Sat, 09/17/2005 - 00:00

Woodbine: Top Ten List takes another

Michael Burns Photo Ltd.
Top Ten List goes wire to wire to win the La Prevoyante at Woodbine.

Top Ten List ($2.70) won her third turf stakes of the Woodbine meeting, taking the $125,800 La Prevoyante Stakes in front-running style.

Top Ten List set moderate fractions over soft turf in the one-mile race, and scored by 1 3/4 lengths in 1:40.55. Simply Lovely surged late to edge Wisdomisgold for second, and Dame Eliza finished fourth in the seven-horse field of Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies.

Jockey Corey Fraser said Top Ten List overcame her dislike for the course.

"The turf was very soft today, and she struggled a bit going through it," said Fraser.

Sat, 09/17/2005 - 00:00

Thistledown: Double Diva draws off

Double Diva prompted the pace while five wide into the stretch, went up to make the lead just before the eighth pole, then drew off to a 3 3/4-length victory in the 24th running of the $40,000 Emerald Necklace Stakes at Thistledown.

Mercy finished second in the six-furlong race, 2 1/2 lengths in front of Tommeyesgold, who finished third in the field of eight Ohio-bred 2-year-old fillies.

Sat, 09/17/2005 - 00:00

Joey P. scores on cutback

Horsephotos
Joey P., Joe Bravo aboard, wins the Friendly Lover Handicap before a Festival Day crowd of 13,018.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The two Joeys were an unbeatable combination Saturday at Monmouth Park.

Joey P. ($4.60), reunited with jockey Joe Bravo, rebounded from a seventh in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational to win the Friendly Lover Handicap.

The Friendly Lover was one of four $100,000 handicaps on the third annual New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival Day. The program, comprising 10 races restricted to New Jersey-breds, attracted 13,018 on a sunny and humid afternoon on the Jersey Shore.

Sat, 09/17/2005 - 00:00

Rockem Sockem due for victory

MUSKEGON, Mich. - Despite three straight second-place finishes, Rockem Sockem, the 2004 Michigan horse of the year, will be asked to carry top weight of 120 pounds in Monday's Frontier Handicap at Great Lakes Downs. The $50,000 Frontier, in its 81st running, is a 1 1/8-mile race for Michigan-breds, and it has attracted a full field of 10 colts and geldings.

Sat, 09/17/2005 - 00:00

Recent rivals meet again in Oaks

MUSKEGON, Mich. - The 32nd running of the $50,000 Michigan Oaks on Tuesday evening at Great Lake Downs shapes up as a rubber match between the Ann Arbor Stakes winner Creative Miss and Maxie Match, who won the earlier Plymouth Stakes. The Oaks, at 1 1/16 miles, drew a field of eight 3-year-old fillies.

Fri, 09/16/2005 - 00:00

Atto Mile goes through 'Leroi'

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Leroidesanimaux, widely regarded to be the continent's leading turf miler, will take center stage Sunday at Woodbine in the Grade 1, $1 million .

The ninth running of the Atto heads a tremendous 11-race card, which includes two other grass stakes, the Grade 2 Summer and the Grade 2 Canadian.

Fri, 09/16/2005 - 00:00

'04 winner eyes second Canadian

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Classic Stamp led a local sweep of the top three spots in last year's Canadian Handicap, defeating a group that included four shippers from south of the border.

On Sunday, Classic Stamp will be looking to defend her title in the Grade 2, $336,000 Canadian, a 1 1/8-mile turf race.

The Canadian lured a competitive field of nine, including three U.S. invaders, and Classic Stamp will be looking to end a seven-race drought that dates back to last year's Canadian.

Fri, 09/16/2005 - 00:00

Grand Survival should relish a mile

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The Futurity at Arlington Park once was the richest horse race in the country. Just last week, Bill Thayer, a longtime Arlington employee, dug out a photocopy of the program from Futurity Day, 1965: Buckpasser was marked a short-priced winner.

Fri, 09/16/2005 - 00:00

Lassie winner is anyone's guess

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Anyone who regularly has studied form and bet on horse races has engaged in handicapping-in-retrospect. It's the practice of going back through the Racing Form after a race (a miscalculation typically has occurred) to figure out what in the world happened.

Handicappers-in retrospect might look back at Sunday's Arlington-Washington Lassie and say there was an obvious winner. For those forced to look ahead to the race, however, the Lassie seems about as clear as mud.

Fri, 09/16/2005 - 00:00

Fillies by 3 to 1 in Buffalo

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Last year, the filly Gold Strike was a runaway winner of the Buffalo Stakes. A filly is likely to win it again in Sunday's running of the $40,000 Buffalo here at Assiniboia Downs.

It appears that the three fillies entered in the one-mile race for 2-year-olds bred in Manitoba have a decided advantage over their lone male counterpart.