Callwood Dancer ($20.10) benefited from setting a slow pace and barely held off a closing Quiet Jungle to win her first stakes in the Grade 2, $319,000 Nassau at Woodbine.
Callwood Dancer established fractions of 24.84 seconds and 48.62 under Eurico Rosa Da Silva while being pressed by The Niagara Queen in the 1 1/16-mile turf race. After running close to the early pace, Quiet Jungle dropped back on the turn and then rallied from mid-pack to lose by a nose.
Horses based at Philadelphia Park swept all five stakes on Friday night's card at Penn National Race Course.
The nine-race card, worth a track-record $427,600, featured four restricted stakes with purses of $75,000 apiece and an open sprint with a $55,000 purse.
In the best of the stakes, Power by Leigh ($16.20), making his first start since January, defeated Whistle Pig by 1 1/2 lengths in the six-furlong Roanoke for Pennsylvania-bred and Pennsylvania-sired older males. Secretintelligence finished third as the 3-5 favorite.
AUBURN, Wash. - Easy Going Cecil will make his belated stakes debut on Sunday in the $60,000 Pepsi-Cola Handicap for 3-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Easy Going Cecil, a speedy son of The Deputy who has won his last three starts impressively, was slated to start in the six-furlong Auburn Stakes here on May 11. Instead, he stayed in his stall nursing a sore foot.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - On Sept. 10, 2003, at Woodbine, apprentice jockey Chad Beckon rode his first winner, Lil Personalitee, for trainer Myckie Neubauer.
Beckon has been building on that success ever since. He now leads the Fort Erie jockeys in wins, and he has his sights set on keeping it that way throughout the season.
Two years ago, Beckon finished sixth in the standings at Fort Erie behind top rider Robert King.
Last year, Beckon chased the now retired King in the jockey standings to the wire.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Rolling Sea is a fine Illinois-bred racemare, no doubt about that, but she showed in an excellent 2007 campaign that she is much more.
Winning 6 times from 10 starts last season, Rolling Sea brought down two allowance races, two listed stakes, and a pair of Grade 2's to top things off. She capped her season with a gutty victory in the Grade 2 Chilukki at Churchill Downs, giving her more than $361,000 in 2007 earnings, and more than $573,000 for her career.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Mr. Silver and Not Acclaim move their rivalry north to Monmouth Park for the $60,000 Wolf Hill Stakes Sunday.
The two turf sprinters clashed in two allowance races at Gulfstream Park, battling to a draw.
Not Acclaim scored a pacesetting win on March 13, with Mr. Silver getting third after avoiding traffic on the backstretch. In the rematch, Mr. Silver rallied to beat Not Acclaim by a half-length on April 18.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Almighty Silver's only loss in his last four starts came to Fort Drum in the Times Square division of the New York Stallion Stakes in April.
Charlton Baker, the trainer of Almighty Silver, believes there are a few reasons to believe his horse can turn the tables on Fort Drum when the two meet in Sunday's $75,000 Spectacular Bid division of the Stallion Stakes on Sunday at Belmont.
Sunland Park in New Mexico has increased the purse and changed the name of its marquee event, the track announced. The Sunland Derby, named the WinStar Derby from 2003 to this year, has had its purse boosted to $800,000 from $600,000. The 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds is scheduled for March 29, 2009.
In addition, a $200,000 bonus will be awarded to a winner who previously had won a Grade 1 stakes and a $100,000 bonus to a horse who had any graded stakes earnings. The base first-place prize is $400,000.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The ominous prospect of Curlin making his return to action in the June 14 Stephen Foster Handicap has Churchill Downs officials scrambling for some worthy opponents. As of Friday, Churchill's racing secretary, Ben Huffman, said Circular Quay, Grasshopper, and Jonesboro "are the only three horses also under serious consideration, at least that I know of."
Jockey Patrick Valenzuela was last in the Louisiana Downs winner's circle in 1989, aboard Sunday Silence following the Super Derby. Sunday, he hopes to be back in that same enclosure after he rides three horses on the card in Bossier City, La.
The mounts are Valenzuela's first since Dec. 26 at Santa Anita. His conditional license in California was revoked shortly afterward for a DUI charge, but he is in good standing in Louisiana, where he rode in the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Jackpot the first weekend in December at Delta Downs.