Kiss With a Twist found a seam at the right time before drawing off to a 2 1/4-length victory under Miguel Mena in the $50,000 My Charmer Stakes at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., on a bleak Saturday afternoon.
Sent away the favorite in a field of 12 fillies and mares, Kiss With a Twist returned $6.80 after completing 1 1/16 miles in 1:47.52 over Polytrack. Cryptoquip was up in the closing strides to get second in a three-way photo, with Lauren's Tizzy third and Absolutely Cindy fourth.
The win photograph in Saturday's Pago Hop Stakes at Fair Grounds spread almost from inner rail to outer fence. Six horses finished within a half-length of one another in the $60,000 turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Love to Tell was barely best.
That's the way things have gone this Fair Grounds season for leading rider Francisco Torres, who never has wintered before in New Orleans, who has been in and out of racing because of substance-abuse-related bans, and who continues knocking out victories.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The 4-year-old colt Slew's Tizzy will not live in the shadow of his younger brother. Nine days after 3-year-old Slew's Tiznow won a minor $70,000 stakes at Hollywood Park, his full brother Slew's Tizzy scored a $16.40 upset with a track-record win in the Grade 3 Native Diver Handicap.
One odds-on favorite disappointed and one came through Saturday at Philadelphia Park in a pair of $75,000 stakes for Pennsylvania-bred juveniles.
In the Pennsylvania Nursery, Officer Ipod could not duplicate the front-running score in the Hi Yield last month at Penn National that drove his odds to 3-5 Saturday. After battling on the lead with Count the Gold for a half-mile in 45.03 seconds, Officer Ipod, with Joe Rocco Jr. riding, didn't have enough left when St. John's Gospel, who had been well off the early pace, made his rally.
MIAMI - The Kentucky Derby is still five months away, but one couldn't blame trainer David Fawkes or owner Harold Queen if they at least began thinking about running for the roses after Big Drama turned in a game performance to win Friday's Grade 3 Delta Jackpot at Delta Downs.
By notching his fifth consecutive victory in the Delta Jackpot, Big Drama picked up $450,000 in graded earnings, which all but assures him a spot in the 2009 Kentucky Derby should things continue to progress favorably for the Calder-based colt this winter and spring.
MIAMI - When trainer Greg Gilchrist makes the long trip from his northern California base to Calder Race Course with one of his horses, he's not coming for the stone crabs or a night on South Beach. He comes to win.
Gilchrist, who is based at Golden Gate Fields, notched his fifth victory in just eight starts at Calder when Wild Promises posted a front-running one-length victory over Callwood Dancer in Saturday's $100,000 My Charmer Handicap. Rutherienne finished another neck further back as the 6-5 favorite in the Grade 3 race for fillies and mares.
Jockey Simon Husbands is facing a suspension of one calendar year for what stewards termed "an unsatisfactory ride" aboard Bug's Boy, who finished second in the third race at Woodbine on Nov. 30.
"Husbands did not persevere with his mount throughout the race or demonstrate an effort to ensure the best and fastest race of which his mount was capable," read the stewards' ruling, which was released Saturday.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Jockey Tyler Baze will be out two to four weeks after suffering three cracked ribs and a hairline fracture of his right shoulder in a one-horse spill Friday at Hollywood Park.
Baze was riding the maiden filly Pink Diamond in the fourth race, a six-furlong turf race, when she ducked in yards past the wire and unseated him. He landed on the temporary railing, laid motionless for several minutes, then was transported by ambulance to nearby Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood for X-rays.
VINTON, La. - Big Drama took his game to a whole new level on Friday night, when he was part of a quick pace and then withstood a bid from West Side Bernie to win his fifth straight race in the Grade 3, $750,000 Delta Jackpot at Delta Downs. It was the graded stakes debut for Big Drama, who earlier this year swept the Florida Stallion Stakes series at his home track of Calder Race Course.
"He showed a lot of talent today," said David Fawkes, who trains Big Drama. "He showed a lot of run."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Mike Battaglia said years ago that nobody comes to the racetrack to listen to the announcer. Battaglia, who has called races and handled various other television and handicapping duties for more than 30 years at racetracks in Kentucky and beyond, flatly stated: "They come to bet on the races."
