Misty Sixes slipped by the 6-5 favorite Rebecca's Charm on the inside on the final turn and began to pour it on, winning the off-the-turf, $50,000 Lighthouse by a widening 11 3/4 lengths.
Ridden by Joe Bravo, Misty Sixes ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.69 on a fast track and paid $5.20. Rebecca's Charm held on for second by a neck over Cocktailsandreams in the field of eight fillies and mares. It was another 12 1/2 lengths back to the fourth-place finisher, Goosey Gander.
Cruise Along was ninth at the half-mile mark, fifth turning for home, and first at the wire, winning the $75,000 All Brandy for fillies and mares by 1 1/2 lengths.
Coquettish, 10-1, tracked the pacesetting favorite Leebearski for a half-mile and opened a clear lead in midstretch on her left lead before jockey Horatio Karamanos and Cruise Along ranged up on the outside and shot by.
Cruise Along covered the 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:51.39 and paid $9.40. The exacta with Coquettish paid $97.60.
Jockeys Robert Landry and Emile Ramsammy were injured in a nasty spill in Friday's fourth race at Woodbine. Landry, who was named on Pink Champagne in the Natalma, suffered two broken ribs and a displaced clavicle and will be out four to six weeks. Ramsammy had facial cuts and bruises.
Ramsammy's mount, Lucky Scarab, broke down on the backstretch of the one-mile turf race. Landry's mount, Silent Thunder, then fell over Lucky Scarab, who subsequently was euthanized.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The match race between Patrick Valenzuela and Julie Krone on Sunday at Del Mar is being billed as the "battle of the sexes." But "battle for top jockey" is more like it.
The event started out as a promotional gimmick featuring Valenzuela, the top rider in Southern California in the last year, against Krone, the only woman rider in the Hall of Fame, in a $50,000 match race. Now it could play a role in determining the Del Mar jockey title. Through Thursday, Valenzuela led Krone by five wins, 46-41.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Dimitrova and Sand Springs, the winner and runner-up in the American Oaks at Hollywood Park in July, meet again in Sunday's Grade 1 Garden City Breeders' Cup Handicap at Belmont Park.
Following Dimitrova's two-length victory in the American Oaks on July 5, the filly was returned to trainer Dermot Weld's barn in Ireland. Weld considered bringing Dimitrova back to the United States to run in the Grade 1 Beverly D. at Arlington Park on Aug. 16, but decided the $250,000 Garden City was a more suitable spot. Dimitrova arrived in New York on Monday.
DEL MAR, Calif. - When word got out Friday morning at Del Mar that Tates Creek was going to pass Sunday's Grade 2, $200,000 Palomar Breeders' Cup Handicap, there was much rejoicing. Maybe not in the racing office, but certainly among the trainers of the remaining runners.
"Good," said Jeff Mullins, who will send out the tiny but mighty Garden in the Rain. "It's hard once you've blown all your conditions to find easy races."
ELMONT, N.Y. - Well Fancied swept by Gratiaen in midstretch to win Friday's $109,600 General Douglas MacArthur Handicap, the opening-day feature of the Belmont fall meet, by 5 1/2 lengths.
A crowd of 5,475 attended the 38-day meet's first day of racing, which was conducted in ideal weather.
Well Fancied, the 2-5 favorite ridden by Edgar Prado, won the MacArthur for the second year in a row.
Woodbine Entertainment Group has announced a 3 percent across-the-board cut in purses for Thoroughbred racing effective Sept. 10.
The decrease means the average purse will be $47,550, down from $49,000. The adjustment does not affect stakes races, which will remain at current levels.
"After a number of years of wagering growth, our Thoroughbred wagering appears to have softened and leveled out in 2003," said Hugh Mitchell, Woodbine's senior vice president of racing, in a press release Friday.
Frank Amonte celebrated his 68th birthday stylishly at the Three County Fair in Northampton, Mass., by becoming one of the oldest jockeys to ever win a recognized Thoroughbred race, aboard It's a New Moon in Friday's seventh race.
Amonte and his mount surged late to nip Frank's Green Money, giving Amonte his first victory since winning at last year's fair. Amonte also trains three horses based at Suffolk Downs.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Perfect Moon, the winner of two graded stakes this summer and a top contender for Wednesday's $250,000 Del Mar Futurity, was sold on Friday to Royce Jaime. After the sale, Perfect Moon was transferred from trainer Mel Stute to Doug O'Neill.
The deal was finalized early Friday morning after three days of negotiations and veterinary examinations. The sale price was not revealed, but O'Neill said it was in the "mid-six figures."
Perfect Moon won 3 of 7 starts and $183,870 racing for The Hat Ranch and Stute's wife, Annabelle.
