GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Sea Dub pulled off the biggest stakes upset in Lone Star Park history on Saturday, when he won a photo over Fullbridled to capture the $200,000 Dallas Turf Cup at 53-1.
I Are Sharp had held the record for a stakes payoff at the track since April 17, 1997, when he won the first-ever race at Lone Star, the Premiere Stakes, and paid $101.
Sea Dub paid $109.40 for his head win in the Dallas Turf Cup. Larry Taylor rode the winner for trainer Joe Petalino.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Happy Ticket left Louisiana for the first time, but she brought her knack for winning to Chicago.
Louisiana-breds and overmatched listed stakes horses had fallen flimsily as Happy Ticket won the first eight starts of her career. In the ninth, she beat graded stakes horses, taking Saturday's Grade 3, $175,000 at Arlington with another open-lengths victory.
Lava Man, trained by a vacationing Doug O'Neill, pulled an upset in Saturday's $250,000 at Hollywood Park, throwing further chaos into the buildup for the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on July 9.
The race was the final leg of Saturday's $1 NTRA National Pick 4, which returned $454. The pool reached $690,109, well above the guaranteed $400,000.
The team of Todd Pletcher and jockey Chris DeCarlo combined for three winners at Monmouth Park, including a victory by Capeside Lady in the $70,000 Monmouth Beach Stakes.
Capeside Lady ($4.40) bounced back strongly on the return to her favorite surface at her home track.
The 4-year-old Capeside Lady made her season debut in the Fort Monmouth Stakes on the turf. She raced close to the pace in that race before fading to seventh.
Back on the main track, Capeside Lady got a ground-saving ride from DeCarlo on the rail.
One for Rose held off 14-1 shot Ballroom Deputy in deep stretch for a narrow triumph in Woodbine's $165,625 Ontario Matron Handicap, a race she won last year.
One for Rose ($5.40), the 125-pound highweight, took control on the far turn. Ballroom Deputy stalked on the outside throughout, and took dead aim at One for Rose in the final furlong, only to come up a head short.
The final time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:45.28.
Emile Ramsammy, who rode One for Rose, won with each of his four mounts on the nine-race card.
ELMONT, N.Y. - There is still life in those champion legs of Ashado.
After two disappointing efforts to begin her 4-year-old campaign, Ashado flashed her championship form Saturday with a front-running, three-length victory in the Grade 1, $300,000 at Belmont Park. Society Selection, coming off a victory in the Shuvee Handicap, overtook Bending Strings to get second by three-quarters of a length.
Daydreaming finished fourth, followed by Board Elligible.
Heavy favorites batted .500 in two stakes Saturday that serve as stepping-stones to the premier races of the season at Delaware Park.
Isola Piu Bella, sent off at 1-5 in a field reduced to five older fillies and mares by four scratches, drew off to a two-length victory in the $100,000 Obeah Handicap. The Obeah is the last local prep for the Grade 2, $1 million Delaware Handicap on July 17.
MIAMI - Monday's main event at Calder, the $40,000 B L's Sweep Stakes, offers the first opportunity for winners of early-season 2-year-old races to run back, and a second chance to get a look at In Summation, probably the most impressive member of that group.
In Summation, a son of Put It Back trained by Frank Gomez, captured his career debut by a widening 4 3/4 lengths on May 20. The performance earned the young colt a Beyer Speed Figure of 90.
MUSKEGON, Mich. - Rockem Sockem, the 2004 Michigan horse of the year, and Above the Wind, last year's champion older male, head a field of 10 in Monday's $50,000 Wolverine Stakes at Great Lakes Downs. The six-furlong Wolverine is for Michigan-bred 3-year-olds and up.
A mare who ran in last fall's Breeders' Cup Distaff is coming to Mountaineer Race Track for Tuesday night's $75,000 Golden Sylvia Handicap. Surprisingly, she isn't likely to go off as the favorite.
Indy Groove, sixth behind Ashado in the BC Distaff at Lone Star Park last October, has finished ahead of only two horses in her first two starts this year. Her shaky current form and an attractive entry from Kentucky-based trainer Bernie Flint probably means the public will favor the Flint duo of Catboat and her stablemate, Tempus Fugit, in the one-mile Golden Sylvia.
