ARCADIA, Calif. - Sweet Catomine's win in the Del Mar Debutante in August turned out to be far from a fluke.
In Saturday's $200,000 at Santa Anita, Sweet Catomine launched a remarkable rally in the final half-mile to win her second consecutive stakes by four lengths. Sweet Catomine will make her next start in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30, owner Marty Wygod said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Bobby Frankel has so much respect for and confidence in long-time assistant Humberto Ascanio that he can vacate Southern California for months on end and still watch his West Coast barn motor along with nary a hitch. On Saturday at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting, Ascanio sent out two stakes winners for Frankel, both of whom Ascanio has trained since Frankel left for New York in the spring.
ELMONT, N.Y - The gutsy gelding is back.
Funny Cide, who appeared to be backing up around the far turn, showed why he is called the gutsy gelding by rallying from fourth in the stretch to win the $1 million by three-quarters of a length over longshot Newfoundland. It was one length back to The Cliff's Edge in third.
Evening Attire, Bowman's Band, Love of Money and Domestic Dispute completed the order of finish.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Charming Socialite outkicked 3-5 favorite Bwana Charlie by three-quarters of a length to pull a 22-1 upset in the $100,000 Alysheba Breeders' Cup at Lone Star Park on Saturday. It was another 2 1/2 lengths back in third to Danieltown.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Jockey Eddie King wishes the New Jersey turf sprints were a sixteenth of a mile longer.
The additional distance would clearly help his mount, Royal Dove, a hard-charging filly who is a leading contender in the $41,000 allowance feature Tuesday afternoon at The Meadowlands Racetrack. First post is 1:10 p.m.
The grass sprints at Monmouth Park and The Meadowlands are all five furlongs. Royal Dove, winless in five starts this season, simply runs out of ground. She has three seconds and a third this season.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Pico Central made an emphatic case to be named champion sprinter by running away from Speightstown and Cajun Beat in the stretch and rolling to a four-length victory in Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 at Belmont Park.
Longshot Voodoo rallied to get second by a half-length over Speightstown, who nosed out Cajun Beat for third. Watchem Smokey was last. Eavesdropper scratched.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Kitten's Joy stamped himself as the best grass horse in the country with a powerful win in Saturday's Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont Park.
Kitten's Joy won the 1 1/2-mile grass race by 2 1/2 lengths over Magistretti, the 8-5 favorite in the seven-horse field. It was another three-quarters of a length back to European invader Tycoon in third in the $750,000 .
ELMONT, N.Y. - If at first you don't succeed, try again. That motto has worked twice for trainer Pat Kelly and owner Peter G. Schiff in the Grade 1 .
When Kelly and Schiff won the Flower Bowl for the first time in 1992, it was on their second try with Christiecat. On Saturday at Belmont Park, Kelly and Schiff won the $750,000 Flower Bowl on their second try with Riskaverse.
Riskaverse was a three-quarter-length winner over Commercante in the Flower Bowl. Moscow Burning, the pacesetter in the 1 1/4-mile grass race, finished a head back in third.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Light Jig scored a convincing win in Saturday's $500,000 at Santa Anita, and may be part of a powerful team of Juddmonte Farms fillies for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30.
Rebounding from a disappointing sixth in the Grade 1 John Mabee Handicap at Del Mar on July 24, Light Jig rallied from the back of the field of 10 fillies and mares to win the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon by four lengths. The margin was the widest in the 27-year history of the race.
STICKNEY, Ill. - If Freefourinternet seemed on paper like an unlikely winner of the , you should have seen him five furlongs from the finish. It looked like he was in a different horserace, some 25 lengths behind the leaders, Quest Star, Powerful Touch, and the powerful favorite, Perfect Drift. But before he hit the far turn, Freefourinternet started running. He picked off horses one by one around the bend, came into the stretch with a full head of steam, and swept past Perfect Drift in the final furlong, winning the Grade 2, $750,000 Gold Cup by 1 3/4 lengths, paying $56 to win.
