Jockey Ron Blinston won his 1,000th race on Friday evening aboard Taktical Risk ($21.50) in the first race at Northlands Park.
Blinston, 46, began his riding career at Turf Paradise in 1980.
"I started out riding for Red Smith in Phoenix," said Blinston. "It took me a while, but a lot of guys can't say they have won this many races. It's something to be proud of."
Memories of Okey was up for a half-length win over Forget Thinkin in the Grade 1, $225,450 Retama Park Futurity for Quarter Horses on Friday night at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston. In a one-year agreement, the track is hosting Retama's dates for Quarter Horses.
BALTIMORE Social Queen ended a five-race losing streak in startling fashion on Saturday, storming down the center of the course to nail All Is Vanity in the final strides to take the Grade 3, $100,000 Gallorette Handicap for female turf runners at Pimlico.
Social Queen ($20.20) was able to rally into the teeth of a slow fractions, a pace that proved the undoing of the 4-5 favorite, Dynaforce. Under Rafael Bejarano, Social Queen rallied from last in the seven-horse field and prevailed by a head. Tejida was another 2 1/4 lengths back in third.
BALTIMORE - Everyday Heroes ran through his conditions without a loss over the winter at Oaklawn Park, and a bump up to stakes competition Saturday at Pimlico did not slow him down, either. Winning for the fourth time without a defeat, Everyday Heroes tracked a hot early pace, took over in upper stretch, and cruised to a 3 3/4-length victory in the Grade 3, $100,000 Hirsch Jacobs Stakes.
BALTIMORE - Big Drama was reported fine by trainer David Fawkes after getting cast in his stall in the Pimlico stakes barn on Saturday morning.
"He's fine," Fawkes said. "It was as minor as could be. I wouldn't even say he scraped his knee. He just took a little hair off, that's all. He was being a goofball. We gave him a bath and walked him, and he was fine."
Fawkes said the incident happened before Big Drama came out of his stall in the morning. He was not scheduled to train Saturday morning.
BALTIMORE - The sire Posse was a sprinter, and his offspring generally are assumed to be sprinters, too, but for No Advantage, a son of Posse, a switch to two-turn racing has brought out his best. No Advantage finished fifth in the $615,000 Charles Town Classic on April 18, his first true route race, but Saturday at Pimlico, he won the Grade 3, $100,000 William Donald Schaefer Stakes by 2 3/4 lengths.
"Everybody says that Posses can't go long, but this one can," said Joe Besecker, co-owner of No Advantage with Kirk Wycoff and Suarez Racing.
Trainer Bobby Frankel said Skylighter didn't do well in south Florida this winter. Once back in the Northeast, however, Skylighter appeared to perk up. Her new attitude plus a soft field equaled a return to the winner's circle in Saturday's Grade 2 $150,000 Allaire DuPont Stakes.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. Faced with a shortage of horses, Hollywood Park will reduce its racing schedule by one day per week over the next month, starting with the cancellation of live racing on Wednesday. Racing this week will begin Thursday.
The California Horse Racing Board on Friday granted Hollywood approval to trim its schedule through June 14.
Thirteen days into their 2009 Thoroughbred racing season, Prairie Meadows has run three stakes races and they have all been contested over rain-soaked surfaces. Unlike the first two, which featured runaway winners, Friday night's $65,000 Mamie Eisenhower, an Iowa-bred six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares, produced a thrilling finish.
Nowndforevermore emerged from behind a wall of horses in the stretch to run down the leaders and win the $50,000 John Franks Memorial on the opening-day card Friday at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La. The race was one of two Louisiana-bred turf stakes on the program, with Tensas Yucatan leading throughout to win the $50,000 Honeymoon.