ARCADIA, Calif. The 2006 racing year in California will end on Sunday with a pick six carryover of $160,453 at Santa Anita. The bet was too tricky for bettors on Saturday, a day that featured two longshot winners in the pick six.
Sunday's pick six covers the fourth through ninth races on a program that begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.
ARCADIA, Calif. Downthedustyroad finally ran a complete race on Saturday, picking the ideal time to score the most convincing win of her career.
Making her debut in a Grade 1, Downthedustyroad won the $250,000 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita by 4 1/4 lengths. Ridden by Jon Court, Downthedustyroad ($9) was always near the front and pulled clear late, finishing seven furlongs in 1:21.40.
She had something left, Court said.
That has not always been the case. In some of her races, Downthedustyroad had led early but faded through the stretch.
CHICAGO - The last day of racing at the Hawthorne winter meet has brought forth an unexpected kernel of intrigue, as jockey Rene Douglas apparently is being allowed to ride one horse on the nine-race program.
Douglas was the first of 10 jockeys to have been banned from riding at four different racetracks: Calder Race Course - where Douglas was first barred - Tampa Bay Downs, Philadelphia Park, and most recently Gulfstream Park. Stewards' rulings have not been issued against the riders, who were barred from the premises by track operators.
MIAMI - More than seven straight months of live racing, and Calder is down to its last day. With nearby Gulfstream Park opening on Wednesday, a 12-race Tuesday card brings down the curtain on Calder, with a $45,000 turf sprint called the Lola Bella serving as the final feature.
Suffolk Downs will be closed Monday and Tuesday and could remain dark longer after the Massachusetts legislature failed to renew or extend the laws that allow simulcasting.
The state's four racetracks had been working under an extension bill passed last spring following a similar legislative impasse that forced a shutdown of simulcasting for five days.
That law expired Sunday and lawmakers had only one day left of informal sessions on Thursday before they recess until Jan. 8, when formal sessions resume.
Graded stakes winner Straight Line did more than win Saturday's $50,000 Holiday Cheer Stakes at Turfway Park. He also altered his reputation.
Considered a specialist at seven furlongs to a mile, he showed a new dimension in winning the six-furlong Holiday Cheer, rating behind a fast pace and closing to win by 2 1/2 lengths over Smoke Smoke Smoke. He raced six furlongs in 1:08.40, equaling the Malibu Mint's track record, established in the Weekend Delight Stakes Sept. 23
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After rolling to comfortable victories in his last three races, Successful Affair proved he could win a dogfight as well, outfinishing a game Angliana to win Saturday's $69,810 Gallant Fox Handicap by a head at Aqueduct.
It was six lengths back to Park Avenue Prince, who set the pace for the first 1 3/8 miles of the 1 5/8-mile race. Win With Beck, Malibu Moonshine, and Angelic Aura completed the order of finish.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Belmont Stakes winner Jazil moved a step closer to a return to the races by breezing four furlongs in 48.64 seconds Saturday morning over Belmont Park's training track. He worked in company with the 3-year-old allowance winner Again and Again, who was given a time of 48.66 by the clockers.
MIAMI - Perfect Motion got a head start on the winter in Florida while trainer Ken McPeek was tending to business back home in Kentucky. Shipped south a few weeks ahead of the rest of the stable, Perfect Motion raced twice at Calder while temporarily stabled with Frank Gomez, and those races were good enough to earn her a berth in Monday's $100,000 Tropical Park Oaks, a 1 1/16-mile turf race.
