Hawthorne Race Course hosted six Illinois-bred stakes races Saturday, and all jockey Larry Sterling could do was win half of them.
Sterling's big day began in sunshine and ended under the lights, when he guided 7-1 Home of Stars to a 1 3/4-length win in the $96,275 . Earlier, Sterling won the Powerless with Synco Peach and the Sun Power on Humor at Last.
Two Punch Gal needed five starts to win her maiden, but the 3-year-old filly has now won three of her last four races following a one-length score in the $75,000 Politely Stakes at Pimlico.
Ridden by Mario Pino for trainer Carl Nafzger, Two Punch Gal ($3.60) went to the lead shortly after the start of the six-furlong race for Maryland-bred fillies and withstood a bid from Sea of Promises in the stretch to record her first stakes victory. She was timed in 1:11.96.
Tap Day ($5), 0 for 5 in stakes run on fast tracks but unbeaten in the slop, held on for a nose victory over Separato in the $60,000 Princeton at The Meadowlands.
Tap Day, ridden by Jose Velez Jr. for trainer Mark Hennig, previously won the Dave Feldman at Gulfstream and the Tyson Gilpin at Delaware over wet surfaces. He ran the 1 1/16 miles of the Princeton in 1:44.32.
Nita Chiquita ($19.80), the second longest shot in a field of Pennsylvania-bred fillies reduced in half by six scratches due to sloppy track conditions, scored a wire-to-wire victory in the $53,000 Blue Mountain Juvenile at Penn National.
Ridden by Jason Kravets for his father, trainer Bruce Kravets, Nita Chiquita covered six furlongs in 1:13.91 and finished 1 1/4 lengths in front of Webers Drive In. Rhythmically, the 3-5 favorite, was a head farther back in third.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Ruby Choise looms as the one to beat in Monday's featured eighth race at Portland Meadows, a mile test for $4,000 fillies and mares who have never won three races.
Ruby Choise arrived here earlier this week from Bay Meadows, where she defeated $4,000 non-winners of two company at a mile Sept. 29. Ruby Choise came back to run fifth against open $4,000 company Oct. 28, but should appreciate the move back to restricted company Monday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - British jockey Kieren Fallon, who rode in California as an apprentice in 1996, has always loved America. After winning two races Saturday at Churchill Downs, including the Grade 2, $171,150 aboard River Belle, he loves it even more.
With the top three finishers running inches apart, River Belle needed a perfect trip under Fallon to win by a nose over Lenatareese. River Belle was placed in a favorable position early, in fourth behind contested fractions of 48.30 seconds and 1:13.48 over a "good" turf course.
Happy Ticket improved her career record to 6-for-6 when she drew out to an eight-length win in the $75,000 Magnolia at Delta Downs on Friday night. Kylers Midge finished second in the seven-furlong race for Louisiana-bred fillies and mares, a length and a quarter clear of third-place finisher Agree to Disagree.
Happy Ticket ($3.20) led the field throughout as the 3-5 favorite, and covered the distance, which was run around two turns, in 1:25.86. Lonnie Meche rode the winner for trainer Andrew Leggio Jr.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Shane Sellers, who has been at the forefront of the jockey-insurance controversy the past week at Churchill Downs, said Friday he was planning to leave town no later than this weekend "to get away from all this negative stuff" that has overwhelmed him and his family.
In a lengthy phone conversation, Sellers said he has been "sickened" by the situation that led to 14 jockeys being banned from riding at the Churchill fall meet and by other developments that he said "have ruined my name and ruined everything about me."
Here is a sampling of opinions from jockeys across the country about the dispute over accident insurance at Churchill Downs, in which some riders threatened a boycott and the track banned 14 of them for the rest of Churchill's fall meet. Interviews were conducted by Karen M. Johnson (Aqueduct), Dave Basler (Beulah Park), Mike Welsch (Calder Race Course), Marty McGee (Churchill Downs), Chuck Dybdal (Golden Gate Fields), Marcus Hersh (Hawthorne Race Course), Jay Privman (Hollywood Park), Mike Farrell (The Meadowlands), and Mary Rampellini (Sam Houston Race Park).
