ARCADIA, Calif. - Century Park led throughout the $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes at Santa Anita on Sunday, winning the first stakes of her career.
Her reward? A likely start against division leader Stardom Bound in the $300,000 Las Virgenes Stakes on Feb. 7 or the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks on March 7.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Anybody looking for catalog No. 269 at Monday's Keeneland auction won't find Waquoit's Love in the sale ring. But she could have been seen 24 hours earlier in the Gulfstream Park winner's circle after the 6-year-old mare rallied to a neck victory over fellow longshot Sea Chanter in Sunday's $100,000 Marshua's River.
Owner Dennis Federico opted to scratch Waquoit's Love out of Monday's sale to run her in the Marshua's River because of what trainer Tim Hills said figures to be a weak market considering the economy.
Snug and Zarb's Ballerina were dominant winners of a pair of Delta Downs stakes on Saturday night that were designed as preps for races on the track's $1 million Louisiana Premier Night program in February.
Snug ($11.20) was prominent throughout for a 4 1/4-length win over Southern Invasion in the $75,000 Cypress Stakes. He covered the one-mile race for older Louisiana-breds in 1:39.28. Diego Saenz rode the winner for Heiligbrodt Racing Stable and trainer Jim Hudson.
Song of Navarone's homecoming was a winning one. In his first start at Sunland Park since capturing the $600,000 WinStar Derby in 2007, he was persistent for a three-quarter-length win over Quiet Again in the $50,000 Winsham Lad Handicap on Saturday. It was another half-length back in third to Tricky Causeway.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The versatile Cowboy Cal has won three stakes on turf, placed in a Grade 1 on the main track and was well-regarded enough to start in the 2008 Kentucky Derby.
Saturday, he further added to his list of accomplishments by winning his first stakes on the main track in the $150,000 San Pasqual Handicap on Santa Anita's Pro-Ride synthetic surface.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - There will be a $239,658 pick-six carryover entering Sunday's card at Aqueduct after the wager went unhit for a third consecutive day.
The carryover was assured when Justin P ($43.80) stormed to victory from last place in Aqueduct's ninth race Saturday. His victory came one race after Pumpkin Shell ($26.80) rallied from last to win the Busanda Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
The pick-six had gone unhit Thursday and Friday as well. There was a carryover of $91,373 entering Saturday's card. The consolation payout Saturday for 5 of 6 was $3,411.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Usually, when jockey Chuck Lopez wins a race, neither his face nor his silks has a speck of dirt on it. But the 48-year-old journeyman rider, known for his skill as a speed rider, was more than happy to be covered in Aqueduct sand and loam Saturday after guiding Pumpkin Shell to a one-length, last-to-first victory in the $72,020 Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct.
"It's never my choice," Lopez said when asked about winning a race from last, but that every time he rode a horse for trainer David Donk "I get dirty."
Trainer Amy Tarrant was using Saturday's $100,000 Fort Lauderdale as a prep for her main goal this winter with Kiss the Kid, the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf on Feb. 23. What a prep it was.
Kiss the Kid rallied from just off the pace to register a neck victory over fellow longshots Society's Chairman and A. P. Magic in the 1o1/16-mile Fort Lauderdale. Buffalo Man, the 5-2 favorite, was never a serious factor, checking home a disappointing eighth in the field of 11 turf specialists.
NEW ORLEANS - Nobody was keeping up with the Joneses on Saturday at Fair Grounds.
Larry Jones-trained Friesan Fire rebounded from an odds-on allowance defeat here to win the Grade 3, $100,000 Lecomte Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths, and a race earlier, Just Jenda, trained by Jones and owned by his wife, Cindi, captured the $75,000 Tiffany Lass.
NEW ORLEANS - French Beret scored a repeat victory in Saturday's Grade 3 Col. E.R. Bradley by putting his nose in front of Golden Yank at the wire.
The $100,000 Bradley was one of two Grade 3's on the six-stakes card.
French Beret, ridden by James Graham, went 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.98 over a turf course rated as good, and paid $6.40 to win as the favorite while winning for the first time since taking this same race a year ago. He rated off the early pace, and came out just in front after dueling with Golden Yank down the stretch.
