ARCADIA, Calif. - Silent Sighs ended the winning streak of two unbeaten fillies - the champion Halfbridled and A.P. Adventure - with an impressive win in Saturday's $300,000 .
The victory left trainer Julio Canani wondering where his filly ranks on the national scene as the Kentucky Oaks on April 30 draws closer.
"This filly is very green and very awkward because she's big, but she's very talented," Canani said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Few people were surprised that a New York-bred won Saturday's $1 million , not even-money favorite Read the Footnotes, who finished a tiring fourth.
In his start prior to the Florida Derby, Friends Lake had finished a well-beaten third in the Jan. 17 Holy Bull Stakes after acting up badly in the paddock. Trainer John Kimmel had since shipped Friends Lake from his Payson Park base on several occasions to school in the Gulfstream Park paddock.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Marty Wolfson believed his best chance of winning the Swale Stakes was having Edgar Prado put into the race from the start. Nick Zito believed his best chance of Eurosilver staying on course for the May 1 Kentucky Derby was running a good race in the Swale.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Madcap Escapade electrified a Florida Derby Day crowd of 25, 505 by breezing to an easy 4 3/4-length victory over La Reina in the Grade 2, $150,000 .
The win was the third one-sided victory in a row for Madcap Escapade, a 3-year-old daughter of Hennessy who is owned by Bruce Lunsford and trained by Frank Brothers. She had captured her first two starts by a combined 21 3/4 lengths.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Golden Sonata rallied from more than 15 lengths off the pace to post a 30-1 upset in the Grade 3, $200,000 on Saturday. Keys to the Heart finished a 1 3/4 lengths back in second, while it was another three-quarters of a length in third to Mayo on the Side.
Spectacular Lisa, the favorite, finished fourth in the field of 10.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Minister Eric, the runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last October, finished third in his 3-year-old debut in an optional claimer for turf sprinters on Saturday at Santa Anita, a race won by the French import Fabulous Groom.
Minister Eric rallied through the stretch to finish 1 3/4 lengths behind Fabulous Groom, who finished about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course in 1:12.66 under David Flores.
A change of rider and some newfound speed enabled Jorgie Stover to end a long losing streak in the $75,000 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial Handicap at Laurel Park.
Winless in his last eight starts dating back to last June, the 6-year-old Jorgie Stover ($40), ridden for the first time by Kaymarie Keidel, was sent to the front instead of stalking the pace. Jorgie Stover led for nearly the entire nine furlongs, completed in 1:49.51 over a fast track, but had to fight back after being briefly overtaken in deep stretch to nip Your Bluffing by a nose.
After setting one riding record at Turfway on Friday, jockey Rafael Bejarano followed it with another on Saturday.
Bejarano, the nation's winningest rider, established a single-day riding record at Turfway Park on Friday evening, winning seven of the track's 12 races. His achievement broke the previous mark of six wins, shared by several riders but first set by Kris Prather in 2001, according to track officials.
The public expected trainer Dale Romans to win Friday's $50,000 Wintergreen Stakes at Turfway, but not with the filly who won the race.
The public focused on the Romans-trained Glitter Act, who came to Turfway after last winning at Gulfstream Park. Instead, it was her Kentucky-based uncoupled stablemate, Strike Rate, who scored the victory for Romans.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Paul McGee didn't have a horse for last year's Kentucky Derby, but he had a memorable first Saturday in May nonetheless. In the race immediately preceding Derby 129, McGee saddled Honor in War to a 24-1 upset in the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic.
McGee hopes to repeat that scenario in seven weeks, and Honor in War takes his first step toward that goal Monday at Gulfstream Park when he heads a 10-horse field in a classified allowance race at one mile.
