What appeared to be a match race on paper turned out to be anything but Sunday at Belmont Park.
Race favorites Game Face (6-5) and Any Limit (3-2) both finished out of the money and well behind Carolyn's Cat who went gate to wire under Alan Garcia to win Sunday s Grade 2, $150,000 Vagrancy Handicap by 3 1/4 lengths at Belmont.
Mr. Fantasy, the Grade 3 Withers winner, has been scratched out of Monday's Grade 1 Shadwell Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park due to a temperature, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Sunday. Mr. Fantasy, one of two 3-year-olds entered in the race, will now try to make the Grade 2 Woody Stephens on June 6, McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin said Mr. Fantasy "wasn't acting quite right on the racetrack" Saturday morning and came back from his training session with a temperature of 102.
LINCOLN, Neb. - Reach One More collected his third straight stakes victory in dominating fashion with a nine-length win in the $16,080 Journal Star Stakes for 3-year-olds at Lincoln on Saturday afternoon.
Trained by David Anderson, Reach One More made a quick move to seize command into the far turn and drew off for the win under Mike Ziegler. He covered the six furlongs in 1:11.60 over a fast track as the 6-5 favorite in the field of six.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - With shocking ease, Zenyatta launched her 2009 campaign with a virtually flawless win in Saturday's $150,000 Milady Handicap at Hollywood Park.
In doing so, Zenyatta, the champion older female of 2008, stretched her unbeaten streak to 10, and won in a style that left jockey Mike Smith in awe.
"I'm numb," he said. "I'm looking for some emotion now, but I'm just numb. She's just amazing. Physically, I think she's better than she was last year."
Judy's Light caught 3-2 favorite Sax Appeal in the closing strides to win the $50,000 Power Doll in the slop at Louisiana Downs on Saturday. The six-furlong race was one of two stakes on the card for 3-year-olds and up bred in Louisiana.
Judy's Light ($34.20) trailed the field for a good portion of the Powder Doll, then came rolling down the middle of the track late. She covered the distance in 1:12.07. Jose Riquelme was aboard for Judy Ann Behler and trainer Theo Journet.
Diamond Doc upset heavily favored Teagues Fight in the colts and geldings division of the $50,000 Sales Stakes at Northlands Park on Saturday. With the track favoring speed, jockey Perry Winters had Diamond Doc sitting just off the pace while racing three wide. He moved up to engage the leaders at the five-eighths pole and then made the lead at the top of the stretch. Once in front, he was never threatened as he drew off to post a three-length win over Teagues Fight.
ALBANY, Calif. - Run It scored his second straight turf win, sitting just off Winning Vow's slow pace before pulling clear in the stretch to win the $75,000 Alcatraz Stakes at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday.
Run It finished seventh in his only other stakes try, the Gold Rush Stakes last December. He won a first-level allowance race on the turf in his last start on April 12.
CHICAGO - Jockey Rene Douglas, hurt in an accident late Saturday afternoon at Arlington Park, was to undergo surgery at 11 p.m. Central at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago after being transported via helicopter from Northwest Hospital near Arlington.
Douglas has an injured back, according to his longtime agent Dennis Cooper, and was to have arthroscopic surgery, the concern being the possibility that a bone splinter had lodged in his spine.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Buff Bradley always felt Brass Hat was a quality turf horse, even though the 8-year-old gelding had been winless in all seven of his starts on the surface.
Saturday in the Grade 3, $111,800 Louisville Handicap at Churchill Downs, that assessment proved accurate, as Brass Hat rallied from sixth to outkick favored Spice Route by a half-length under Calvin Borel.
