LEXINGTON, Ky. - Acoma entered Friday's Grade 3, $150,000 Pin Oak Valley View Stakes as the only filly without a start on turf, but her inexperience never showed in her performance.
Handling the grass as easily as she had dirt and Polytrack, Acoma rallied from midpack to post a half-length victory over Tight Precision before a crowd of 18,469 at Keeneland on Friday.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - There's a new bug in town, and her name is Krista Carignan.
And while Carignan had failed to find the range with her first eight mounts at Woodbine, she did score with her first of three starters at Fort Erie last Tuesday, and it should be only a short matter of time before she finds the charmed circle here.
"This track is beautiful, and everybody has been really nice to me here," said Carignan. "I really liked Fort Erie, too. It felt pretty good, winning that race the other day."
ELMONT, N.Y. - There is even more enticement to Saturday's New York Showcase Day card at Belmont as there will be a pick-six carryover of $121,721 entering the day.
The pick six will encompass six of the seven stakes restricted to New York-breds, all of which have double-digit fields. The final four races comprise a pick four with a guaranteed pool of $400,000.
The pick-six went unhit Thursday for a second straight day, creating the six-figure carryover. There had been a $30,248 carryover entering Friday's card after nobody hit the wager on Wednesday.
NEW BOSTON, Mich. - The Michigan Sire Stakes, which started in 1985 as a pair of juvenile stakes for the progeny of Michigan stallions, returns to the Detroit metropolitan area for the first time since Detroit Race Course closed in 1998 when Pinnacle Race Course hosts the series on Saturday.
The six races, with projected purses of $120,000 each, will be run as the third through eighth races on a card that starts at 1:35 p.m. Eastern. The Sire Stakes were held at the now closed Great Lakes Downs in western Michigan from 1999 through 2007.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario Saskawea, who came to life with an upset win in the Avowal Stakes at Woodbine Sept. 27, will look to double up here in Saturdays $100,000 River Memories.
The River Memories, a one-mile overnight stakes, represents the last black-type turf opportunity for fillies and mares at the meeting and attracted a field of eight.
Saskawea, an Ontario-bred 4-year-old, was making just her third start of the year when rallying at 13-1 for a three-quarter-length score in the Avowal, an overnight turf stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A wave of nostalgia swept over retired Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens when he saw Saturday's overnight at Santa Anita.
For the first time since 2005, Stevens found his name listed among the entries. He is one of eight retired jockeys participating in the Living Legends race, a parimutuel race that is the fourth race on Santa Anita's 10-race program.
Stevens will be ride against fellow Hall of Famers Jerry Bailey, Angel Cordero Jr., Pat Day, Sandy Hawley, Julie Krone, Chris McCarron, and Jacinto Vasquez in an optional claimer over seven furlongs.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Hawthorne Gaming LLC, with the Estate of Thomas Carey as a major equity stakeholder, was one of seven entities to file a bid with the Illinois Gaming Board for an Illinois casino license late Tuesday afternoon. The bidders were revealed late Wednesday. Each hopes to be awarded the 10th and final casino license in the state, a license that has been vacant for more than a decade.
PHOENIX Saturdays divisions of the Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association Stakes at Turf Paradise give a couple of runners a chance to further separate themselves from the pack. Racetrack Barbie, a romping winner of her Oct. 3 trial for this race, heads a field of 10 2-year-old fillies in the $91,625 filly division, while Minnetonka Mist, a dazzling 17-length winner in his trial here Oct. 3, looks to validate that form against nine others in the $81,478 male division. Both events, which go as races 7 and 8 on the card, are at six furlongs.