SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Allen Jerkens hemmed and hawed this past week over running Society Selection in Saturday's Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga. His decision to run in the $750,000 Alabama, rather than $250,000 Ballerina on Aug. 29, paid off when Society Selection won the 1 1/4-mile for 3-year-old fillies by 2 1/2 lengths over Stellar Jayne.
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - With six $35,000 stakes races on a nine-race card, Illinois Day at Fairmount Park gives downstate barns a chance to settle whatever scores there are to dispose of with Arlington and Hawthorne shippers who think they can plop onto Fairmount's deep, dry surface and hustle back home with bags of loot and winner's circle Polaroids.
Kota swept past front-running Angel Trumpet to post her first stakes victory in the $83,750 Anna M. Fisher Debutante at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky.
A Florida-bred ridden by John McKee and trained by Bob Holthus, Kota returned $15 after finishing seven furlongs in 1:25 over a fast main track. It was the fourth career start for Kota, a 2-year-old Indian Charlie filly owned by Ofer Stable LLC.
Even after 1 1/8 miles, the Arlington Park photo-finish camera could not separate Lovely Afternoon and Catboat. Both fillies were racing at the longest distance of their careers Saturday, when they finished in a dead heat for win in the 25th running of the Grade 3, $150,000 .
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Several horses who ran in the Lake George here at Saratoga on Aug. 2, are entered in Monday's $150,000 Lake Placid. A notable exception is the Lake George winner, Seducer's Song, who was scheduled to run in Saturday's Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks.
The absence of the Christophe Clement-trained Seducer's Song is good news for the Lake Placid runners, but Clement still has a horse to fear in the field.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Two turns was not an obstacle for Ghostzapper as he powered to a 10 3/4-length victory in the steady rain to take the 69th running of the Grade 3, $200,000 on Saturday at Monmouth Park.
Ghostzapper ($2.80), venturing beyond seven furlongs for the first time in his career, ran the 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.66 over a sloppy track.
Trainer Bobby Frankel viewed the Iselin as the first step on the road to the Breeders' Cup Classic.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - He's ready.
That's what trainer Nick Zito said after Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone drilled six furlongs Saturday morning in 1:13.96 over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for next Saturday's $1 million Travers Stakes.
The Travers will be Birdstone's first start since upending the Triple Crown bid of Smarty Jones in the Belmont on June 5. Saturday marked his fifth published work since the Belmont, though Zito said there was another work in early July that was not recorded.
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - If there is one sure thing on Illinois Day, it's that Lou O'Brien's stable will be well represented.
"It's the best all-around card that we have," said O'Brien, the leading owner at Fairmount Park. "Illinois Day is a fun day."
Fun, always, but Fairmount racing director Bobby Pace nonetheless laments the comparatively thin fields in this year's undercard stakes.
"I wish the fields were bigger, but a lot of races are real competitive," said Pace. "I don't think there will be too many overwhelming favorites."
DEL MAR, Calif. - In his second day back to the track after winning the Best Pal, Roman Ruler, the undefeated leader of the California 2-year-old male division, was causing problems for Bob Baffert's stable.
At the end of a gallop at Del Mar on Saturday, Roman Ruler flipped over, fell on his right side, and briefly pinned exercise rider Dana Barnes. Barnes complained of pain in her rib cage and was scheduled to undergo X-rays late Saturday morning, according to her husband, Jimmy Barnes, Baffert's top assistant.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Ema Bovary, northern California's top racehorse, is through for the year.
Trainer Larry Ross had planned to run her in next Sunday's
Grade 1 Ballerina, a seven-furlong race at Saratoga, but canceled those plans Friday.
"Plans have changed," Ross said. "Up to this week, we were going to go, but maybe the last two works were too much for her. She's just a little bit dull. She left a little grain in her feed bucket Wednesday, and her blood work's a little off.
