ELMONT, N.Y. - And you thought Ghostzapper was brilliant last year.
In a performance that may have been his best yet, Ghostzapper toyed with five graded stakes winners in Monday's Grade 1 , romping to 6 1/4-length victory without breaking a sweat. Silver Wagon, a 35-1 longshot, finished second, five lengths ahead of Sir Shackleton.
Pomeroy, Forest Danger, and Love of Money completed the order of finish.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Jeff Mullins and owners Frank Lyons and Greg Knee took a calculated risk on Monday at Hollywood Park, and came away with another Grade 1 victory for Castledale, this time on turf in the $369,000 .
Mullins said he was leery of running on the turf after one of his horses, All the Boys, suffered a fatal injury on the grass on Sunday. After walking the turf course Monday morning, Mullins left the call to the owners, who had put up a $7,000 supplemental fee five days earlier to make Castledale eligible for the race.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Supah Blitz won a four-way photo to capture the Grade 3, $300,000 by a nose over Cryptograph on Monday at Lone Star Park. It was another nose back in third to Absent Friend, who finished a nose in front of fourth-place finisher and favorite Lion Tamer.
The Lone Star was one of six stakes on the card worth a cumulative $1 million, and the Lone Star Million Day program made for the richest day of racing in Texas.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The injuries that forced Brave Vixen and Del Mar Ticket to the sidelines last year did not slow their careers.
Both fillies were sidelined for most of 2004, but rebounded to run second in recent weeks in their first starts of 2005.
Wednesday, they are the leading contenders in the top race at Hollywood Park, a $51,000 allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on turf for statebred fillies and mares.
have drawn the two outside post positions in a field of six.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Bold Clover will experiment again on the grass in the hunt for her third straight victory in Wednesday's Woodbine feature, a one-mile allowance for 3-year-old fillies.
All three of Bold Clover's wins have come in claiming races on the main track. She captured her second 2-year-old start in slow time against $40,000 maidens July 29, and subsequently finished a nonthreatening fifth in the allowance prep for the Natalma Stakes. After a layoff, Bold Clover trailed the field in the restricted Victorian Queen Stakes in October.
CALGARY, Alberta - Jockey Quincy Welch spent most of last weekend in the winner's circle.
Welch won five races at Stamped Park on Saturday, including the $50,000 Hoofprint on My Heart aboard Dakota Duke, and two more on Sunday, capped by a victory in the $50,000 Lilac with Kathern's Cat.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Racehorse owner B. Wayne Hughes has amassed a remarkably deep team of 3-year-olds this year, and the best of the bunch may be the least known.
Saturday, Osidy, a wintertime import from France, won his first stakes in the Grade 3 Will Rogers Stakes over a mile on turf at Hollywood Park, leaving Hughes wondering if the colt is superior to his two Kentucky Derby runners, Don't Get Mad and Greeley's Galaxy.
"I think he's the best one," Hughes said of Osidy. "He should be undefeated."
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Touched by Madness pulled off a front-running upset in the $100,000 on Monday at Monmouth Park.
Trained by Ned Allard, Touched by Madness ($22.40) took charge early and never looked back with Frankie Pennington aboard.
Touched by Madness, making his second grass start, won with stunning ease. He was never pressed and won comfortably before 13,879 holiday fans on the Jersey Shore.
Bossier City, La. - Crowned King picked up his second stakes win of the Harrah?s Louisiana Downs meeting Monday afternoon, kicking well clear through the stretch to win the . The race was originally scheduled for the turf but was moved to the main track because of rain. There were seven scratches, including highweight Waupaca.
Silverfoot was always part of a very slow pace Monday, grinding out a victory under Robby Albarado in the 68th running of the $110,400 at Churchill Downs.
With a startling lack of early speed in the 1 3/8-mile turf race, Silverfoot, normally a stretch-runner, was left to set the fractions in a field of seven older horses in the Grade 3 Louisville. Although longshot Gottabeachboy, then Epicentre, made sustained runs at them, Silverfoot and Albarado turned back all challengers with a big stretch run, prevailing by three-quarters of a length over the late-running Rochester.
