Hypocrite bid four wide leaving the turn, then drew off under brisk handling through the final furlong to post a 3 1/4-length victory in the 19th running of the $75,000 Super Stakes before a crowd of 4,035 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Ridden by Manoel Cruz, Hyprocrite ($7.60) covered the seven furlongs in a very quick 1:22.84 - less than a second off the track record of 1:22.28 - while making his first start of 2009.
Parade Clown was a well-beaten second behind Music City in an allowance prep, but when the $50,000 WEBN Stakes was run Saturday at Turfway Park, the proverbial tables were turned, with Parade Clown emerging on top.
Music City broke sharply to set the pace in the one-mile WEBN, and passing the three-furlong pole, he was pulling away from his closest pursuer, Parade Clown. But jockey Bill Troilo still had something left with Parade Clown, and they re-rallied to overtake the front-runner inside the eighth pole and pull away to a 2 3/4-length triumph.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Vanquisher parlayed his sharp current form and a fast pace into the first stakes victory of his career, a last-to-first half-length triumph over 7-5 favorite Smooth Air in Saturday's $75,000 Tallahasee Stakes at Gulfstream.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Trainer Lonnie Arterburn's family tree reads like something from the Who's Who of Racing.
Arterburn's father, Jack, was a top rider before retiring. His uncle, Damon "Buster" Pollard, was a well respected trainer on the West Coast for a number of years, and his brother-in-law, jockey Russell Baze, has led the country in races won numerous times and is the all-time winningest rider in the history of the sport with more than 10,300 career victories.
NEW ORLEANS - Was that actually Honest Man out there in the Mineshaft Handicap on Saturday afternoon at Fair Grounds? It hardly seemed possible that the horse who had set a scorching pace a month ago in the Louisiana Handicap was rating down the backstretch a couple lengths off a notably slow pace. And the change in style produced a much better result, with Honest Man, third in the Louisiana, making a decisive move off the far turn on his way to a 4 1/4-length win in the Grade 3, $125,000 Mineshaft.
Beulah Park canceled racing Saturday due to unsafe track conditions. The track was thawing unevenly after a winter storm dumped a foot of snow and a half-inch of ice on the track last week. It was the eighth full day that has been canceled due to weather and/or track conditions this meet. In addition, three other cards were canceled after the first race.
Beulah has run a total of 10 days since opening Jan. 10. Racing was canceled this week after the first race on Monday and Tuesday and full cards were scrapped on Wednesday and Saturday. All eight races were contested Friday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Old Fashioned could have as many as eight or nine rivals in the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest Stakes, one of two major stakes for 3-year-olds on deck next holiday weekend at Oaklawn Park.
Rachel Alexandra, the winner of the Grade 2 Golden Rod, will head the $50,000 Martha Washington on Sunday, Feb. 15.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Until last month, trainer Ruben Cardenas was unsure how he was going to make ends meet. He was down to just a few horses and was seeking a part-time job to support his wife and four children. He said he was thinking of taking a job driving a horse van.
Not much came of that, which for Cardenas turned out to be a stroke of good luck. About the same time, he met Michael Gonzalez, a horse owner from Puerto Rico.