Mighty Mecke, the least experienced runner in the field, registered a neck victory over the twice stakes-placed Favre in the $100,000 male division of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Championship Stakes on Monday at the Ocala Training Center in Ocala, Fla.
The race was one of six stakes on the day worth a total of $380,000. No parimutuel betting was offered.
Trained by Steve Klesaris, Mighty Mecke ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.40, remaining unbeaten in his second career start.
NEW ORLEANS - The last week of the Fair Grounds meet opens Thursday with a $62,500 optional claiming/three-other-than allowance at a mile on the main track for fillies and mares.
The field of six includes a pair of Steve Asmussen-trained horses who are uncoupled in the wagering and likely to attract a lot of attention from bettors.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said he was pleasantly surprised when Nopex returned from an 11-month vacation to win a second-level allowance race on the turf Feb. 14. It will not surprise anybody, though, if Nopex comes right back to defeat an even stronger group of allowance rivals over the same turf course in Thursday's $37,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Allen Jerkens has become known as the Giant Killer for pulling off some of the biggest upsets in racing history, but few of those famous victories satisfied the legendary horseman more than watching Lilah, an 8-year-old mare, finally get her first graded-stakes win in Sunday's Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie Handicap.
"It certainly was a pleasant surprise to see her win like that," Jerkens said. "But as Hirsch Jacobs liked to say, 'Better to be surprised than disappointed.'"
The Canadian Derby at Northlands Park, the only graded stakes race in Alberta, has had its purse raised by $50,000 and now is the richest race in western Canada.
This year's Canadian Derby, a 1 3/8-mile race for 3-year-olds, will offer a purse of $300,000, surpassing the $250,000 British Columbia Derby at Hastings.
The Canadian Derby had its purse boosted by $100,000 last year and attracted Organ Grinder, a Kentucky-bred who was one of the top 3-year-olds at Woodbine.
ARCADIA, Calif. - With two more winners on Sunday, trainer Doug O'Neill is now just five victories away from breaking the single-season record for victories at Santa Anita. And there's still one month left in the season.
O'Neill has only one chance to move closer on Wednesday, but it's a good shot. At Dawn, who had a troubled trip when he finished second to the stakes-class Balestrini in his last start on March 5, figures to offer good value in what shapes up as a wide-open featured seventh race, a first-level allowance going 1 1/8 miles on turf.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Roman Ruler and Wilko both emerged from Saturday's a little worse for the wear, and one of them is off the Kentucky Derby trail entirely.
Bob Baffert, the trainer of Roman Ruler, took out the white flag on Sunday morning and surrendered his chase for the Derby with Roman Ruler, who finished last in the San Felipe as the tepid 3-1 favorite. He said Roman Ruler's chronically ailing quarter crack was left bloody after the double whammy of a tightened surface and a brutally rough trip.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Horses with poor form over Aqueduct's inner track can often prove quite playable when they return to the main track. Such could be the case for Our Rite of Spring, who may offer some value when she returns to the main track in Wednesday's featured $48,000 third-level allowance race.
Following a three-day break, racing returns at Aqueduct with a pick-six carryover of $68,250.
Adding to the appeal of is a forecast that calls for rain on Wednesday. Our Rite of Spring's last two wins have come over off surfaces.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Shug McGaughey believes any talk about him joining the Kentucky Derby trail at this point is premature.
While naturally pleased with Survivalist's three-quarter-length victory in Saturday's at Aqueduct, McGaughey said he would need to see something more impressive in the Wood Memorial on April 9 to even consider pointing to the Kentucky Derby.
