ELMONT, N.Y. - Strong Contender served notice that he might be a factor in the 3-year-old division during the second half of the year with a 7 3/4-length victory in Tuesday's Grade 2, $150,000 at Belmont Park.
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DRF Past Performances
PLEASANTON, Calif. - Sky Dreams ($3.80), the strength of a three-horse entry for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, overcame trouble down the backstretch and rallied through the stretch to win the $51,050 Alameda County Fillies & Mares Handicap at the Alameda County Fair on Tuesday.
Coupled with Eclipse Winner and Secret Corsage, Sky Dreams seemed in trouble down the backstretch of the 1 1/16-mile race when second choice Eleanor Rose made an explosive move to take command of the race.
Magic Mecke made his daddy proud when he rallied from far back to win Tuesday's $100,000 Mecke Handicap at Calder Race Course.
Magic Mecke, a 6-year-old homebred son of the multiple Grade 1 stakes winner Mecke, came into the race idle since Nov. 12, 2005. Lagging well off the early pace of Keep Cool, Magic Mecke swung to the middle of the track under jockey Cecilio Penalba to commence his rally into the stretch, ran by the tiring leader inside the sixteenth pole, and went on to win by 2 1/4 lengths.
Set the starting gate about five furlongs from the finish line on the Arlington Park turf course, and you've entered Nicole's Dream's house. She won the $42,000 Smile Stakes at Arlington with speed to spare, and after 11 starts here, Nicole's Dream has a resume showing 9 victories and 1 second-place finish.
Nicole's Dream, 6 and still going strong, beat males in the Smile, but most of the time, it doesn't matter what she's facing. Nicole's Dream now has won a remarkable 18 of 33 grass races, and overall is 22 for 47 in five different seasons of racing.
Hailie's Girl, winless in four starts since launching her career with three consecutive victories, got back on the winning track when she held off Jet Away Jane by a neck in the $50,000 Foxy J.G. Stakes for Pennsylvania-bred 3-year-old fillies at Philadelphia Park.
Tony Black, who rode Hailie's Girl when she went 3 for 3 last fall, including the Blue Mountain Juvenile at Penn National, was back aboard her for the first time since November.
Jockey John Davila Jr. swept the co-featured stakes at Finger Lakes with a pair of heavily favored shippers from downstate New York.
Sweet Sweet ($3.70), who had been running competitively against open company at Belmont and Aqueduct, coasted to a two-length victory in the $50,000 Arctic Queen Handicap for New York-bred fillies and mares.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Quite a Bride beat seven rivals and a rapidly approaching thunderstorm Tuesday at Monmouth to win the Grade 3, $150,000 for 3-year-old fillies on the turf before a holiday crowd of 14,884.
The horses went to post two minutes ahead of schedule as approaching thunder rumbled ominously. A nearby lightning strike during the race shorted out the infield tote board and knocked out the tote system for about 10 minutes.
Fortunately, the race had already been run before a heavy downpour soaked the track.
A filly trained by Todd Pletcher and a pair of longshots combined to foil the favorites in all three stakes on Monday night's card at Mountaineer Race Track.
The Pletcher-trained Stormina ($7), a French import who had won 2 of her 3 starts this season, caught 2-1 favorite Lady Grace in the final strides to win the $75,000 Firecracker for fillies and mares by a head.
Commander Buck set a quick pace and stayed on well down the stretch to win the $75,000 Independence Handicap at Louisiana Downs. The race, originally scheduled to be run at 1 1/16 miles on turf, was moved to the main track following an intense rainstorm earlier in the program. Erroneous I D finished second, 1 1/4 lengths behind the winner and 5 1/2 in front of third-place finisher Slade. Northern Scene, Tromp, and Waupaca were scratched.
Sea the Joy ($5.80) went clear entering the stretch and held off the late charge of Cowgirls Don't Cry to score a one-length victory in the $50,000 Prairie Gold Lassie for 2-year-old fillies at Prairie Meadows.
Sea the Joy dueled outside of Irish Party to the stretch before opening up a five-length advantage a sixteenth out. Sea the Joy, a daughter of Stormy Atlantic, stopped the clock in 57.88 seconds for the five furlongs under jockey Joel Campbell. Irish Party held on for third.
Steve Asmussen trains Sea the Joy, who won for the second time in her third career start.