LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - Moving closer to his second World Champion title, A Ransom remained undefeated in four starts this year by beating a strong field in Saturday's $200,000 Los Alamitos Championship for older Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos.
The victory gave the 6-year-old A Ransom career earnings of $1,069,556, making him the 35th Quarter Horse to surpass the $1 million mark.
SELMA, Texas - Trainer Steve Asmussen brought a stable to Retama Park this year for the first time since 1995 because of the opportunities for Texas-breds, and on Saturday night he won one of the biggest races of the meet for statebreds when Desert Darby drove to a one-length win over Rare Cure in the $100,000 Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame Stakes.
The race was one of seven restricted stakes on the card, which complemented the inductions of Charles Graham, Joe Cassel, C.W. "Bubba" Cascio, Tommy Oliphant, Staunch Avenger and Easy Jet into the Texas Racing Hall.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Taiaslew and Jiffyjimmygee, both with three-race winning streaks, will have their first matchup in the $75,000 Canadian Juvenile here on Monday afternoon's holiday card.
Two factors, distance and fitness, could influence the outcome of the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile.
Taiaslew has been idle since the Sept. 2 Birdcatcher and has never been asked to run past 6 1/2 furlongs.
Jiffyjimmygee, on the other hand, won his third straight in the Alberta Premier's Futurity at a mile here Sept. 21 on Alberta Fall Classics Day, which showcased Alberta-breds.
Bossier City, La. - Golden Rhythm picked up her second win in a row Saturday,
outfinishing pacesetter Cocoa Creek in the $30,000 Old South Handicap. Chula
reported home third followed by Euryanthe. Starting highweight Due To Win
failed in her bid for three consecutive stakes victories and had to settle
for a fifth place finish.
Golden Rhythm, owned by Sandstone Racing and trained by Paul Murphy,
stalked the pace under Don Simington before lodging a bid on the outside
ARCADIA, Calif. - Rolly Polly won her second stakes of the year on Santa Anita's hillside turf course in Saturday's $114,100 Sen. Ken Maddy Handicap for fillies and mares.
Ending a three-race losing streak, Rolly Polly ($5.40) won by a nose over I'm the Business who appeared to be a winner in deep stretch. Nanogram, a 16-1 shot, finished third in the field of 12.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - The 16th annual Best of Ohio series, which traditionally crowns each season's Ohio-bred divisional champions, will be held at Thistledown on Monday.
The Best of Ohio is made up of five statebred stakes and offers total purses of $375,000. The Best of Ohio rotates on an annual basis between the state's three Thoroughbred tracks, and in 2003 it will be held at River Downs. A pick five will be offered on the Best of Ohio races, and with outlets in California taking the races, the pool should be attractive this year.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - After driving past a pack of front-runners in tandem, Riskaverse nosed out Zenda in a thrilling final furlong in the $500,000 before a packed house of 26,714 at Keeneland Saturday.
Riskaverse, a 7-1 shot in a field of nine 3-year-old turf fillies, was up in the frantic final jumps to defeat the British invader Zenda by a neck, giving trainer Pat Kelly his second Grade 1 upset in a two-week span. Kelly won the Sept. 28 Jockey Club Gold Cup with Evening Attire.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When entries were taken Thursday morning for Saturday's $150,000 , it had not started to rain in New York. But, the forecast was ominous so trainer Todd Pletcher entered Fisher Pond as a main-track only in case the race was rained off the turf.
The rains came Thursday night and continued through Saturday, forcing the Lawrence Realization from the Widener Turf Course to a sloppy main track. Pletcher scratched his turf horse, Finality, and cashed his insurance policy when Fisher Pond splashed to a 4 1/4-length victory at soggy Belmont Park.
Certantee made the jump from turf to dirt with an impressive score in the $150,000 John D. Schapiro Memorial Breeders' Cup Handicap on Saturday at Laurel Park in Maryland. The race was reduced to five runners after being moved from the grass to the main track because of soggy conditions. The speedy Elberton led early for nearly six furlongs, with the Shug McGaughey-trained New York shipper, 7-5 favorite Polish Miner, sitting about a length behind.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Earlie Fires is the all-time leading jockey at Arlington for several reasons, chief among them his ability to finish strongly. Even at 55, Fires has not lost that knack. Passed in midstretch, Fires roused Zydeco Dancer again in the final half-furlong, regained the lead just before the wire, and won the $75,000 by a neck for his 100th Arlington Stakes win.
