz, Santana, the son of a jockey, won 47 races in Panama. He is a five-pound apprentice and still gets the weight allowance for the next eight months. Munoz said Santana will ride at Delaware through the end of that meet (Oct. 26) then move his tack to the Meadowlands and Aqueduct.
Saturday's Grade 2, $750,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs picked up its probable favorite on Monday, when Soul Warrior was confirmed for the race by trainer Steve Asmussen. The horse will be part of a projected field of eight that includes comebacking UAE Derby winner Regal Ransom, who worked Monday at Belmont Park.
Asmussen said Soul Warrior, the winner of the in his last start Aug. 1, would be ridden by John Velazquez. The horse breezed Monday at Saratoga, going five furlongs in 1:02 over the Oklahoma training track. He was scheduled to fly in Tuesday.
POMONA, Calif. - Smooth Performer and trainer Cliff Sise have returned to form, just in time for the autumn racing season.
Sise won four races Saturday at Fairplex Park, the first four-bagger of his training career, capped by Smooth Performer's impressive victory in the $50,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes. And the best is yet to come.
The stakes was the sixth win on the card by jockey Martin Pedroza, and sets up Smooth Performer for the California Cup on Oct. 3, opening weekend of the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita. The question is, which race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Yummy With Butter certainly was due for a break in a stakes, and finally got one in Sunday's Overskate at Woodbine.
A good trip and a friendly photo got Yummy With Butter to the infield stakes winner's circle here for the first time following a thrilling finish to the seven-furlong Overskate for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds and upward.
The stakes win was also the first for trainer Mark Fournier, who relocated here from Fort Erie in 2008.
Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird is scheduled to breeze a half-mile on Monday at the Downs at Albuquerque, where his trainer, Chip Woolley, has a division of horses. He will work between the first and second races, said Woolley.
Earlier this month, Mine That Bird flew to New Mexico after spending the summer at Saratoga. He was tentatively scheduled to arrive Monday at Santa Anita for the Grade 1, $350,000 Goodwood on Oct. 10, but he might not travel for another week, said Woolley.
