Loving, third choice in the betting, pressed second-choice Private Lap for the lead, gained a short advantage going into the stretch, and then won a three-horse photo to take the $100,000 Brandywine Handicap at Delaware Park in Wilmington, Del.
Loving, with Mario Pino aboard, finished a head in front of Private Lap and another nose ahead of the fast-closing 13-1 shot Donald's Pride. Loving was timed in 1:43.35 for the 1 1/16 miles on a fast track and paid $8.20.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Norfolk Knight ($12.50) made the lead on the first turn, and never looked back to capture the $129,375 Steady Growth Stakes at Woodbine.
Norfolk Knight set moderate fractions of 23.85 seconds and 48.08 in the 1 1/16-mile race for Ontario-sired runners. He began to draw away from Hot Pepper Hill at the top of the stretch, and went on to prevail by 3 1/4 lengths in a final time of 1:44.54.
Apprentice Jill Scharfstein rode Norfolk Knight. It was the first stakes score for both horse and rider.
The Louisiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, Fair Grounds Race Course's major creditor in its pending Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, has lodged an objection in bankruptcy court over the track's disclosure statement. Fair Grounds filed the disclosure statement, along with its bankruptcy plan, with the court on April 19.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Seattle Fitz had just run six furlongs in 1:08.56 with Newfoundland hounding him throughout. Watching from the grandstand, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin was nervous. On Seattle Fitz's back, jockey Richard Migliore was confident.
"I told Kiaran leaving the paddock, I don't mind being on the lead, and I'll let him go as fast as he wants to go as long as he's comfortable," Migliore said. "He was idling going three quarters in 1:08-and-change."
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Brass Hat circled the field quickly on the second turn and went on to a three-length victory at odds of 22-1 in the Grade 2, $350,000, at Thistledown on Saturday.
Pollard's Vision, who was near the pace all the way in the nine-horse field, went to the lead briefly on the second turn but was quickly passed by Brass Hat. Pollard's Vision finished second, five lengths in front of Trieste's Honor.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Megantic rallied down the center of the course to win the $60,000 Battlefield Stakes Saturday afternoon at Monmouth Park.
Megantic, 6, has blossomed into a solid stakes runner this season. Trainer Norman Pointer claimed him from Bill Mott for $62,500 at Gulfstream Park in March 2003 and has reaped the rewards.
"He's a Theatrical and they mature with age," said Pointer. "It looks like he might be coming into his own."
Megantic ($7.60) ran the 1 1/8 miles over the firm course in 1:48.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Storm Flag Flying, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2002, worked Friday morning at Belmont Park in preparation for her next start, the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Handicap on June 19.
Clockers timed Storm Flag Flying for four furlongs in 48.42 seconds, the ninth-fastest move of 32 at a half-mile on Friday morning.
According to her trainer, Shug McGaughey, Storm Flag Flying worked five furlongs in 1:01.20, galloping out six furlongs in 1:14. The work will be her final timed move before the Phipps, a $300,000 race for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.
CHICAGO - To buy a racehorse you can go to an air-conditioned sales pavilion in central Kentucky or central Florida.
Or, to delve slightly deeper, you can catch a plane to Brazil.
Many take the first approach; only a handful take the second, including Ken McPeek, whose Brazilian excursions have been turning up runners.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The day was going from bad to worse for trainer Troy Bainum and owner Thomas Metzger. It was Dec. 19 at Hollywood Park when they lost a four-way shake for a $16,000 claiming filly. Bainum and Metzger were in a spending mood, however, so one race later they bought a California-bred gelding. He ran last.
was the first horse Bainum claimed for Metzger, vice-president of a Phoenix construction company, and Bainum said to himself, "Oh shoot, we just threw away $16,000."
