Come Fly Away trains in New York, but she does her best running in Maryland.
Making her fifth straight start since January in Maryland, the 4-year-old filly Come Fly Away ($3.40) scored her third win during that span and captured her first stakes in the $50,000 Shine Again at Pimlico.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Lattice got a perfect inside trip under Robby Albarado before finishing clear of two longshots and posting the second graded stakes victory of his career Saturday in the 71st running of the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap at Churchill Downs.
Always near the pace while saving ground during all three turns of the Louisville, a 1 1/2-mile turf race, Lattice surged to the front after turning for home before prevailing by three-quarters of a length. Transduction Gold, a 34-1 shot, was second, a neck before Birdbirdistheword, a 46-1 shot.
Sky Cape ($4.20) scored a victory in a three-way photo in about the only thing that went to form in the $75,000 Alcatraz Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.
The race was affected by the erratic early actions of Nordic Wind, who ducked out nearing the finish line the first time in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds.
Sky Cape, coming off a victory in the six-furlong Harry Henson, steadied when Nordic Wind ducked out, and Captain Roy, who had rallied from last in his May 3 debut victory, inherited the lead, setting very slow fractions.
Trevor's Clever won his stakes debut in the $76,800 Alydar Stakes at Hollywood Park, closing through traffic in the final furlong to run down the heavily favored Madeo.
Trevor's Clever ($36.20) ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.88, winning by a neck. Ridden by Joe Talamo, Trevor's Clever was last for the first half-mile. He rallied along the rail on the turn and between Pistol Pete Afleet and Exuma in the stretch to run down Madeo, the 1-5 favorite.
"It was a little tight, but when he got through it was clear sailing," Talamo said.
Wild Gams ran down previously unbeaten Fancy Diamonds in deep stretch to score a one-length victory in Saturday's $250,000 My Juliet Stakes at Philadelphia Park.
Switching to dirt after finishing fourth in her 2008 debut in the Grade 2 Madison over Keeneland's Polytrack six weeks earlier, Wild Gams ($7) was kept within two lengths of pacesetter Fancy Diamond through a half-mile in 45.78 seconds.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Big Brown wasn't the only good horse trainer Pat Reynolds had in his barn last year.
Backseat Rhythm was good enough to finish second in the Gradeo1 Frizette and third in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. But Backseat Rhythm went winless in her first three starts this year, the last two on dirt.
On Friday, Backseat Rhythm returned to the turf and led gate to wire to win a first-level allowance race. She won by six lengths and covered the 1o1/4 miles in 2:04.34 over a good turf course and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 87.
Kentucky horsemen have sued Churchill Downs Inc., countering a recent suit by the company in their ongoing contractual battle over simulcast and account-wagering revenues.
The suit, filed Friday in federal court by the Kentucky division of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, claims Churchill is in violation of its existing contract and is costing the horsemen millions of dollars in purses. In addition, the horsemen's association has asked the court to halt the 20-percent purse cut that Churchill Downs implemented May 14.
Maryland-based trainer Crystal Pickett and Kentucky-based trainer Bernie Flint will face off in an anything you can do, I can do better battle Tuesday night at Mountaineer Racetrack.
Instead of a war of words, the two trainers will allow their 5-year-old mares La Chica Rica and High Heritage to decide the issue in the $75,000 Ohio Valley Handicap, a six-furlong stakes for female sprinters.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. Phase one of the newly expanded stakes program at Suffolk Downs is a success if measured in field size, with 12 horses lined up for Mondays six-furlong $50,000 Rudy Baez Stakes for 3-year-olds and up. Its the biggest field in a stakes race at Suffolk since 2004.
All the prominent New England stables are involved, with some out-of-town interest thrown in thanks to Place Your Bet, a Scott Lake-trained gelding up from the Mid-Atlantic. Lakes wife, Jennifer Stisted, is slated to ride Place Your Bet, a speedster who is two-time stakes placed.