SAN MATEO, Calif. - If it were an early-season college basketball tournament, Saturday's $100,000 Bay Meadows Speed Handicap would be called the Lost in the Fog Invitational.
You know the kind of tournament - the host and the invited cupcakes.
On paper, that's what this final prep before the Oct. 29 Breeders' Cup Sprint appears to be, but 14 other runners were nominated for the race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Alberta invader Bear Character, the second-longest shot in the four-horse field, caught front-running Ballado Dancer in deep stretch to capture Sunday's $132,750 Swynford Stakes at Woodbine.
Jockey Patrick Husbands put Ballado Dancer on the lead after the start of the seven-furlong sprint for 2-year-olds, and they set moderate fractions while being pressed by Run Justin Run.
Zee Oh Six controlled the pace throughout to record a dominant, three and a quarter length win in the $75,000 Oklahoma Classics Day Classic on Saturday night at Remington Park. The race was the richest of seven stakes for eligible Oklahoma-breds on the annual Oklahoma Classics Day program, and total purses for the series was $315,000.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Exceeding ($27.20) won his third straight start since a 21-month layoff for a suspensory problem, scoring a wire-to-wire victory in the California Turf Sprint Championship Handicap at Bay Meadows on Saturday.
Making his first turf start, the son of In Excess broke well and outdueled Greenie for the early lead. He opened in the stretch as Greenie faded and was opening on runner-up Bonfante and stablemate McManus in the lane. He won the five-furlong turf race by two lengths in 56.84 seconds.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The two longest shots in the race, Spaghetti Mouse and Bull Ranch, finished first and second and triggered huge exacta and triactor payoffs in the Grade 3 British Columbia Derby at Hastings Saturday.
Spaghetti Mouse, with David Wilson aboard, stalked the early pace from along the rail and then took control of the race at the top of the stretch, drawing off to a 3 1/2 length victory over Bull Ranch.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Hard rain turned the Hawthorne racetrack into a sea of mud, the sloppy racing surface turned the into a battle of front-runners, and Super Frolic turned in the race of his life, bouncing back from a fifth-place finish in the Pacific Classic to win the $750,000 Gold Cup by a head over a stubborn Lord of the Game.
Desert Boom, who set the pace while feeling pressure from Lord of the Game and Super Frolic, held on for third, with heavily favored Perfect Drift floundering home fourth.
It has been a while, but for Very Vegas the return to Fairplex may be just like riding a bike. A 4-year-old Storm Boot filly, Very Vegas returns to the track where she won her maiden two years ago. She has accomplished much since and looms the horse to beat in the $60,000 Bangles and Beads on Monday, part of a 12-race closing day card.
The Bangles and Beads is a 6 1/2-furlong event for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and upward, and drew a full field of 10 and two also-eligibles.
AUBURN, Wash. - Galley Bay will shoot for her third straight win and her fourth win in her last five starts in Monday's Emerald Downs feature, but her task won't be easy.
Galley Bay will carry 122 pounds and concede four pounds to each of her five rivals in the feature, a $20,000 claiming race for fillies and mares at a mile. Galley Bay will also go without her regular rider, Ben Russell, who has departed for California, and she will have very little speed to target.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Earlier in the week, trainer Christophe Clement lost an overnight stakes at Belmont Park by a nose to trainer Bill Mott.
Saturday, Clement exacted some revenge when his Bright Abundance got the jump on Mott's My Lordship turning for home and held off that rival by a half-length to win the Grade 3, $150,000 before 7,324 at Belmont. It was one length back to Asti in third.
