NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Bret Calhoun keeps entering for $40,000. The horse keeps winning. And no one has yet put in a claim.
It has been a nice little run for Calhoun, Grifter, and owner Carl Moore. Grifter, whose best days seemed to be behind him in 2002 and 2003, has won three straight races, thriving in Fair Grounds grass sprints. Here he is in another one: Fair Grounds's featured ninth race on Monday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Danny Hogan vaulted into first place after the second day of Gulfstream Park's Turf-Vivor III handicapping tournament. John Silvertand was second and there was a three-way tie for third between Joe Scanio, John Pappalardo, and Mark Richards.
Hogan's picks earned $55 on Saturday to build his bankroll to $108.60 after the first two days of the tournament. Hogan won $2,000 for being the leader after two days. Silvertand was next with $98.80 and won $1,500. Scanio, Pappalardo, and Richards split up the $1,000 third-place prize.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Eddington earned a shot at stakes company for his next start by easily dispatching five rivals in an entry-level allowance race Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Confirming his dominant maiden win of Feb. 7, Eddington comfortably stalked the pace-setting Tiger Heart through six furlongs in 1:11.84, took command turning for home, and drew clear under Jerry Bailey to win by 5 1/2 lengths. Eddington, a son of 1990 Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.03 - a little slower than his maiden win - and returned $2.60.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Lucifer's Stone was able to slip through a narrow opening along the hedge in the stretch, and she outfinished the favored Dynamia to win Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 by a half-length at Gulfstream Park. It was three-quarters of a length back to Honey Ryder in third.
NEW ORLEANS - Three times Bedanken has shipped to Fair Grounds from her winter quarters at Oaklawn Park, and three times she has gone home with a stakes win. Saturday, in yet another dominating performance, Bedanken won the Grade 3, $125,000 by 1 3/4 lengths.
NEW ORLEANS - The composition of Sunday's Louisiana Derby is starting to come into focus, with as many as 13 horses considered possible starters. The particulars of participation, however, won't be entirely sorted out until the middle of this week.
The $600,000 Derby, at 1 1/16 miles, does not feature the $1 million Post Time Bonus that Fair Grounds offered in previous years to a horse that could win the race here and the Kentucky Derby. The feat never was accomplished, though the 2003 Derby winner, Funny Cide, finished third here last season.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Ramsey Zimmerman endured some long afternoons during the early portion of this meet, when live mounts were hard to come by. One frustrating day not long ago ended with Zimmerman being thrown to the ground after a green maiden decided to take a right turn in midstretch.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Fond, the longest price in the field at 21-1, won the $81,600 Busher Stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday.
Fond, with jockey Aaron Gryder in the saddle, was a 1 3/4-length winner over Taittinger Rose. Showmesomelove finished third, a nose behind Taittinger Rose in the seven-horse field of 3-year-old fillies. Please Take Me Out, favored Mistda, Classic Example, and Exclusively Wild completed the order of finish in the 1 1/16-mile Busher.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Pampered Princess justified her role as the 2-1 favorite here Saturday as she pressed the pace for six furlongs, then showed her superiority when called upon to draw off to a 3 1/4-length victory in the 20th running of the $60,000 Wayward Lass Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
Trained by Martin Wolfson, Pampered Princess carried 120 pounds, including jockey Jesus Castanon, and covered the race's 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.77 over a fast track. The win was her sixth from 13 career starts and her fourth since moving to the Wolfson barn last fall.
