Only a hard rain in Louisville, Ky., kept Equal Opportunity from running in a grass race Friday at Churchill Downs. Off the turf at Churchill, Equal Opportunity found himself on a van to Arlington Park. Once there, he made short work of just four opponents Saturday in the Awad Stakes, which scratched down from eight horses to five.
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DRF Past Performances
Before Saturday, Fin had raced on dirt one time, finishing fifth in a race in Deauville, France, on Aug. 11, 2004. Her second dirt attempt went much better.
Fin, under Ramon Dominguez, ran down favored Dance Fee in midstretch and pulled away to a two-length victory in the $100,000 John W. Rooney Memorial at Delaware, run at 1 1/8 miles on the main track after rain washed it from the turf course. Dance Fee held second in the scratch-shortened field of five, with Little Buttercup third.
Naissance Royale, the favored New York invader, closed widest under Kent Desormeaux to capture the Grade 2, $308,900 at Woodbine.
Ambitious Cat, last year's champion turf female in Canada, finished second at 5-2 after splitting rivals nearing the eighth pole. Kabul, a 38-1 shot, was another 2 1/2 lengths back in third after hitting the front in midstretch of the 1 1/16-mile turf event.
Over a course labeled soft, Black Rock Road set moderate fractions before fading to fourth in the six-horse field. Ballroom Deputy was scratched.
The pick six returned a track record $1,540,401.60 to one ticketholder at Hollywood Park on Friday. In a result befitting the payoff, it was not an easy sequence of winners to find.
Beginning in the third race, the winners were Getnhotnhere ($82.40), Unusually Chic ($11.80), Bullet Train ($5.40), Unbeatable East ($21.60), Santa Fe ($21.40) and Investingold ($17).
The pick six carried over on Wednesday and Thursday. The payoff exceeded the previous Hollywood record of $1,313,808 set in May 2004.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Steve Asmussen came within a neck of sweeping the two New York Stallion Stakes for 3-year-olds in April at Aqueduct. Asmussen hopes to make up the difference when both No Reason and One Way Flight return in Sunday's two $75,000 stakes for progeny of New York-based sires at Belmont Park.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Foxysox has come a long way in a short time. In less than four months, the European import has overcome trouble, won all four of her U.S. starts, and rocketed from maiden winner to the top of her division.
But Foxysox is vulnerable Sunday at Hollywood Park. Foxysox enters the Grade 2 Honeymoon Breeders' Cup Handicap with a glowing r?sum?, but one that is offset by an imperfect work pattern caused by a bruised foot.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With his best horses stabled on the East and West coasts, you wouldn't think Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel would have much firepower left over for the Churchill Downs meet.
But several of the 20 or so horses that Frankel left behind here with assistant Chad Brown would be welcomed by any trainer, anywhere. One of those is a British import named Sky High Flyer, who figures to be the horse to beat when the feature race, a $58,000 turf allowance, is run Sunday at Churchill.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Atlas Shrugs has won a pair of one-turn stakes this spring at Woodbine and has become a very useful closing sprinter. He has never competed around two turns, though, so the jury is still out as to whether he is a legitimate prospect for the 1 1/4-mile Queen's Plate on June 25.
The verdict should be in Sunday, when Atlas Shrugs contests the $150,000 Plate Trial Stakes, a nine-furlong test for 3-year-olds eligible to the Plate.
AUBURN, Wash. - Courting Seattle, the authoritative winner of last month's six-furlong Auburn Stakes, will attempt to stretch his speed another sixteenth on Sunday at Emerald Downs when he takes on nine other 3-year-olds in the $55,000 Pepsi-Cola Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs.