ARCADIA, Calif. - Elusive Diva may be bound for Kentucky after winning the third stakes of her career in Sunday's $111,000 .
Trainer Mark Glatt said Elusive Diva will be considered for $250,000 Humana Distaff Handicap over seven furlongs at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day in an effort to give her a Grade 1 win.
A start in that dirt race would interrupt a fine turf campaign that includes wins in Sunday's race and the minor Wishing Well Handicap in January.
Rapid Proof caught pacesetter Warleigh on the wire for a head win in the $216,000 at Sam Houston Race Park on Saturday night. It was the second major stakes score for Rapid Proof, who came into the race on the heels of a head win in the Grade 2, $500,000 Mervin Muniz at Fair Grounds.
Dynareign finished third in the Connally, five lengths behind runner-up Warleigh.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Rockport Harbor worked seven furlongs Sunday morning at Oaklawn Park, and after the work trainer John Servis said the colt would make his next start in the Grade 2, $325,000 Coolmore Lexington at a mile and a sixteenth at Keeneland on April 23.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Dream of Summer continued her pattern of stepping up to new challenges on Saturday, when, in her first start outside of California, she led throughout for a neck win in the Grade 1, $500,000 at Oaklawn Park.
Ashado was the 1-2 favorite in the mile and a sixteenth race and she finished fifth after pressing the pace in her first start since winning the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff. The Apple Blossom shared a card with the Grade 2, $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap won by Grand Reward ($8.40), and attendance for the program was a meet-high 39,787.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - First Draft ($18.80) turned the tables on favored Pickle, winning a three-way photo in the $64,875 Miss America Handicap at Bay Meadows on Saturday.
First Draft, who circled the field four wide on the second turn, caught the game pacesetter Marla Bay in the final strides of the 1 1/16-mile race run on a yielding turf course, winning by a head in 1:44.88. Marla Bay, who ran head-and-head with Pickle the final quarter mile, finished a head in front of the 11-to-10 favorite.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Berbatim scored the first graded stakes win of her career in the $111,600 Providencia Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
Giving jockey Alex Solis his fourth winner of the day, Berbatim ($10.40) stayed close to the pace throughout 1 1-8 miles on turf and pulled clear in the final furlong to win by 2 1-2 lengths. Berbatim was timed in 1:47.66.
Royal Copenhagen rallied from eighth to finish second, a length in front of Thatwhatimean. Shining Energy, the 3-2 favorite, finished fifth in the field of 10.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The prevailing wisdom was that Sun King was the leader of Nick Zito's quintet of Kentucky Derby hopefuls. There may be a shuffling of the deck.
Bellamy Road, making just his second start of the year, stamped himself as one of the top choices for the May 7 Kentucky Derby with arguably the most impressive performance in race's 81-year history.
ARCADIA, Calif. - After a winter in which he became the poster boy for milkshake testing, then became an even more polarizing figure because of quotes attributed to him by a local columnist, Jeff Mullins had the last laugh on Saturday. He became the first trainer to win the Grade 1, $750,000 three consecutive years when Buzzards Bay held off General John B and Wilko after a prolonged stretch drive.
As expected, Lost in the Fog toyed with five rivals, going gate to wire under Russell Baze to win the Grade 3, $150,000 by 4 1/4 lengths over White Socks. It was one length back to Big Top Cat in third.
It was the fifth victory in as many starts for Lost in the Fog, a 3-year-old son of Lost Soldier owned by Harry Aleo and trained by Greg Gilchrist.
Second start off a layoff is becoming the ideal scenario for Singletary. The Breeders' Cup Mile winner, who disappointed in his 2005 debut five weeks ago in the Kilroe Mile, bounced back with a top effort on Saturday to take the Grade 2, $150,000 .
