Sea of Pleasure ($2.60) showed a new dimension in winning the $59,530 Sophomore Sprint at Bay Meadows.
Sea of Pleasure, who had been on the lead in each of his three starts, found himself in second as Run Brother Ron rushed past him down the backstretch, leading by three at the half-mile pole and maintaining a 2 1/2-length lead at the quarter pole.
Kettleoneup launched her season with an easy win at Oaklawn Park in the $50,000 Pippin Stakes, her first start since capturing the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap in November. Her meet objective is the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn on April 5.
Gasia closed well for second, finishing 2 1/4 lengths behind Kettleoneup. It was another length back in third to pacesetter Clever Strike.
Elliecat wired the field at long odds in the Chou Croute Handicap at Fair Grounds, holding on to win by a neck and paying $159.40.
Trained by Dallas Keen and ridden by Lonnie Meche, Elliecat went 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.51. She earned $36,000 of the $60,000 purse for owners Ywachetta and James Driver.
There was little in her form to suggest that she was ready to fire, but Keen had excuses for her last two trips. Two races ago, at Remington she got into a speed duel and tired. Last race, they tried holding her back to give her a chance to close, and she never fired at all.
Even without the top two choices in the race, Saturday's $81,325 Hollie Hughes Handicap at Aqueduct was an entertaining affair, with Gold and Roses outlasting Whistlin' for a three-quarter-length victory. It was 1 1/2 lengths back to Prince of Peace.
The Hollie Hughes went from eight starters to six when the morning-line favorite, Stormin' Normandy, and second choice, Premium Wine, scratched to run in Monday's General George Handicap at Laurel Park.
Jockey Channing Hill recorded the first graded stakes victory of his career Saturday, shooting Golden Dawn to the lead outside the quarter pole and guiding her to an authoritative six-length victory in the Grade 2, $300,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park.
Control System, the even-money favorite, finished second by a half-length over the late-running For Kisses. Oprah Winney, last year's Fritchie winner, finished last after setting the early pace.
\HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Why Tonto turned the tables on his more-heralded stablemate Cowboy Cal, rallying to a convincing 1 1/2-length victory over the 1-2 favorite in Saturday's $100,000 Hallandale Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Cowboy Cal defeated Why Tonto by a comfortable two lengths when the pair met for the first time in Calder's Grade 3 Tropical Park Derby on New Year's Day. Pletcher had tried to enter Why Tonto in a pair of second-level allowance races here last week and does have him entered in a similar allowance race on the turf on Wednesday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Take the Ribbon gave trainer Barclay Tagg more to worry about after she won Friday's featured eighth race than during the running of the high-priced optional claiming race on the turf.
Making her first start since being transferred to Tagg's barn in December, Take the Ribbon rallied to victory under leading rider Eibar Coa in her local debut. But she began to show some signs of distress upon pulling up on the backstretch, forcing Coa to dismount.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Champs Elysees, the winner of the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes on Jan. 19, will make his synthetic-track debut in the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap March 1, trainer Bobby Frankel said on Saturday.
Champs Elysees has won 3 of 13 starts and $400,647 racing on turf in Europe and the United States. Owned by Juddmonte Farms, Champs Elysees has won two graded stakes and placed second or third in six other graded stakes.
"I've got nothing to lose," Frankel said of the decision to try the Big Cap.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - The third race on Thursday's program was just another garden-variety claiming sprint, but when Tricks of Glory swept across the finish line three lengths clear of the field, it might well have been the Kentucky Derby for the jockey Ron Allen Jr.
It had been more than four years since Allen had ridden, and Thursday's race was a critical step in a comeback from more than a decade of personal problems and alcohol dependency. Later in the day, tired but happy, Allen talked about his first win back and what it meant.
Beulah Park cancelled racing after the second race Saturday because of poor track conditions caused by uneven thawing.
A storm system came through the Columbus, Ohio, area Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, forcing the track to cancel. The tempature dropped and the track was frozen, enabling racing on Friday, but warmer temperatures and sunshine caused the track to thaw Saturday, turning it into a virtual sea of mud.