HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The majority of horses in the care of trainer Cole Norman are being transferred to his longtime assistant, Jorge Lara, less than a week after Norman was involved in a head-on car collision in Hot Springs, Ark., that resulted in the death of an 86-year-old woman.
Norman's training license remains intact, said Gary Wilfert, state steward at Oaklawn.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A slow pace helped Sugar Shake extend her winning streak to three in Saturdays $250,000 Santa Maria Handicap for older fillies and mares.
Allowed to set an uncontested lead through early fractions of 24.10 and 48.57 seconds, Sugar Shake won the Grade 1 Santa Maria by 1 3/4 lengths over Ermine, the 2-1 favorite. Ridden by David Flores, Sugar Shake ($8.20) ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.89.
Flores had Sugar Shake in front by 1 1/2 lengths on the backstretch. The margin was a length in early stretch when Sugar Shake began extending her lead.
ARCADIA, Calif. - No favorite has had to work harder for a stakes win at the current Santa Anita winter meeting than Rags to Riches in Saturdays $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes.
Making her stakes debut, Rags to Riches overcame a terribly wide trip to win the Grade 1 Las Virgenes by three-quarters of a length over Baroness Thatcher. The victory served notice that Rags to Riches will be a filly to watch in major stakes in coming months.
OCALA, Fla. - Buffalo Man, winner of the Spectacular Bid Stakes at Gulfstream Park in his last start, is the horse to beat in Monday's $100,000 Ocala Breeders' Sales Championship Stakes at the Ocala Training Center. The Championship is one of six non-parimutuel stakes on the card, which will offer total purses of $390,000.
Four of the stakes - the male and female divisions of both the Championship and the Sprint - are for 3-year-olds who have gone through the sales ring of an OBS auction.
NEW ORLEANS - Master Command raced like a machine on Saturday in the Mineshaft Handicap at Fair Grounds, clicking off 12-second furlongs from start to finish. No other horse could. Up on the pace throughout the race, Master Command quickly drew away when he turned into the stretch and won the Grade 3, $194,000 Mineshaft by six lengths over late-running Patriot Act, who edged Well Said for place money.
"That seems to be what he does best," said Todd Pletcher, "click off those 12's."
Jonesboro did his mom proud on Saturday, when he dominated the Grade 3, $100,000 Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park. He won the first leg of the track's handicap series by 5 3/4 lengths and remains the lone stakes winner produced by Mom's Command, the champion racemare who died last week in New Hampshire.
Finding room along the inside in the drive, D'artagnans'spirit ($9.80) dueled pacesetter Weigelia into defeat in the late stages and came away with a length victory in the $60,000 Super Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
With Jose Lezcano contributing a well-judged ride, D'artagnans'spirit, trained by Kirk Ziadie, covered the seven furlongs over a strip labeled as fast in 1:23.62 to post his eighth win from 21 starts and fourth tally locally.
Weigelia held on well to late after setting a fast pace to be second best, 3 1/4 lengths ahead of the 10-year-old Above the Wind.
Bare Dancer spent the first five races of her career racing against maiden claimers. But the New York-based filly was tough enough to run down 7-5 favorite Laila's Punch in deep stretch to score a half-length victory in the $60,400 Wide Country Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Laurel Park.
Eastlake Avenue wore down stablemate Glorification in the stretch, edging clear late to win the $100,000 California Oaks at Golden Gate Fields.
Glorification set the pace under Jason Lumpkins in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies. Eastlake Avenue, coming off a wire-to-wire allowance victory at one mile, began to challenge as the pair approached the quarter pole.