Jockey Michel Lapensee died late Friday night from injuries suffered when he fell from his mount in last Monday's ninth race at Suffolk Downs. He was 58.
Originally from Montreal, Quebec, Lapensee was a 30-year veteran of racing in his adopted home of New England, winning his first race at Blue Bonnets in his hometown and his first U.S. race at Green Mountain in Vermont in 1967.
Seattles Best Joe ($12.60) sat well off a swift pace before making a strong move in the lane to win the $50,700 Sausalito Stakes Saturday at Golden Gate Fields.
Seattles Best Joe was last through the opening quarter as odds-on Stormin' Lyon and Carthage battled through a 21.53 opening quarter. He was still far back as the two leaders went the opening half in 43.83.
Stormin' Lyon began to ease clear of Carthage, but Seattles Best Joe rallied down the middle of the track to win by five lengths, covering six furlongs in 1:08.59.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The clocks change overnight Saturday. So does the live racing venue in Kentucky.
Gone are the Indian summer afternoons of Keeneland, displaced by the early nightfall and winter whispers of Churchill Downs. A 21-day meet begins Sunday at Churchill, where the fields will be full, the mutuel payoffs will frequently light up the toteboard, and, in a seamless transition from Keeneland to Churchill, horseplayers will be able to continue enjoying a classy brand of racing.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Arguably the most eventful 12-month period in the history of Churchill Downs Inc. began at just about this time last year. A major push for slots at the company's south Florida track, Calder, narrowly failed on Nov. 2 in Miami-Dade County, after which a heated and complex controversy over jockey insurance soon followed at the company's flagship track, Churchill Downs.
And that was just the beginning.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Before he disperses most of his huge stable to south Florida and New York for the long winter ahead, Dale Romans has pressing business at the 21-day Churchill Downs fall meet, which begins Sunday.
Like many trainers in the Midwest, Romans has been planning ahead for the winter because there will be no meet at the Fair Grounds because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Romans said he will be active at three tracks: Turfway Park, Gulfstream Park, and for the first time in several years, Aqueduct.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Yankee Master made the demanding jump from maiden victory to stakes company look easy in the $125,000 at Keeneland Friday, winning by five lengths.
Confidently ridden by Rafael Bejarano, who won four races on the day, Yankee Master was rated in fourth early, as Hyte Regency raced on the lead with moderate fractions of 47.63 and 1:12.98 in the 1 1/16-mile turf contest. Around the turn Yankee Master began to pick up ground on the leaders, and once into the stretch, the race was essentially over.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Time finally caught up with Continental Red, the durable 9-year-old gelding who earned $1,363,788 the hard way - by showing up. Owner-breeder Weston Fitzpatrick said Friday that Continental Red - 16th on the list of all-time Cal-bred money winners and the leading active earner - has been retired after a relentless 74-start career.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Patrick Gallagher likes the way Red Top is coming into Sunday's $100,000 Miss America Handicap at Golden Gate Fields, and thinks she has a good chance to win her first stakes in the 1 1/8-mile turf race.
Given a seven-week freshener after winning a race over the course here May 29, Red Top has run three times in Southern California since, including allowance races in which she was sixth by 2 1/2 lengths and second by a half-length.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Wild Buddy will be easy to spot Sunday at Santa Anita. The front-runner will be loose on the lead in the Grade 3 Carleton F. Burke Handicap, a 1 1/2-mile turf race that he just might win - if he can get the distance.
"We're going to give him a good-sized lead, give him a breather, and then go on," trainer Steve Knapp said. It is a good plan, and different from the tactics Wild Buddy employed Oct. 8 in the Grade 2 Oak Tree Mile, won by Singletary.
