SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There will be a carryover of $147,974 in the pick six pool awaiting fans at Saratoga on Sunday after nobody picked six or even five winners on Saturday's Travers program. Post time on Sunday returns to 1 p.m.
The carryover was fueled by the upset victories of the 88-1 Slambino in the seventh race and Porte Bonheur's surprising win over the 2-5 Indyanne in the Victory Ride Stakes. The favorites were beaten in each of the last six races on the card.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Colonel John not only proved he could handle dirt, but he showed he could win a dogfight too.
In a stirring stretch duel reminiscent of Friday's Grade 1 Personal Ensign here won by Ginger Punch, Colonel John was able to get his nose down on the wire ahead of Mambo in Seattle to win Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Travers Stakes before a crowd of 40,723 at Saratoga. It was the eighth time in the 139-year history of the Travers that the margin of victory was a nose. The last time it happened was in 1998 when Coronado's Quest nosed out Victory Gallop.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Combine a perfect pace scenario with sizzling-hot jockey Alan Garcia and you wind up with Visionaire's last-to-first 2 1/4-length victory over Desert Key in Saturday's $250,000 King's Bishop Stakes at Saratoga. The win was the fifth on the card for Garcia, who 30 minutes earlier had captured the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Stakes aboard Shakis.
My Sweet Valor stalked and pounced for a one-length win over Timely Reflection in the $50,000 Ponca City Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Friday night at Remington Park. It was another 3 1/2 lengths back to Formal Flyer.
My Sweet Valor ($4.80) stalked a pressured pace set by Formal Flyer, overtook that one, and went on to cover six furlongs on a fast track in 1:09.59. Luis Quinonez rode the winner for Zayat Stables and trainer Steve Asmussen.
My Sweet Valor, a daughter of Vindication, earned $30,000 for the win. She has now won 3 of 10 starts and $110,115.
Porte Bonheur took advantage of the opportunity handed to her when the 2-5 Indyanne broke flatfooted at the start of the $150,000 Victory Ride Stakes, wearing down the previously undefeated favorite to post a half-length decision in the Grade 3 sprint for 3-year-old fillies.
Porte Bonheur ($24.60), well placed from the outset under jockey Ramon Dominguez, split rivals when launching her bid into the stretch and wore down a game but tiring Indyanne in the final yards of the six-furlong Victory Ride. She covered the distance in 1:09.51.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Different turf course, same result for Shakis in the Grade 2, $200,000 Bernard Baruch Stakes.
One year after winning the Bernard Baruch by three-quarters of a length while setting a Mellon Turf Course record, Shakis rallied from well back on Saratoga's inner turf course to get up four strides from the wire and beat War Monger by three-quarters of a length. It was another three-quarters of a length to Operation Head Dawn, who got third by a head over Thorn Song.
Renda pulled away to a seven-length victory over Countess Seagrape in the $60,000 Junior Champion Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Monmouth Park on Saturday.
Both the Junior Champion and the $70,000 Omnibus Stakes for fillies and mares were scheduled for the turf. They were moved to the main track when a Thursday night sprinkler malfunction soaked a portion of the course at the top of the stretch, wiping out grass racing on Friday and Saturday.
As a result, Renda's turf debut will have to wait.
On a day when a pair of two-time defending champions and a graded stakes winner all failed, Delaware River delivered.
The 7-year-old gelding Delaware River ($6) gave jockey Frankie Pennington his third stakes win on the card when he cruised by 8 3/4 lengths to capture the $125,000 Smarty Jones Classic for the second straight year Saturday at Philadelphia Park.
The 1 1/16-mile Smarty Jones was the richest of eight stakes for statebreds on what was billed as Pennsylvania's Day at the Races.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - In what can only be called a fluke of nature, a 2-year-old filly has given birth on the Louisiana Downs backside.
Tiger Eyed, a juvenile filly by top Louisiana sire Ide, had been under trainer Pat Mouton's shed row for two months before it was discovered she had given birth to a filly on Wednesday morning.
"I got to the track about 5:45 a.m.," said Mouton. "I saw a group of people down at the end of the barn and knew something was up. When I looked in her stall, I couldn't believe my eyes."
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Though trainer Bobby Frankel is not happy that this year's Breeders' Cup will be run over a synthetic surface, he is starting to warm to the idea of running Ginger Punch in the $2 million Ladies Classic on Oct. 24 at Santa Anita.
On the morning after Ginger Punch's thrilling nose victory over Lemon Drop Mom in Friday's Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga, Frankel indicated that Ginger Punch could end her career with starts in the $600,000 Beldame at Belmont on Sept. 27 and the Ladies Classic, a race she won last year when it was known as the Distaff.
