BALTIMORE - Trainer Ben Perkins Jr. was so confident in Wildcat Heir heading into Saturday's $300,000 at Pimlico that an eighth of a mile into the six-furlong race he said, "This race is over."
One furlong into the Grade 1 De Francis, Wildcat Heir was sitting third off dueling leaders Shake You Down and Philadelphia Jim. Five furlongs later, Wildcat Heir was in front, holding off favored Midas Eyes by a neck to win the Grade 1 sprint.
MIAMI - Trainer Bill White walked out of the winner's circle following High Fly's easy first-level allowance victory in Saturday's opening race and let out a sigh of relief.
"I was really feeling the pressure for this one," said White. "He was so impressive and there was so much hullabaloo after he won his first start that I felt like I was saddling a favorite in a stakes race today."
A four-horse spill near the quarter pole of Saturday's second race at Golden Gate Fields caused the race to be declared no contest.
Jockeys Francisco Duran, David Lopez, and Alfredo Miranda were taken to Oakland's Highland Hospital, the area's leading trauma center. Iggy Puglisi, the fourth rider involved in the spill, was uninjured and rode in the next race.
Duran, the rider on Rippling Water, suffered a slight fracture of the right collarbone where it connects to the breastbone.
Mark One, with Robert Landry aboard, overtook A Bit O'Gold in the final strides to post a 6-1 upset victory in Saturday's $157,950 .
Norfolk Knight, the 1-2 favorite in the four-horse field, set fractions of 23.92 seconds, 47.62, and 1:12.27 seconds over a muddy track in the 1 1/16-mile race.
Jockey Lester Knight equaled Terry Thompson's Hoosier Park record total of six Thoroughbred victories on a card Friday to put him within reach of catching Ramsey Zimmerman in the race for leading rider.
Thompson, who set the record in 2001, won seven times that night, including a Quarter Horse race on a 13-race card. Knight's six victories Friday came on an 11-race card. Knight has cut Zimmerman's lead in the standings to 92-85 with two nights of racing remaining in the meet.
BALTIMORE - When deciding whether to run Defer in the Laurel Futurity at Pimlico or next Saturday's Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct, trainer Shug McGaughey said the determining factor was which race he felt the horse had the best chance of winning.
McGaughey obviously chose wisely by opting for the Laurel Futurity.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Jockey Brice Blanc furthered his reputation as a top turf rider Saturday at Churchill Downs, winning two grass stakes, including the Grade 3, $173,550 aboard Aud.
Aud needed a perfect, ground-saving trip from Blanc to get up in the final strides, edging runner-up May Gator and third-place finisher Angela's Love. Aud trailed by over 11 lengths in the early going, before gaining rapidly on the turn and through the stretch.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Dreadnaught, a former jumper, collared the pacesetting Certifiably Crazy to win the Grade 2, $150,000 by a nose Saturday at Aqueduct.
Dreadnaught ($13.20) ran the 1 3/8 miles over good turf on a drizzly afternoon in 2:18.87 in the final grass stakes of the year in New York.
It was the first graded stakes victory for the 4-year-old gelding Dreadnaught, whom trainer Tom Voss called "a big, dumb, unathletic horse" until he made three runs over hurdles this spring.
Friday night's program at Portland Meadows was canceled after three races when the jockeys declined to ride, citing unsafe track conditions.
The track was extremely wet because of a procedure performed at the insistence of the Oregon Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. The group wanted the silt washed out of the track by repeatedly mixing the surface with graders and harrows, then drenching it with water.
