Revved Up, the venerable 10-year-old, showed he still has the winning spirit Saturday in his 2008 debut, with a two-length victory in the $75,000 Chris Thomas Turf Classic.
Under a patient ride by Daniel Centeno, Revved Up moved up inside through the final turn then angled off the rail to go after pacesetter Riversrunrylee into the stretch. He then pulled away late in the nine-furlong turf race. Victory Alleged finished second, 1 1/2 lengths to the good of I'm Only Laughing.
The $50,000 Babst/Palacios looked to be an exciting race, with three Ohio sprint champions and the 2007 handicap horse of the year in the field of seven. Everything was as advertised as the Babst/Palacios ended in a dead heat between handicap horse of the year Catlaunch and 2007 sprint champion Dooze.
Catlaunch, breaking from the outside post, raced just off of and then pressed for the lead in the six-furlong Babst/Palacios. Turning for home, Catlaunch, ridden by Ivan Gonzalez for trainer Ivan Vazquez, drew clear from the field then dug in gamely to dead heat with Dooze.
Not Bourbon ($5.70) blew by even-money favorite Stuck in Traffic on the turn en route to a comfortable score in the $150,000 Queenston Stakes at Woodbine.
Stuck in Traffic opened up a substantial lead on the backstretch in the seven-furlong sprint, while setting quick fractions of 22.35 seconds and 44.49. Not Bourbon began to close the gap heading into the turn and he hit the front inside the quarter pole before drawing off to win by five lengths. Stuck in Traffic maintained second, and Shadowless finished a distant third in the five-horse field of Ontario-bred 3-year-olds.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Intangaroo, making her first start on dirt after running 10 previous times on synthetic surfaces, got up in the final stride to nip Baroness Thatcher and an unbelievably game Hystericalady to win the Grade 1 Humana Distaff.
Intangaroo, under Alonso Quinonez, took advantage of a torrid four-horse speed duel that saw Hystericalady, Miss Macy Sue, Sugar Swirl, and Graeme Six duel through fractions of 22.27 and 44.37 seconds for the opening half-mile.
Trainer Dale Romans ended an 0-for-35 skid in Kentucky when he sent out Bayou's Lassie to a gate-to-wire upset victory in Saturday's Grade 3, $169,050 Churchill Downs Distaff Turf Mile Stakes.
Under Edgar Prado, Bayou's Lassie beat the favored front-runner Dreaming of Anna to the lead and held that rival at bay through the lane for a 1 1/4-length victory. Dreaming of Anna, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2006, finished second by 2 1/2 lengths over Ventura. The top three finishers ran 1-2-3 all the way around the "good" Churchill Downs turf.
The strategy for Elite Squadron was the same as in his last race. The only difference is that this time he held on - and more.
Leading from soon after the opening bell, Elite Squadron pulled away to a 4 1/2-length victory Saturday in the 74th running of the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Handicap, helping to erase the bitter memories of his previous race, the April 12 Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland, when he led every step except the last few before being defeated by a head at 38-1.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - One big one down, another bigger one to go. The calculated gamble that trainer Larry Jones took by running Eight Belles in the Kentucky Derby - and leaving only Proud Spell for the 134th Kentucky Oaks - worked to sweet perfection Friday when Proud Spell splashed to a five-length victory in the filly classic at Churchill Downs.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Doug O'Neill is sending an eight-horse stable to Delaware Park later this month, which he described as "a little experiment" to keep some of his horses on dirt.
O'Neill, who has won 20 trainer titles in Southern California in the last six years, said the horses will be sent to Delaware on May 14. It will mark the first time that O'Neill, 39, has had a stable based away from Southern California. He has approximately 90 horses in training at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Reade Baker will be a man on the move over the next couple of weeks as he divides his attention between his home team and several road trippers.
Baker's first out-of-town engagement will be with Northern Netti, who will be looking for her third win in as many career starts in the $100,000 Bouwerie, a seven-furlong race for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies at Belmont on Sunday.