NEW ORLEANS - The mystery has been solved. High Limit is for real.
High Limit, making his first start since October and his first start in a stakes race, led from start to finish on Saturday in an impressive, four-length victory in the Grade 2, $600,000 at Fair Grounds.
NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Tom Amoss decided to pass on the Louisiana Derby with Rush Bay, but he found a nice spot for him on Monday's Fair Grounds card. Rush Bay will be the prohibitive favorite in the feature race, a $50,000 optional claimer for 3-year-olds that have never won a race other than maiden or claiming.
NEW ORLEANS - Summerly continued her ascension among the nation's elite 3-year-old fillies on Saturday by scoring her third straight and most important victory, a gate-to-wire triumph in the Grade 2, $300,000 .
The race looked Summerly's to take - on paper, she was the only speed - and it could not have played out any better in her favor.
NEW ORLEANS - An audible that trainer Bobby Frankel called in the paddock might have made the difference as Badge of Silver scored a front-running victory in the Grade 2, $500,000 Saturday at Fair Grounds.
Before the race, Frankel gave jockey Jerry Bailey specific instructions.
"I looked in the paper before the race and thought I would be laying second to Wanderin Boy," said Bailey, "but in the paddock Bobby said 'Speed's holding on' - so we decided to go with him."
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - When the precipitation began falling Friday night, trainer Mark Hennig thought he might have wasted a trip north with his developing sprinter Primary Suspect.
But it snowed rather than rained and Aqueduct's inner track was fast by post time of the Grade 3 Toboggan Handicap. Thus, conditions were ideal for Primary Suspect, who ran by odds-on favorite Shake You Down inside the three-sixteenths pole to win the $107,100 by 1 1/4 lengths. Shake You Down held second by a neck over Houston's Prayer.
The injury that Rockport Harbor suffered to his right hind foot in the Grade 2 Remsen in November flared up on Saturday, one day after the Kentucky Derby candidate put in his final major preparations for the Grade 3, $250,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park this Saturday. John Servis, who trains the colt, told Oaklawn officials he was confident Rockport Harbor would still make the Rebel.
"Right now, I don't consider this a big deal," said Servis. "It's like an ingrown toenail in human terms."
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Jockey Javier Castellano and trainer Nick Zito completed a big day at Gulfstream Park on Saturday when Sir Shackleton registered a 1 1/2-length victory over defending champion Lion Tamer in the Grade 2, $200,000 .
The win was the fifth on the day for Castellano and second from as many starters on the card for Zito. The pair combined earlier to win the sixth race with 3-year-old prospect Bellamy Road.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Ghostzapper has spent his winter in the relative anonymity of the Palm Meadows training center, quietly gearing up for a defense of his Horse of the Year title in 2005. After working six furlongs in 1:13.95 under his regular rider, Javier Castellano, on Saturday morning, Ghostzapper gives every indication he's just about ready to race and will be just as tough to beat this year as he was during his championship campaign.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Injustice, a recent private purchase making her first start for trainer Wayne Catalano, stole the Grade 3, $175,000 on Saturday at Oaklawn Park when she wired the field in the 1 1/16-mile race that serves as a prep for the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap on April 9.
Colony Band finished a half-length behind Injustice in second, while it was another 5 1/4 lengths back in third to favorite Island Sand.
