Sunland Park, N. M. - With an unusual fog accompanied by drizzling rain settling in on the desert southwest, Preston Stable's Tee Cat took advantage of a track tightened up by the moisture to win Saturday's $50,000-added Curribot Handicap in
wire-to-wire fashion. In addition, Tee Cat equaled the track record for 1 1/16 miles, becoming just the third horse in Sunland history to run the distance in 1:42.00. Tee Cat's time makes the fifth track record equaled or broken at this meet.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Jerry Bailey made two cross-country flights this weekend, but he didn't have an easier trip than he did at home on Saturday, when he guided Allamerican Bertie to an overpowering 5 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3, $100,000 at Gulfstream Park.
Bailey flew to California on Friday to ride Empire Maker that afternoon in the Sham Stakes at Santa Anita. He returned to Florida on the Friday-night red-eye, then was to fly back to California on Sunday morning to ride Composure in the Las Virgenes Stakes.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - San Dare proved her victory at 11-1 in the Grade 3 Honey Fox Handicap earlier in the meet was no fluke when she exploded from near the back of the pack for an easy 2 1/4-length victory over Tweedside in Saturday's The Very One Handicap at Gulfstream Park.
Despite winning the Honey Fox, San Dare was dismissed at 6-1 in the $100,000 The Very One and paid $14. She covered 1 3/8 miles in 2:13.76 over a firm course under jockey Mark Guidry.
San Dare, a 5-year-old daughter of Dare and Go, is trained by Rick Hiles for owner David Mounts.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Got Koko became only the third filly to sweep the three-race La Canada Series with a hard-fought win in Saturday's $200,000 at Santa Anita.
It was not an easy victory for Got Koko, who raced wide through the 1 1/8 miles.
Breaking from the outside post in the field of five 4-year-old fillies, Got Koko was three wide on the first turn and backstretch, tracking the pace of Sightseek, who set fractions of 23.03 and 46.67 seconds.
NEW ORLEANS - The field in the Pan Zareta Handicap hit the far turn with four horses lined up on the lead. From where he sat on Fuse It, Gerard Melancon thought things looked pretty good.
Melancon and Fuse It waited for the speedballs to flame out, then slipped up the rail to nail Stonington - the last pace survivor - in the Pan Zareta's final half-furlong. Fuse It scored by a half-length, running six furlongs on a fast track in 1:10.62 and paying $24.80.
Seven Four Seven emerged from a tight group on the final turn and went on to a 4 1/2-length victory in the $50,000 Likely Exchange Stakes on Saturday at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.
Ridden by Turfway's leading jockey, Jason Lumpkins, Seven Four Seven returned $6.40 as the favorite in a field of 11 fillies and mares. She finished one mile in 1:37.17 over a fast track for her eighth victory in 28 career starts.
Majority Whip finished second, followed by Looking Afar and Gal on the Go. The 7-8 exacta paid $36.60.
Gimmeawink and jockey Jeremy Rose ran down pacesetter Gators N Bears in the stretch and held off a late charge from Penobscot Bay to win the $50,000 Miracle Wood Stakes.
Gimmeawink won the Miracle Wood, for 3-year-olds, by 1 1/4 lengths over Penobscot Bay in 1:43.07 for 1 1/16 miles. Gators N Bears held third in the field of seven.
Trained by Tim Ritchey, Gimmeawink returned $6.80 as a slight favorite over Gators N Bears.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Emily Ring won her third straight stakes Saturday when she led throughout for a 3 1/4-length win over Princess Jen in the at Oaklawn Park. It was another two lengths back to Southern Tour in third.
The field was reduced to four starters with the scratch of Lake Charles. As a result there was no show or trifecta wagering.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - For several years jockey Russell Woolsey came to Tampa in the winter after battling top riders at Delaware Park in the summer. While he never cracked the top 10 at Tampa Bay Downs he quietly knocked out a decent living.
Then last April, when several of the leading jockeys left this meeting early to ride at other tracks for the summer, Woolsey had the opportunity to get on some live mounts. He made the most of those chances, winning a flurry of races in the final four weeks of the season to finish with 29 wins, which put him in a tie for ninth in the standings.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After winning a 5 1/2-furlong allowance race last June, Boston Park ran in seven consecutive stakes without success.
But, trainer D. Wayne Lukas is nothing if not persistent, so Boston Park made his eighth straight stakes start in Saturday's Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct. And, as it so often has in Lukas's Hall of Fame career, persistence paid off as Boston Park went gate to wire to win the Whirlaway by one length before 6,761 at Aqueduct.
