Racing at the San Joaquin County Fair in Stockton, Calif., got off to a strong start, fair CEO Debbie Cook said. Ontrack handle on opening day last Thursday showed an increase of more than 50 percent from last year's opener, she said. Stockton ran a September meet in 2008.
The first four days of racing at Stockton, Thursday through Sunday, were conducted without the benefit of the actual fair, which opens Wednesday. The meet closes this Sunday.
Pay the Man kept her undefeated record against distaff competition when she led every step of the way in the $50,000 J. William Petro Memorial Stakes at 1 1/16 miles here Saturday afternoon.
Pay the Man has now won 9 of her 10 starts here, with her lone defeat coming at the hands of her male stablemate Pyrite Personal in 2007.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - With a Father's Day crowd of just over 10,000 on hand to watch the proceedings, Lovango lived up to his odds-on favoritism to prevail in the $35,000 Shot of Gold Stakes at Canterbury Park on Sunday.
Intermittent showers during the afternoon prompted track maintenance to float the track, leaving a wet-fast surface at post time. The pace types in the Shot of Gold field appeared undeterred as Nordic Wind, Forest Echoes, and Distinguish skirmished in a three-horse battle through fractions of 22.60 and 45.84 seconds.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Though no winner paid more than 6-1 in Sunday's pick-six sequence, the wager went unhit for a second straight day at Belmont Park, resulting in a pick-six carryover of $154,890 entering Wednesday's card.
Most tickets died when Cocoa Beach, the 1-9 favorite in the Floral Park Heatherten Stakes, finished last of four in the race. The sequence began with the first-time starter Love My Mondays ($15.20) winning the fifth race by nearly 10 lengths and ended with Client Eight taking the nightcap at $11.80.
Singin Vicar was a two-time stakes winner last year at Arapahoe Park and picked a fine time to recapture his best form on Sunday when he rallied for a half-length win over defending champ Brahms Haze in the $39,915 Aspen Stakes.
Singin Vicar returned $34.80 after covering the six furlongs for statebreds in a sharp 1:09.62. John Rochabrun rode the winner for Willard Burbach and trainer James E. Jones.
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - LD Fire and Streakin Laquinta finished in a dead heat for first in Saturday's $1 million Ed Burke Million Futurity, the first leg of Los Alamitos's three seven-figure Quarter Horse futurities.
LD Fire ($3) and Streakin Laquinta ($7) ran 350 yards in 17.34 seconds, finishing three-quarters of a length in front of Three Times the Toll in the field of 10.
ELMONT, N.Y. - It was a day of mixed results for prohibitive stakes favorites Sunday at Belmont Park, with Legal Consent grinding out a victory in the Mike Lee Stakes and Cocoa Beach finishing last in the Floral Park Heatherten Stakes.
Legal Consent, a 1-4 favorite in a field of five, struck the front with three furlongs remaining under Ramon Dominguez then held off a stretch threat from Slevin to win the $105,500 Mike Lee Stakes for 3-year-old New York-breds by a half-length. It was 3 1/2 lengths back to That's Rich. Lookin at Her and Monte Carlo completed the order of finish.
Train Rider Blues closed into a hot pace to catch the filly Glory Be Mine on the wire and win his maiden in the $159,556 Ruidoso Thoroughbred Sales Futurity at Ruidoso Downs on Sunday. He was up by a neck, while it was another 1 1/4 lengths back in third to 3-5 favorite Explosive Mine.
The Ruidoso Futurity was restricted to 2-year-olds bred in New Mexico.
Train Rider Blues ($40.40) raced in seventh early, as Glory Be Mine and Explosive Mine dueled through a half-mile in 45.40 seconds. The eventual winner covered five furlongs in 59.20.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Oil Man's strength as a router could be on display nationwide this summer.
After struggling in turf stakes at a mile and 1 1/16 miles over the winter and spring, Oil Man launched his summer campaign with a victory in Sunday's at Hollywood Park.
The race distance of 1 1/8 miles on turf was key, according to trainer John Sadler.
"He wants to run a mile and a quarter or a mile and a half," Sadler said. "He'll stay forever."
