Alfredo Juarez Jr. deftly guided Cheerful Copy to victory in the fifth race at Sunland Park Saturday to notch his 1,000th career Thoroughbred win.
Cheerful Copy, who is is trained by Simon Buechler, paid $6.80 for her maiden win. Counting all breeds Juarez Jr. now has 1,018 victories.
Juarez, 30, had a strong season here last year, ending up second in the rider standings with 58 wins.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Brass Hat put a fitting ending on his Cinderella story when exploding from off the pace to an easy 4 3/4-length victory over Pies Prospect while also setting a track record in the $500,000 at Gulfstream Park. The Grade 1 Donn was the richest of six stakes on Gulfstream's Spectacular Saturday II card.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - If at first you don't succeed . . .
That old adage certainly applies to the $39,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park on Monday, when trainer Graham Motion tries for the second time in three days to get Olaya's 2006 campaign under way.
was one of five horses scratched from Saturday's Grade 3 Suwanee River Handicap because of rain. The weather was supposed to clear by Monday, but there was still a question of how much the turf course would dry out by post time for the race.
ARCADIA, Calif. - High Limit, who finished last of 20 in the 2005 Kentucky Derby, took his revenge on Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo in Saturday's $300,000 at Santa Anita.
High Limit turned in the finest performance of his career, winning the Grade 2 Strub Stakes by 4 1-2 lengths over 18-1 Top This and That. Giacomo, making his first start since finishing seventh in the Belmont Stakes last June, finished third, five lengths behind High Limit in the field of 11 4-year-olds. Canteen, the 5-2 favorite, finished 10th.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - First Samurai ran faster than the track record for 7 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream Park on Saturday. Trouble was, Keyed Entry ran faster.
Keyed Entry, who was making his first start in a stakes race, bravely turned back the heavily favored First Samurai in the Grade 2, $150,000 while skipping through the sloppy surface in track-record time. He won by 1 1/4 lengths, with First Samurai 16 1/2 lengths in front of third-place Express News.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Turf racing has been good to Barbaro, but the grass may be greener on the other side of the rail. Barbaro made his first start on dirt in the $150,000 on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, and threw mud in the eyes of his 11 rivals, winning the Grade 3 race to remain unbeaten and stamp himself as one of the elite contenders for this year's Kentucky Derby.
Jockey Victor Espinoza dismounted from Bob and John after winning the $102,500 at Santa Anita on Saturday and was greeted by an inquisitive Bob Baffert.
"It was a workout, huh?" Baffert asked Espinoza.
The performance certainly seemed like one.
Winning his first stakes, Bob and John won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes by 4 1/2 lengths over four overmatched rivals. Owned by Robert and Janice McNair, Bob and John finished 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.15.
The victory was Bob and John's second of the meeting, preceded by an easy win in an allowance race on Jan. 20.
Odds-on favorite Somethinaboutlaura cruised to an easy eight-length victory in the $75,000 Foster City Handicap at Bay Meadows.
Apprentice jockey Martin Garcia guided Somethinaboutlaura through easy early fractions as she set an unpressured pace in the one-mile race. The winner, a 4-year-old filly, set fractions of 23 seconds, 46.65, 1:10.48, and 1:22.47 before winning in 1:34.85.
Garcia, who tied Russell Baze for the Bay Meadows jockey lead at 44 with the victory, scored his initial stakes victory.
Warrior Within, second behind Final Copy in the 6 1/2-furlong Turfway Prevue Stakes last month, proved superior to that rival going a mile in the $50,000 WEBN Stakes at Turfway, winning the race by 5 1/4 lengths.
Breaking sharply under jockey Dean Sarvis, Warrior Within ($14) took the race to his opponents early, going to the front and establishing splits of 24.35 seconds, 48.79, and 1:13.50 over the Polytrack surface. He began to extend a narrow lead turning into the stretch, running his final quarter-mile in 25.49 seconds to complete a mile in a sharp 1:38.99.
Beau's Town edged Stolen Time by a head to win the $50,000 King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
The 8-year-old Beau's Town ($5.20) stalked the pace set by Top Commander, who led the field through fractions of 22.07 seconds for the opening quarter, pushed along by Rodeo's Castle. Top Commander continued to lead the field through a half-mile in 46.28 while under pressure, as Beau's Town began his bid approaching the quarter pole.
