LEXINGTON, Ky. - Todd Pletcher got a third starter for the 131st Kentucky Derby when Coin Silver, a 13-1 shot under Javier Castellano, drove to a surprisingly easy victory Saturday in the $325,000 at Keeneland.
Pletcher, the 2004 Eclipse Award-winning trainer who already had Bandini and Flower Alley for the May 7 Derby, was on hand to watch Coin Silver, well back early, launch a rally between rivals en route to a 3 1/2-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile Lexington, the final major Derby prep.
MIAMI - A $2 reserved seat on the fourth floor of the grandstand here will seem like a luxury box at nearby Dolphins Stadium when racing returns to Calder Race Course on Monday for the first of two consecutive meetings that run through Jan. 2, 2006.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Liz on Polk Street has not quite gotten over the hump separating stakes horses from allowance horses, but if placed in the right conditioned race, the filly fires. Fourth and seventh in her two ventures into stakes company, Liz on Polk Street has compiled a 7-4-1-2 record in one maiden race and six subsequent conditioned allowance tries, and Tuesday at Hawthorne, in the featured fourth race, Liz on Polk Street goes in a fourth-level allowance. Circle her number.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Pollard's Vision faced only three opponents Saturday in the at Hawthorne, but two horses were all he needed to get an ideal setup. With heavily favored Badge of Silver locked up in a pace battle with the local longshot Lord of the Game, Pollard's Vision waited back in third, challenged a tiring Badge of Silver in the stretch, and went on to a 1 1/4-length win.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Winter's icy hand blew back into Chicago late this week, with rain and even some dancing snowflakes Saturday afternoon. The wind was powerful from the northeast; Lake Michigan looked like an angry sea. But as far as Hawthorne is concerned, the only weather really worth paying attention to is rain. If the ground is dry enough to conduct turf racing, the Monday card, with three scheduled grass races, is fairly decent, but if those races are rained onto dirt, the program will suffer.
STICKNEY, Ill. - There is little chance John Velazquez will see gritty Hawthorne Race Course again this year, but his brief trip here Saturday produced two graded stakes wins and $300,000 in purse money.
A half-hour after his physically demanding ride on Pollard's Vision netted a win in the National Jockey Club Handicap, Velazquez guided Isola Piu Bella to a two-length score in the Grade 3, $250,000 . Both horses are trained by Todd Pletcher, who also won Saturday's Lexington at Keeneland with Coin Silver.
"They told me where to go, and that was it," Velazquez said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Graham Motion was hoping to find an easy enough spot to bring Better Talk Now back to the races, where he could win without having to be overtaxed.
Mission accomplished.
Better Talk Now, the defending Breeders' Cup Turf winner, rallied from last to run down Remind by a neck to win the Grade 3, $107,400 before a crowd of 3,554 at chilly Aqueduct. It was 1 1/2 lengths back to Ecclesiastic in third. Chilly Rooster and L'Oiseau d'Argent completed the order of finish.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Pleasant Home gave Shug McGaughey another weapon in the distaff division as she rallied from well off the pace to win Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 by 5 1/4 lengths at Aqueduct.
Traci Girl, part of a solid early pace, held second by three-quarters of a length over Cativa. Actcellent, Bank Audit, Childress, and Spectacular Moon completed the order of finish.
It was the first stakes win for Pleasant Home, a 4-year-old full sister to Country Hideaway, who won this race in 2001. She is owned by the Phipps family and trained by Shug McGaughey.
The third time proved a charm for Tara's Touch, who launched a winning bid near the rail to defeat 11 turf sprinters Saturday in the $114,700 Stravinsky Stakes at Keeneland. The win was the first in North America for Tara's Touch, a South African-bred mare.
A poor start by 2-5 favorite Lady in Pink opened the door for Winsome to register a 1 3/4-length upset in the $75,000 Cellars Shiraz Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the turf at Gulfstream Park. The Cellars Shiraz was the final stakes race of the 2005 Gulfstream meet, which closes Sunday.
