INGLEWOOD, Calif.-A patient ride by jockey Julien Leparoux helped Pure Clan find her way through traffic to win the $750,000 American Oaks at Hollywood Park on Saturday.
But as quick as Leparoux was to make the right decisions aboard Pure Clan, he was slow to take credit.
I just got lucky, he said. It kind of opened up on us.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Scoring one for equal rights, Candy Ball rallied strongly down the straight in Saturday's $50,000 Independence Stakes to defeat eight male opponents by a convincing 3 3/4 lengths at Louisiana Downs
They did not make it easy for Candy Ball, a 6-year-old Lemon Drop Kid mare. She had to survive a foul claim lodged by Lonnie Meche, who was on board eventual sixth-place finisher, Forty Acres, for alleged interference in midstretch. Beta Capo finished second in the one-mile turf race, followed by T. C. Champ.
Joe Move pulled a 20-1 upset in the $50,000 Lone Star Park Turf Sprint on Saturday, when he shot to the front at the start and never relinquished his lead for a one-length win over Distinguish. It was another half-length back in third to Chamberlain Bridge.
Bucephalus ($7.10) graduated in style at Woodbine, taking the $150,400 Clarendon Stakes for 2-year-olds by a half-length over El Brujo.
Bucephalus rallied wide from the back of the tightly-bunched field, and hooked up with El Brujo and pacemaker Silver Rocket early in the stretch. He wore down those two in the final furlong, and completed 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.73.
Silver Rocket wound up third, and favored Long Pants trailed the six-horse field of Ontario-breds, after getting squeezed at the break.
The Sweetest Chant Stakes was contested at one and one-sixteenth miles on Polytrack, but the race was all but over after a quarter-mile. By then, Dreaming of Liz had shaken loose on a clear lead without having to work, and so far, no horse has been able to run down Dreaming of Liz once she gets to the front on Arlington Polytrack.
Mint Slewlep, who beat only one horse in his only previous try on turf 13 months ago, handled the grass just fine in Saturday's $60,000 Da Hoss Stakes at Colonial Downs.
Jockey Malcolm Franklin collected his third win of the card when the 4-year-old Mint Slewlep rallied to overtake 8-5 favorite Salinja by three-quarters of a length in the one-mile race.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It's never over 'til it's over, as Diamond Diva showed on Saturday in the Grade 2, $750,000 CashCall Mile at Hollywood Park.
Diamond Diva, passed at midstretch by Ventura, gamely re-rallied in the shadow of the wire and won by a nose over Ventura in a dramatic finish to the one-mile grass race for older fillies and mares.
MIAMI - Benny the Bull, the undisputed leader of the nation's sprint division, has been assigned 124 pounds for Saturday's $400,000 Smile Sprint Handicap at Calder. The Grade 2 Smile shares top billing on the day's rich Summit of Speed card with the $400,000 Princess Rooney Handicap, the only Grade 1 event on the local stakes calendar.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Notional, a Triple Crown contender last year until a fractured leg sent him to the sidelines, reemerged Saturday with a stirring win over Gottcha Gold in the Grade 3, $300,000 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park.
The win in the Breeders' Cup Challenge Win and You're In race assures Notional a berth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita in October.
It had been a long time since Notional, winner of the San Rafael and Risen Star stakes and the runner-up in the Florida Derby last year, was in the spotlight.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Jockey Calvin Borel reached a milestone while capping a memorable Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs by riding Screen Your Friend to an upset in the Grade 3, $164,550 Bashford Manor Stakes.
With his victory aboard 18-1 Screen Your Friend, Borel became the 34th jockey in North American racing history to win 4,500 races while capping a four-win day on the second-to-last program of the 52-day Churchill spring meet.
