Chief's Lake is alive for the Big Apple Triple after winning the $163,000 New York Derby on a disqualification at Finger Lakes.
Chief's Lake ($7.50) can take home a $250,000 bonus with a victory in the $150,000 Albany Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 22. He won the Mike Lee Stakes last month at Belmont Park to kick off the three-race series for 3-year-olds bred in New York.
It's not that Pavarotti was striking sour notes early in his career, but when a horse costs $2.5 million as a yearling, there are expectations attached. And Saturday at Arlington, Pavarotti started living up to them.
Passed in midstretch by Time Squared, Pavarotti battled back gamely - with vigorous help from leading rider Rene Douglas - and won the $100,000 Round Table by a head. Dominican, the 3-5 favorite, steadied slightly at the start, but had no real excuse for a lackluster third-place finish. He finished just less than eight lengths behind Time Squared.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Art Master stormed down the center of the course to win the Grade 3, $112,600 Poker Handicap on Saturday at Belmont Park.
Garrett Gomez guided the 6-year-old trained by Bobby Frankel to a 1 1/4-length victory over longshot Woodlander, with Host a late-running third.
The time for one mile on the firm turf course was 1:33.21.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Relishing the off going, Shedoesrock rallied from just off the pace under Jeremy Collier and wore down pacesetter and 8-5 favorite Top Story to win the $50,000 Princess Stakes for 2-year-old fillies Saturday at Louisiana Downs. American Price was up for the place, while Top Story had to settle for third over a sloppy track.
The Princess was originally scheduled for five furlongs on the turf but was moved to the main track following heavy morning rain.
First Defence handled his first stakes assignment with style, posting a front-running victory in the $150,000 Long Branch Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park.
The Long Branch is the prep for 3-year-olds aiming for Monmouth's big event of the summer: the $1 million Haskell on Aug. 5.
The first two Long Branch finishers are usually extended Haskell invitations. It's an offer trainer Bobby Frankel and Juddmonte Farms will strongly consider for the talented but largely untested colt.
MIAMI - Fifty-three days into the 2007 Calder meet and there was nothing to choose between defending champion Manoel Cruz and Elvis Trujillo atop the local jockey standings heading into Saturday's card.
Cruz and Trujillo, who was named jockey of the month for July, have seesawed on the front end of the leader board since the meet opened on April 25, and barring injuries they figure to continue the battle throughout the session, which ends Oct. 14. Both riders won a pair of races Friday to remain in a dead heat for a title that Cruz won easily a year ago with 197 victories.
PARIS - In what will be recorded as one of the most controversial stewards' decisions ever, Zambezi Sun was allowed to keep his victory in the $830,000 Grand Prix de Paris on Saturday, despite his rider, Stephane Pasquier, seemingly causing an accident that led to Kieren Fallon being flipped from his mount, Eagle Mountain.
Friday night's Cajun Jockey Challenge at Evangeline Downs could not have been better scripted if it had been the product of a roomful of Hollywood movie writers.
Twelve jockeys, all with strong ties to southern Louisiana, aboard mounts chosen at random, assembled in a four-race competition to celebrate the region's rich riding heritage. The event's major subplot was the friendly rivalry between Calvin Borel and Robby Albarado that was cultivated by the media during this year's Triple Crown, when Borel rode Street Sense and Albarado piloted Curlin.
The Robert G. Dick Memorial Handicap is a 1 3/8-mile grass race, and in it the horses pass the finish line twice. In Saturday's edition of the race, the decision jockey Jeremy Rose made the first time under the wire got him home by a neck the second time around.
Moon Catcher's first stakes try was a flop, her second a success, and on Saturday, in the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks, she hit pay dirt, leading all the way under Carlos Marquez Jr. to win the $505,600 race.
Moon Catcher ($20.60) had beaten the filly Winning Point by two lengths in the June 16 Susan's Girl, the local Oaks prep, but Saturday the margin was just a head, with Winning Point finishing fast once she came off the fence in mid-stretch. It was another 6 3/4 lengths back to 6-5 favorite Cotton Blossom, who tracked the speed but had no spark in the stretch run.