OCEANPORT, N.J. - Western Smoke surged to the lead midway on the turn Saturday and held off a late run from Not Macho Any More to win the , the top event for 2-year-olds at Monmouth Park.
It was the third straight stakes victory for the gray son of Smoke Glacken, the 1996 Sapling winner. The streak started with the Prairie Gold Juvenile and continued with the Charles Town Juvenile. Western Smoke is owned by Kirk and Judy Robison.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It may be the year of Rachel, but it has been the summer of Linda.
Linda Rice entered the final three days of the meet with a serious chance to become the first woman to win a trainer's title at Saratoga. Entering Saturday's 12-race card, Rice and Todd Pletcher were tied with 18 wins apiece.
Rice recorded her 19th win of the meet when Mother Russia went gate to wire to win Saturday's $74,000 Peerless Springs Stakes by one length. Rice retained her lead through six races on Saturday.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Sporting a new look, about a three-day growth of beard, jockey Tyler Baze returned from a 13-day layoff caused by a broken pinky to ride one horse on Friday's nine-race program at Del Mar.
Carlsbad made Baze forget that injured finger when she gave the most impressive performance of her career in the $200,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap.
Facing older fillies and mares for the first time, Carlsbad won the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo by four lengths in track record time of 1:14.93 for 6 1/2 furlongs.
President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak Monday in Cincinnati at an AFL-CIO picnic at the Coney Island amusement park at about 1:30 p.m. Eastern, causing potential headaches for racing fans hoping for easy access to River Downs.
Coney Island is adjacent to River Downs on the northern shore of the Ohio River, and track officials are warning patrons that local roads could be blocked off for substantial lengths of time anywhere from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Saturday's 10-race program at Del Mar features a two-day pick six carryover of $418,744.
The bet was too difficult on Friday, with five of the six winners in the sequence paying more than $10. There was one winning favorite in Friday's pick six.
Saturday's pick six covers the fifth through 10th races on a card that begins at 2 p.m. Pacific. The fifth race is due off at 4:02 p.m.
There are two scratches in Saturday's pick six races - Malibu Win in the seventh race, and One Shot from the also-eligible list of the 10th race.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Carlsbad won the sixth stakes of her career and first against older fillies and mares in Friday's $200,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at Del Mar.
It was arguably the finest performance of her nine-race career, resulting in a track record of 1:14.93 for 6 1/2 furlongs.
Ridden by Tyler Baze, Carlsbad dueled with Moon de French for the lead through an opening quarter-mile in 22.99 seconds, put away that filly by early stretch, and won the Grade 3 race by four lengths.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Rick Violette has called another audible.
Initially planning to scratch Not Macho Any More out of Saturday's Sapling Stakes at Monmouth Park to run in Monday's Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga, Violette changed his mind Saturday morning and will now run Not Macho Any More in the Sapling and scratch out of the Hopeful.
The Hopeful drew a deep field of 13 led by the undefeated Backtalk, who drew the outside post.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There were 18 winning tickets sold on Friday's pick six at Saratoga, with each winning ticket returning $88,747.
The pick-six pool topped $2 million after a three-day carryover of $656,422 prompted an additional $1,823,550 to be bet on Friday's sequence. After takeout, the pool was just over $2 million.
Strike the Tiger, the 2-year-old gelding who pulled a 33-1 upset in the Windsor Castle Stakes at the Royal Ascot meet in June, will be a solid favorite Monday in the signature race of the River Downs meet, the $200,000 Cradle Stakes.
Strike the Tiger is unbeaten in three career races, all of them turf sprints. The Cradle, at 1 1/16 miles on turf, figures as a very interesting test of stamina for a horse who has led throughout in each of those victories.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Between them, the three likely favorites for the Stars and Stripes Handicap have seen 25 years on this earth. Brass Hat is an 8-year-old, as is Rumor Has It, and Silverfoot, who easily won the 2008 Stars and Stripes, is 9. But it will be surprising if one of the elders does not wind up in the winner's circle on Monday afternoon at Arlington Park.
