More Moonlight gave trainer Steve Asmussen his fourth win in the last six runnings of the $50,000 , when she held off a late bid from Josh's Madelyn before an Oaklawn Park crowd of 27,094.
The win was also Asmussen's third on the card, as well as the third win on the program for jockey Luis Quinonez.
Flame of Love has quickly proven to be an extremely profitable claim for trainer Scott Lake.
Winless in eight starts during 2005, including the Nov. 12 race in which Lake took her for $25,000 on behalf of McCarthy Racing, Flame of Love recorded her second straight victory for her new connections in the $85,000 What a Summer Stakes at Laurel Park.
Lake's assistant, Hugh McMahon, said his boss went after the 6-year-old Flame of Love based on the class she displayed earlier in her career.
Sweet Fervor ($4.80) took the overland route in her impressive seven-length victory in the $60,000 Gasparilla Stakes before 7,016 fans at Tampa Bay Downs. She looped rivals five wide through the turn to move into contention, then shook off Sparkling Pink and drew away.
ARCADIA, Calif. - If there was any question about The Tin Man's heart - at age 8, did he still have one? - doubt was removed when he returned from a yearlong layoff Dec. 28.
A long-distance specialist, The Tin Man was not expected to get up racing at only a mile. Besides, he had to be vulnerable returning from a sore ankle and a 14-month layoff. It was an eternity for an 8-year-old, but The Tin Man needed only 1:34.32 to prove he was back.
"He's a good horse, so for him to run that good was not a big surprise," trainer Richard Mandella said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - With the lessons of two crunching losses in New York and Japan behind them, the connections behind Lava Man are aiming him for local stakes in coming months.
Lava Man was at his best last summer at Hollywood Park, where he won the Californian Stakes and the Hollywood Gold Cup. He later finished seventh in the Jockey Club Gold Cup in New York in October and 11th in the $2.07 million Japan Cup Dirt in Tokyo in November.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The decision by New York Racing Association officials to prohibit Maryland-based horses from shipping to Aqueduct because of an outbreak of equine herpes at Pimlico has a major impact on Sunday's $65,000 Busanda Stakes over the inner track.
Sea Pines, a filly stabled at Laurel Park, would likely have been favored in the Busanda, a mile and 70-yard race for 3-year-old fillies. Now she won't be allowed to run. The Busanda was originally scheduled for last Sunday, but was postponed when inclement weather forced that card to be scrapped.
A sleeping infant would be able to point out the class drop Happy Ticket is taking when she makes her 2006 debut on Sunday at the Fair Grounds meet at Louisiana Downs. After ending a tremendous 2005 campaign in a trio of Grade 1 races in New York, Happy Ticket launches her 5-year-old campaign in the $100,000 Lagniappe Ladies Sprint, a 5 1/2-furlong race restricted to Louisiana-breds. Odds in the range of 1-5 seem likely.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - For years the tote board here has flashed a message that "the sun always shines at Oaklawn Park," and it did indeed come out for a brief while on a warm and overcast Friday, about the time the second race broke from the starting gate during the track's opening day card.
A packed apron watched as Swift Trieste edged Silly's Brother in a photo finish that took several minutes for officials to decipher. When the results were known, a roar rose up from the apron that few tracks hear during a weekday program.
Calder Race Course has named Michael Anifantis as its new racing secretary, replacing Bob Umphrey, who died suddenly on Jan. 2. The announcement was made jointly on Friday morning by Ken Dunn, president of Calder, and Donald Richardson, the senior vice president of racing at Churchill Downs Inc., the owner of Calder.
