Mr. Boxcar ($12.60), dropping from open company to face statebreds for the first time since finishing a distant sixth to Triple Crown competitor Hard Spun last December, drew clear in deep stretch to win the $60,000 Peppy Addy Stakes at Philadelphia Park.
Ridden by Jose Flores for trainer Dee Curry, Mr. Boxcar put away My Three Boys inside the sixteenth pole to win the stakes restricted to Pennsylvania-bred 3-year-olds by 1o1/2 lengths. He covered a mile and 70 yards on a fast track in 1:42.28.
A perfectly timed ride by Ryan Fogelsonger helped the 6-year-old mare Silmaril capture the 10th stakes of her career.
Cutting back to six furlongs after two losses in routes, Silmaril ($3.60) came from last at the top of the stretch to overtake My Sister Sue by a head to take Pimlico's closing-day feature, the $75,000 Skipat for fillies and mares. Homesteader finished third, a half-length behind My Sister Sue.
The winning time was 1:10.89.
Barcola almost always is in front after the first six furlongs in his route races. Often he fades, as he did in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap won by Horse of the Year Invasor and his previous start in an optional claimer a month ago at Belmont Park.
Saturday afternoon at Delaware Park, however, the 4-year-old Barcola never stopped. Ridden for the first time by Kendrick Carmouche, Barcola ($25.80) repulsed a stretch challenge from
7-5 favorite Better Than Bonds to win the first stakes of his career in the $100,000 Brandywine.
ELMONT, N.Y. - For the past two days, trainer Todd Pletcher had been battling the flu, and the early results of Saturday's card at Belmont Park could not have made him feel much better. But after watching favorites Wait a While and Deadly Dealer lose, and the sprinter Keyed Entry blow the turn, Pletcher finally got to the winner's circle Saturday when Cotton Blossom ran down favored Dream Rush to take the Grade 1, $250,000 Acorn Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the Belmont Stakes undercard.
"I'm struggling through it," a pale Pletcher said as he left the winner's circle.
Executive Choice shook loose on the lead under Emile Ramsammy and never looked back en route to an easy victory in the $125,800 Steady Growth Stakes.
Executive Choice set moderate fractions of 23.88 and 47.58 seconds before kicking away in the stretch to score by 7 1/2 lengths, in a time of 1:43.68 for the 1 1/16 miles. Bold Finish was a clear second, and favored Soul Rebel wound up third in the seven-horse field of Ontario-sired runners.
"He had been training really aggressive going into the race," said Ramsammy. "He ran like we expected him to."
Trainer Marty Wolfson wanted to run his long-distance specialist Tacit Agreement in Saturday's 1 1/2-mile New York New York Stakes on the main track. Unfortunately, Tacit Agreement was written out of the race following his two previous one-sided wins in the My Old Kentucky Home and Maryland My Maryland Stakes.
Valbenny overcame a spot of trouble to win her fourth stakes in the last eight months in Saturday's $154,750 Honeymoon Breeders' Cup Handicap at Hollywood Park.
The victory confirmed Valbenny's status as the leading 3-year-old turf filly in California as the division's top race of the year draws closer: the $750,000 American Oaks at 1 1/4 miles on turf on July 7.
Valbenny ($4) was hand-ridden through the stretch of the Grade 2 Honeymoon by jockey Alex Solis, winning by 1 3/4 lengths over Super Freaky. Mystic Soul finished third in the field of seven 3-year-old fillies.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The amazing recuperative powers of Teuflesberg, who rebounded from a 39-length defeat in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile to win his last two starts of 2006, were in evidence again Saturday when he bounced back from a 17th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby to win the Grade 2, $250,000 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park despite a troubled trip.
"He has overcome a lot of obstacles in his career, and he showed it today," winning rider Robby Albarado said.
Teuflesberg broke last after stumbling badly at the start, trailed early, and steadied in traffic on the turn.