OLDSMAR, Fla. - At about 2 p.m. Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, jockey Terry Houghton was in the starting gate aboard a Thoroughbred for the first time in about 14 months. He wound up finishing eighth aboard Ginger Roo in the fourth race.
Considering what happened to Houghton a little over a year ago, it was probably the sweetest eighth-place finish of his career.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - A one-week postponement of the Queens County Handicap may have toughened the competition, but none of that fazed Thunder Blitz.
Despite trying to lug in during the stretch run, Thunder Blitz pulled away from pacesetting Unforgettable Max in the final furlong and drew clear to a 1 1/2-length victory in the Grade 3, $108,300 Queens County before 7,732 on Stocking Stuffer giveaway day at Aqueduct.
NEW ORLEANS - Steve Asmussen got lost in the fog, but his horse, Spritely Walker, found his way home in the $150,000 . The Classic was the feature on a card that comprised 10 stakes for statebreds.
Heavy rain fell here Saturday morning, and then the fog rolled in. Several races were run through an impenetrable bank, and Asmussen, on his way from Houston, had his plane diverted to Mississippi. He was driving toward the city when Spritely Walker charged into view and up the rail for a narrow victory over Prince Slew, who fought bravely in the center of the track.
MIAMI - Barbara O'Brien is such a rogue that trainer Harry Benson had to get special permission to saddle her outside the paddock before Saturday's $100,000 Chaposa Springs Handicap. But Barbara O'Brien behaved like a lady in the winner's circle after rallying to an easy 5 1/4-length victory over Holy Bubbette in the Grade 3 Chaposa Springs, the only graded race of the four stakes on Calder's Grand Slam I program.
Worldly Pleasure pulled a $24.20 upset in the $60,000 Politely Stakes for 3-year-old Maryland-bred fillies at Laurel Park. Worldly Pleasure and jockey Jose Caraballo raced near the front throughout the seven-furlong test, took the lead a sixteenth of a mile from the wire, and held off Allens Blessing by a head. Bamba was third.
In the day's other stakes, odds-on favorite Excellent Band won the $40,000 H. Steward Mitchell Stakes for 2-year-olds by 1 1/4 lengths over Iron Bison. Only five ran in the scratch-reduced field.
FLORENCE, Ky. - Ask the Lord surged past pacesetter Wild Lies with a four-wide rally and scored a head victory over Sonic West in the $50,000 Prairie Bayou Stakes at Turfway Park on Saturday.
Confidently ridden by leading jockey Rafael Bejarano, Ask the Lord stalked the early pace in third as Wild Lies and Play It Out established fractions of 23.97 seconds and 48.15 in the 1 1/8-mile race. Ask the Lord advanced with a wide rally to take command with six furlongs in 1:13.06, then turned back a stretch rally from Sonic West. Doc D finished 4 1/4 lengths back in third.
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif - A Regal Choice was promoted from second to first in Friday's $1,367,650 Los Alamitos Million Futurity for Quarter Horses after he was ruled to have been fouled by race winner Corona for Me in the final strides of the 400-yard race.
Corona for Me, the fastest qualifier, finished a nose in front of A Regal Choice, but was ruled by track stewards to have drifted in from post 3 and bothered A Regal Choice, who started in post 2 and was ridden by Alejandro Luna.
GROVE CITY, Ohio - Beulah Park canceled the final five races of its card on Saturday afternoon after clots on the racing surface led to unsafe conditions for both horses and riders.
The track was listed as fast but there were noticeable dirt clots on the surface and several riders returned with broken sets of goggles following the afternoon's first two races.
The $35,000 Glacial Princess Stakes for 2-year-old Ohio-breds was canceled for the second straight Saturday and has been rescheduled for Friday.
Sam Houston Race Park in Houston was forced to cancel the final six races of its 10-race program on Friday night after heavy rains moved into the area. Officials made the decision to call off the remainder of the program at 9 p.m. Central, about 45 minutes after the running of the fourth race.
"We evaluated the conditions and had no choice but to cancel live racing," said Bob Bork, president of Sam Houston. "The safety of our riders and horses is of the upmost importance to our racetrack."
Sam Houston was scheduled to race on Saturday night.
