OLDSMAR, Fla. - It's not often that a trainer has a meet where he sends out winners at a 30 percent clip and gets little notice for it, but that's just what's been happening with Dale Bennett this season.
Bennett came into Saturday's racing with 29 winners from 97 starters for a cool 30 percent success rate, but with training leader Jamie Ness capturing 50 races so far at the meeting, Bennett's fine winter has gone largely unnoticed.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - On paper, Jay Peg wasn't even the top horse from his own stable in the Dubai Duty Free at Nad Al Sheba on Saturday night, but Jay Peg not only beat stablemate Linngari, he beat all 15 rivals in a strange, thrilling edition of the $5 million Duty Free.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates The trainer Rick Dutrow had never shipped a horse to Dubai until this year. Dutrow sent two this time, and won with both of them.
With Edgar Prado doing the riding honors, the Dutrow-trained Benny the Bull won the $2 million Golden Shaheen just more than an hour after Diamond Stripes had captured the $1 million Godolphin Mile.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Several horses were scratched Saturday from the Dubai World Cup card, most notably Happy Boy, who was withdrawn from the World Cup, leaving a field of 12 for the $6 million race.
Happy Boy had recently battled a leg infection, Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford said earlier this week, and was behind in his preparation to make the World Cup. A Brazilian import who was purchased privately after a blowout handicap win here earlier in the winter, Happy Boy also handles turf, and could wind up in England this spring.
Got Country Grip, racing's all-time top money-earning paint horse, remained undefeated in 16 starts on Thursday night, winning an allowance for paints and Appaloosas at Remington Park.
Got Country Grip overcame a bobble at the start on Thursday to win the 350-yard race by three-quarters of a length. He led throughout and paid $2.60 as the 1-5 favorite under regular rider G.R. Carter Jr.
"He is a phenomenal animal," said Carter.
With no shortage of stakes across the country for 3-year-old fillies, each region's division leaders are often kept apart before meeting in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.
Not this year. Come Saturday, the two early favorites for the Kentucky Oaks - Country Star and Proud Spell - are expected to meet in the Grade 1, $500,000 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland Race Course, where they are likely to be challenged by Bsharpsonata, who dominated in south Florida this winter by winning the Tropical Park Oaks, Grade 2 Forward Gal Stakes, and Grade 2 Davona Dale.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Nikki'sgoldensteed, the winner of the Turf Paradise Derby in February, has been taken out of training because of an injured ankle, trainer Bob Hess Jr. said on Friday.
The California-bred colt, by Formal Gold, finished second in the El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows on March 8 in his last start. The ankle injury flared in recent weeks, Hess said.
"I worked him again and when [the ankle] heated up, I gave him an MRI," Hess said. "He's trying to tell me something. He'll get a breather. I think we dodged a bullet."
Deputy Etbauer withstood a stretch bid from Tricky Etbauer to win the $50,000 Rainbow Miss Stakes by a half-length at Oaklawn Park on Friday. It was another four lengths back in third to My Dakota.
Deputy Etbauer ($29.40) was prominent throughout in the six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies bred in Arkansas. She moved to the lead through an opening quarter in 22.57 seconds and dueled with Gone Dixie through a half-mile in 46.86, shaking her off into the stretch. Deputy Etbauer held off a fast-closing Tricky Etbauer in the final sixteenth.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - While he will be a bit sad to see Aqueduct's inner-track season come to an end on Sunday, trainer Bruce Levine will also have plenty to look forward to when the main track opens on Wednesday.
Levine will finish second to Gary Contessa in wins, starters, and purse money won for the four-month inner-track season that began Nov. 28. He has 49 winners at the meet through Friday.
"Spectacular winter," Levine, who averaged 33 winners each of the past three inner-track seasons, said Friday in his Belmont Park barn office. "Everything fell into place."
Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., has increased to six the number of stakes that it will offer the day of the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby in the most significant change to its 42-race, $3.8 million stakes schedule.
Louisiana Downs will open on May 17, with the 85-date meet to run through Oct. 18.