Unbeaten Diamond Stripes broke last but came rolling late to win the $250,000 Pegasus Stakes for 3-year-olds Friday night at the Meadowlands Racetrack.
The gelding trained by Richard Dutrow, Jr. ran the 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:47.30.
Edgar Prado was aboard for his third Pegasus victory. He also won with Brass Scale in 1994 and Pies Prospect in 2004.
Baghdaria's victory Friday night in the Grade 3, $402,800 at Hoosier Park came as no surprise to most observers, especially bettors who sent her off as the second choice. More surprising was the manner in which she won.
Better known for her game stretch duels resulting in margins of victory of less than a length, Baghdaria dominated a field for the first time in her career, winning the Oaks by four lengths under jockey Rafael Bejarano.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Sunday will be a homecoming of sorts for Louisiana native Ray Sibille. The former riding great-turned-trainer saddles his first Louisiana Downs starter in the afternoon's second race.
"I rode here the very first year the track opened, I think it was '74 or '75," Sibille said with a chuckle. "What a meeting that was. It seemed like it rained every day. I remember one afternoon there was a big mound of dirt right in the middle of the track. They told us just to stay to the outside and we did. Somehow we got in all nine races."
The introduction of Polytrack was supposed to usher in a new chapter in Keeneland history Friday. It ultimately did, but not before a family with roots tracing to the track's 1930's origins was represented by the winner of the first race ever run over the new synthetic surface.
Lordly, the first-race winner, was bred and is owned by Louis Lee Haggin 3rd, whose family traces directly to the founders of Keeneland. Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Lordly returned $65.20 after gamely holding off Maizelle, the 2-5 favorite, to win the 1 1/16-mile maiden race by a neck.
ALBANY, Calif. - The 3-year-old filly Cajun Glow was good enough to win her debut as an odds-favorite, but how good is she really?
Trainer Dean Pederson will get a better read on that at Golden Gate Fields Sunday when Cajun Glow makes her second start in a six-furlong first-level allowance race that drew seven entrants.
Cajun Glow showed speed and opened up in the lane in her debut, which came in a maiden special weight sprint here on Sept. 20. But she was all out to hold off fast-finishing Corcina by a nose.
The inconsistent form that Prenuptial has shown in her four-race career is not necessarily her fault.
Prenuptial finished sixth after being squeezed by other horses in her debut May 24, but rebounded to win a maiden race at Hollywood Park on July 12. Nine days later, she finished sixth after racing near the front in the CTBA Stakes at Del Mar, but returned to pull a 27-1 upset in the Generous Portion Stakes on Aug. 30.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Trainer Henry Whalen, who has two runners in Sunday's Lucky Fan Cup, averaged just one win a month for the first four months of the Fort Erie meeting.
But in September, Whalen erupted and scored five times. His nine wins match the total he had in each of the last two meets.
Whalen's profitable month began when he sent out Smiling Jordan to win the Sept. 4 Puss n Boots, the most popular of the 20 Cup races on the Fort Erie calendar.
ELMONT, N.Y. - After three straight races in Grade 1 company, gets class relief Sunday in the Grade 2, $150,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap for fillies and mares at Belmont Park.
While the purse and grade are lower, Nothing But Fun can't count on class alone in the contentious 6 1/2-furlong race.
The Gallant Bloom drew six entrants and a case can be made for each of them.
Nothing But Fun figures to be well supported based on her recent company and the fact she is coupled in the betting with stakes-winning stablemate Great Intentions.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Mark Shuman enjoyed great success as a member of Eclipse Award-winning owner Michael Gill's vast operation. Shuman worked with a lot of nice horses owned by Gill when he captured 50 races to lead all trainers during the 2003 Monmouth Park season.
Gill has scaled back his operation. After peaking with 486 wins in 2004, Gill has only 16 wins this year.
Shuman, 36, is now out on his own, running a stable at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland.
The pace is less hectic and the rewards, while not as frequent, are more satisfying
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Breeders' Cup will be run about 85 miles from Keeneland, but for nine fillies and mares running here Sunday, a starting berth in the BC Distaff is only 1 1/8 miles away.
That's the distance of the $500,000 Spinster Stakes, the traditional fall showcase that has attracted such strong Distaff contenders as , Spun Sugar, Summerly, and Lemons Forever.
