LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Three weeks after winning the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf for Augustin Stable and trainer Jonathan Sheppard aboard Forever Together, jockey Julien Leparoux appeared to be working his magic again.
Long Approach, with Leparoux riding for Augustin and Sheppard, had forged to the lead with just a few yards remaining in the 35th running of the $113,400 Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs on a wet and chilly Saturday afternoon.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - You Lift Me Up, claimed for $32,000 at Golden Gate Fields in June, won her second stakes of 2008 in Saturdays $89,600 Audrey Skirball-Kenis Stakes at Hollywood Park.
You Lift Me Up ($19.20) led throughout the 1 1/8 miles on turf, setting a slow pace of 24.75 and 49.70 seconds, and holding off a late run from Solar Miss and Fire n Brimstone. You Lift Me Up won by a head over Solar Miss, the 3-2 favorite who was a nose in front of Fire n Brimstone. The first six finishers in the field of eight were separated by a half-length.
Tin Cup Chalice was named 2008 Finger Lakes horse of the year at the Finger Lakes Horsemens Benevolent and Protective Association awards dinner on Saturday. Tin Cup Chalice won three races at Finger Lakes this season, including the $150,000 New York Derby. He also won the Grade 2, $500,000 Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park.
Sweet Goodbye got the drop on Fascinatin' Rhythm hustling out of the gate and led every step to win the $50,000 Northern Dancer for Maryland-bred 3-year-olds and extend her win streak to five.
Ridden by J.D. Acosta, Sweet Goodbye led by as much as seven lengths up the backstretch while on cruise control. The only tense moment came as she straightened for home with Fascinatin' Rhythm moving fastest and closing to within about two lengths of her. But Sweet Goodbye then picked up the pace, inched away again, and hit the wire 4 3/4 lengths in front.
Favored Selva extended her unbeaten record to three races with a handy victory Saturday in the $152,900 Glorious Song Stakes at Woodbine.
American runners swept the first three positions in the seven-furlong sprint for 2-year-old fillies. Selva, based in Kentucky, came four-wide from a stalking position to prevail by two lengths over Maryland shipper Holiday Girl. Hooh Why, from Chicago, rallied for third in the 10-horse field.
Emma Wilson rode Selva, who was trainer David Carroll's first Woodbine starter.
Trainer Marty Wolfson has been winning races at nearly a 50 percent clip over the past several months. So it shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise when Wolfson went 1 for 2 in Saturday's $50,000 Copano Stakes at Calder, winning the race with Jeux De Danse and finishing fourth with the uncoupled Stormin Mon.
NEW ORLEANS - The Saturday feature at Fair Grounds? Well, it looked a lot like the Friday feature at Fair Grounds, with Pat Valenzuela piloting a Bill Mott-trained horse to victory in a stakes carded for turf but rained onto dirt.
Moreover, it took a leap a faith from Team Mott just to run both winners, since Stormy West scored her first main-track victory in Friday's race, and Desert Wheat won for the first time on dirt, capturing Saturday's Mr. Sulu by 1 3/4 lengths.
On a gloomy and muddy day, there's nothing like a Dry Martini, and the 5-year-old gelding poured it on through the stretch to draw away from five rivals in Saturday's Grade 3, $110,500 Stuyvesant Handicap.
Dry Martini was off a beat slow and trailed by seven lengths early, as Temporary Saint and Brilliant Son battled through opening fractions of 24.16 seconds and 47.43 while pressed from the outside by Solar Flare and Ravel.
