Rains forced Retama Park's pair of $100,000 turf stakes for 2-year-olds to a sloppy main track Saturday night, and upsets were scored by Almost Certain in the Ketel One El Joven, and Jb's Golden Regret in the M2 Technology La Senorita.
The races made for one of the richest cards of the meet, which is held near San Antonio.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Penny Ante ($7) broke sharply, quickly took the lead and was never headed as she scored her second straight stakes victory, winning the $72,200 Hillsborough Handicap at Bay Meadows on Saturday.
The 4-year-old filly defeated odds-on Pickle by 1 1/4 lengths, winning the one-mile turf race in 1:37.77. Lucky Sabre ran third as the top three finishers repeated their placings in the Luther Burbank at Santa Rosa.
Penny Ante was able to set slow fractions of 24.38, 48.89 and 1:13.04.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Intercontinental, the 5-year-old mare, can be stubborn or brilliant at various times. In Saturday's $200,000 at Del Mar, she was a little of both in the same race.
Leading throughout, Intercontinental was rank early under jockey Jerry Bailey but settled on the backstretch before flying home to win by 1 1-4 lengths over Amorama. Intercontinental ($2.60) finished 1 1-16 miles on turf in a stakes record 1:39.84.
"As long as she got clear and was able to settle, she was fine," Bailey said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Bobby Frankel won the Forego Stakes Saturday at Saratoga for the third consecutive time, when 15-1 longshot Mass Media wore down pacesetter Battle Won in the final 50 yards to win by a half-length.
The , a Grade 1, $250,000 race, was part of jockey Javier Castellano's five-win day.
DEL MAR, Calif. - arrived in trainer Neil Drysdale's barn only days before his first start in California, in a division of the Oceanside Stakes on Del Mar's opening day July 20. Drysdale had no idea what to expect. But after Becrux led from start to finish in the Oceanside, then continued to train strongly in subsequent weeks, Drysdale knew he had a top-class runner on his hands.
"He's a very nice horse," Drysdale said Saturday morning.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - There cannot be a better advertisement for this week's Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society's annual yearling sale than its millionaire graduate A Bit O'Gold, who is the 120-pound highweight in Monday's Grade 2, $334,200 Niagara Breeders' Cup Handicap at Woodbine.
A Bit O'Gold should be favored in the Niagara, which will be contested at 1 1/2 miles on the grass. It is a prep for the $2 million Pattison Canadian International here Oct. 23, a Grade 1 event that is on A Bit O'Gold's itinerary.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Monday's 57th running of the $50,000 Birdcatcher Stakes for 2-year-olds here at Northlands continues a budding rivalry between stakes winners Bear Character and Teagues Fight.
Bear Character, owned by Danny Dion, and Teagues Fight, owned by Rocky Mountain Turf Club, will meet for the third time as part of a field of nine sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs.
Bear Character, a Kentucky-bred, was defeated by Teagues Fight in his debut, but gained revenge by winning the Edmonton Juvenile in July. Teagues Fight finished fourth in that race.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - When Notis Otis came close to dying just a few months ago, it was hard to imagine him running in the Grade 3, $250,000 British Columbia Derby. Nevertheless, if he runs well in the $50,000 Richmond Derby Trial at Hastings Monday, he'll be one of the favorites in the derby on Sept. 24. It will take a good race to win the 1 1/16-mile Richmond Derby Trial as a very strong field of nine 3-year-olds has been entered.
MIAMI - The connections of Southern Cal have talked about the Breeders' Cup Mile at Belmont Park as a possible goal later this fall. But first they must get by Calder's $150,000 Miami Mile Breeders' Cup Handicap, which shares top billing on Monday's 14-race Labor Day card with the $100,000 Aspidistra Handicap for fillies and mares. Both races are scheduled for a mile on the turf.
