INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A string of tricky longshots led to a record Hollywood Park pick six payoff of $1,312,808.60 to two ticket-holders in Florida and Ohio on Wednesday, according to the Hollywood Park mutuels office.
One of the winning ticketholders was Brad Anderson, a businessman and horse owner from Columbus, Ohio, Beulah Park's website reported.
Anderson's ticket, sold for an amount he declined to reveal, was purchased in the clubhouse at Beulah Park.
MIAMI - Gin Rummy Champ has been a source of frustration to his connections and backers alike over his last three starts, having finished second by a half-length or less on all three occasions.
Frank Gomez, Calder's all-time leading stakes-winning trainer, will attempt to rectify the situation when he equips Gin Rummy Champ with blinkers for the first time in Saturday's $75,000 Simply Majestic Stakes.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Toasted can prove his 25-1 upset in the La Puente Stakes last month at Santa Anita was legitimate when he reappears in Saturday's $100,000 at Hollywood Park.
The conditions of the race are similar - a mile on turf against 3-year-olds - and trainer Laura de Seroux is convinced that Toasted's recent win was not an isolated incident.
"That was no fluke," she said. "He's come back and really worked well on the course."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Winning Colors was never considered a sprinter, but pretty much anyone who ever saw her in action would acknowledge how fast she was. While her most notable victory came in the 1988 Kentucky Derby at 1 1/4 miles, there seems to be little doubt that she could have beaten top-class company, even at half that distance.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Judiths Wild Rush, who has been a disappointment since he was crowned champion 2-year-old in Canada last year, will try to regroup in Saturday's $164,100 Marine Stakes at Woodbine.
Judiths Wild Rush won his first three starts by a combined total of 17 lengths, including a 10-length triumph in the Nov. 15 Display Stakes. Off that performance, trainer Scott Fairlie decided to send him to Louisiana for the $1 million Delta Jackpot Stakes, but Judiths Wild Rush beat only one rival as the favorite in that Dec. 5 contest at Delta Downs.
CALGARY, Alberta - Racing here has been overshadowed by the run to the Stanley Cup finals of the Flames, who play in the Saddledome adjacent to the Stampede grandstand.
Trainer Floyd Arthur, who admits to having been an Edmonton Oilers fan in the heyday of that dynasty, has been on a bit of a run of his own here this spring, and won his ninth race of the meet on Wednesday evening when Shudabinajumper overcame trouble.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Metatron looks like a standout over four other older horses in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race that goes as the second race at Hastings Saturday. After all, he was good enough to have the lead over 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft after a mile in the Grade 3 nine-furlong Ben Ali at Keeneland, finishing third, and it appears trainer Mel Snow has Metatron well-prepared for his first outing since last August.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In 1972, when Bob Holthus was into his 20th year as a licensed Thoroughbred trainer, he sent out his first Kentucky Derby starter, Our Trade Winds, to a 13th-place finish. Two weeks later, Our Trade Winds ran back in an overnight stakes at Churchill, winning at 11-1.
Sixteen years later, Holthus saddled his second Derby starter, Proper Reality, who checked in fourth behind Winning Colors in the 1988 running. Proper Reality then won his next two starts.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Enter the Iowa-bred.
Sound of Gold has come to Chicago from the Prairie Meadows base of trainer Paul Pearson. Not only does she train in Iowa, she was born there. Moreover, Sound of Gold is a 6-year-old mare with 38 starts behind her.