HOUSTON - Sandburr registered the biggest win of his career on one of the biggest nights of racing at Sam Houston Race Park, driving to a length and a quarter win over Private Fight in the $100,000 Star of Texas Stakes.
The mile and a sixteenth race was the richest of eight divisional stakes for Texas-breds on the annual Texas Champions Day program. The purses for the stakes totaled $475,000, making the card the richest of the meet at Sam Houston.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Sundays nine-race program at Hollywood Park will begin with a pick six carryover of $169,348 after a string of longshots pulled upsets on Saturday.
Sundays pick six covers the fourth through ninth races, a span that includes three races around two turns. First post time is 12:30 p.m.
There were no scratch time withdrawals on Saturday for Sundays pick six races. Here is a rundown of the fourth through ninth races.
Exhale, a promising maiden, will be favored in the fourth race, which is run over 1 1/16 miles on the main track.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Sailors Sunset, the longest shot in a field of five, won his first graded stakes in Saturdays $100,000 at the expense of the 2004 champion Declans Moon and the Grade 1 stakes winner Siren Lure.
Ridden by Jon Court, Sailors Sunset ($28.80) ran six furlongs in 1:07.79, finishing 1 3/4 lengths in front of Siren Lure, who rallied from last in the field of five. Declans Moon, who raced near the front through a pace of 21.99 and 44.11 seconds, finished third.
Muir Beach dismissed rumors of her demise as the two-time defending horse of the meet bounced back from a mini-slump with a strong win Saturday in the $40,000 Queen of the Green Handicap at Turf Paradise.
The 5-year-old Muir Beach, owned by Dennis Weir and trained by Dan McFarlane, was sent off the 7-5 favorite in the mile turf race. Under leading rider Glenn Corbett, she bided her time, found room along the rail, burst through, and shot clear to win by 1 1/2 lengths. She covered the distance in 1:36.08 on firm turf.
Tax Refund ($6.40) scored her second straight victory on Polytrack when she came from slightly off the pace to post a 3 1/4-length victory in the $50,000 Holiday Inaugural Stakes at Turfway Park.
A 4-year-old filly ridden by John McKee for trainer Bob Holthus, Tax Refund was coming off a win over high-priced optional claimers at Keeneland. It was her fifth win in 12 starts this season.
Beautiful Bets, the 5-2 second choice in a field of 11 female sprinters, finished second with Bluesbdancing third.
Kid Grindstone had some early pace, Patriot Act had none, and that was all the difference in the Tenacious Handicap on Saturday at Fair Grounds. Seizing the lead from lone-speed Tepexpan at the top of the long Fair Grounds stretch, Kid Grindstone had just enough in the tank to hold clear a fast-finishing Patriot Act to win the Tenacious by a diminishing neck.
Patriot Act, long on reputation but still not a stakes winner on the eve of his 5th birthday, might be the horse to watch in Fair Grounds stakes early in 2007, but on this day it was Kid Grindstone who got the candy,
MIAMI - Trainer H. Graham Motion won't arrive in south Florida until after Christmas. But the English-born horseman received an early present when Ballast rallied to a 1 1/4-length victory over the 19-1 Bob's Proud Moment in Saturday's $100,000 at Calder.
Trainer Cole Norman had two horses test in excess of the permitted levels of total carbon dioxide in the $150,000 Jean Lafitte Futurity at Delta Downs on Nov. 3, and for the second offense has been suspended six months in a ruling issued by track stewards. He has appealed the ruling to the Louisiana Racing Commission and the case is scheduled to come before the commission in January, according to stewards at Delta.
MIAMI - Amorama had piled up plenty of frequent flyer miles but had nary a victory to show for her travels this season, until Saturday when she returned to south Florida to post a come-from-behind one-length victory over Bayou's Lassie in the $100,000 at Calder.
MIAMI - Meditations turned in the most eye-catching performance of Saturday's Grand Slam I program at Calder and served notice she could be a force to reckon with in the 3-year-old filly division this winter at Gulfstream Park by roaring to a 10 3/4-length triumph in the $100,000 Three Ring Stakes.
Adhrhythm, the even-money favorite coming off a seventh-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, finished last in the field of seven 2-year-old fillies.