Jockey Constant Montpellier recorded his 1,000th career victory aboard D Girl in Blue in the first race Wednesday night at Woodbine.
D Girl in Blue, a first-time starter trained by Dave Cotey, rallied along the rail to prevail by a neck after running greenly in the seven-furlong race for $20,000 maiden 2-year-old fillies.
Montpellier, a 43-year-old native of Dorion, Quebec, reached 1,000 victories with 7,819 rides. His mounts have earned more than $32.3 million.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - With their reputations battered by losses in the Breeders' Cup Mile last month, Nothing to Lose and Special Ring try to rebound in Saturday's $400,000 Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park.
With a victory in the Grade 1 Citation, which offers a first-place purse of $240,000, Nothing to Lose or Special Ring would become a millioniare. The Citation Handicap, run at 1 1/16 miles on turf, has drawn 11 entrants, all of whom are stakes winners.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Compared to the highly regarded Vitruvian, Dubleo has the edge in both experience and accomplishment. Six months from now, the roles might be reversed. But potential must yield to the here-and-now when evaluating the Grade 3, $100,000 Generous Stakes, and that is why the well-traveled Dubleo rates an edge over Vitruvian and 11 other 2-year-olds on Saturday.
Hollywood Park is the sixth track at which Dubleo will have raced this year. He has won 5 of his 8 starts, including stakes in Virginia, New Jersey, and Canada. He's tiny, but mighty.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - After racing throughout the nation in pursuit of some of the sport's richest prizes this year, Imperialism may have found a derby he can win at his home track Sunday.
The $500,000 at Hollywood Park is ideally suited to Imperialism, who races for Steve Taub and trainer Kristin Mulhall. The race is run on turf, a surface he has proven to like, and over 1 1/4 miles, a distance that should suit him.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Finally, mercifully, the end is here. Racing fans at Churchill Downs will have experienced the last of the inconveniences posed by the track's $121 million renovation when closing day of the fall meet arrives Saturday, with the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes highlighting a fitting celebration of the end of an era.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In an era when horsemen tend to tread very lightly with their young horses, rare is the top-class filly with 10 races at 2.
Yet here comes Runway Model, ready for her 10th start and apparently begging for more. As the solid favorite in the Golden Rod Stakes, the Grade 2 race that helps close out the Churchill fall meet Saturday, Runway Model is something of a throwback to the Thoroughbred who just can't do enough.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Halory Leigh punctuated her terrific recent form when she drew off for her third straight victory Thursday in the 89th running of the Grade 2, $325,200 at Churchill Downs.
Giving jockey Eddie Martin Jr. his first Churchill stakes win, Halory Leigh crept closer to the leaders leaving the backstretch of the 1 1/8-mile Falls City before wearing down a stubborn Susan's Angel to prevail by 2 3/4 lengths. Miss Fortunate finished third in the field of seven fillies and mares.
Uraib has become the longshot player's friend since arriving from England earlier this year.
After paying $80 to win in an allowance race at Santa Anita in March and $30 to win in the Hillsborough Handicap at Bay Meadows in September, Uraib pulled an upset in Thursday's $65,110 for fillies and mares at Hollywood Park.
Ridden by Jose Valdivia Jr., Uraib ($21.60) ran 1 1/2 miles on turf in 2:29.40. She was last of eight for the first six furlongs, well behind pacesetter Ponche de Leona, who set an early pace of 24.29 and 48.84 seconds.
