DEL MAR, Calif.-A three-day pick six carryover of $1,561,987, the largest in track history, will be the focus of Sunday's nine-race card at Del Mar.
Consecutive upsets by Charlie's Moment ($44.20) and Weekend Escape ($49.20) in the seventh and eighth races on Saturday essentially clinched the carryover.
Sunday's pick six covers the fourth through nine races on a program that begins at 2 p.m., Pacific.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Winning a graded stakes on turf in California is the latest accomplishment for the rapidly improving Storm Mesa.
In Saturday's $150,000 San Clemente Handicap at Del Mar, Storm Mesa won her fifth consecutive race, and first on turf, overcoming a spot of trouble on the backstretch of the one-mile turf race.
A horse coming off a lengthy layoff was supposed to prevail Saturday in the $150,000 Sea O'Erin Handicap at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Ill.
But instead of Lewis Michael, the even-money favorite in a field of 10 older horses, the winner was Karelian, who got a perfect stalking trip under jockey James Graham before holding off Yate's Black Cat to win the Sea O'Erin by three-quarters of a length.
Sirmione took the shortest way home under John McKee, sticking close to the rail for the entire one-mile trip when emerging victorious in a three-way photo in her stakes debut, the $50,000 HBPA Handicap at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., on Saturday.
Bred and owned by Clovelly Farms, Sirmione returned $15.80 after finishing in 1:35.17 over firm turf. Ballado's Thunder, the race-long front-runner, finished second, a neck behind the winner and just another nose before Mama I'm Home, the 2-1 favorite in a field of 10 fillies and mares.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Seacrettina put on a show of speed in the $75,000 Silver Spur Breeders' Cup for 2-year-old fillies at Lone Star Park on Saturday, winning the six-furlong race in a rapid time of 1:10.49.
"Shes the real deal," said jockey Ken Tohill, who rode Seacrettina for trainer Joe Petalino.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Forever Together began her career with eight starts on the dirt that included a Grade 2 win at 3. But Forever Together left little doubt her future lies strictly on the turf after rallying from last to a three-quarter-length decision over Dynaforce in Saturday's $500,000 Diana at Saratoga.
By winning the Diana, part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Win and You're In series, Forever Together earned a guaranteed starting berth in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Oct. 24.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Bustin Stones, the undefeated Grade 1-winning New York-bred, was scratched from Saturday's Grade 2, $250,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap because of a bruise in his right front foot, trainer Bruce Levine said.
Levine said he first noticed a problem Friday afternoon after Bustin Stones schooled in the paddock. Back at the barn, Bustin Stones had some heat in his right front foot, but Levine said that the horse has had that issue from time to time. When Levine got to the barn Saturday morning, however, the heat was noticeably worse.
DEL MAR, Calif. - At 9, with career earnings of $4,699,321 and seven stakes wins, Perfect Drift has nothing left to prove. That makes his performance in Monday's seventh race at Del Mar all the more important.
In two starts this year, Perfect Drift has shown mixed results. He finished a decent fourth in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf at Hollywood Park on May 26, but was eighth of nine in the Hollywood Gold Cup on the main track on June 28. Another poor performance could lead to a reevaluation of Perfect Drift's career by owner William Reed and trainer Richard Mandella.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. With three-eighths of a mile remaining in the six-furlong Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes, Abraaj was fourth in the six-horse field and seemingly going nowhere.
But approaching the top of the stretch, an aggressive Alan Garcia began getting into Abraaj, and the horse responded with a strong stretch run to win the Grade 2, $250,000 Vanderbilt by 2 1/2 lengths over First Defence. It was 1 1/2 lengths back to the pacesetting Sammarco, who got third by a nose over Thors Echo. Black Seventeen finished fifth with E Z Warrior checking in last.
