ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Mulligan the Great nailed 3-5 favorite Rare Friends on the wire to win the $104,250 Kenora, one of six stakes restricted to graduates of local yearling sales at Woodbine Monday.
It was the first of four stakes scores on the card for jockey Todd Kabel, who had Mulligan the Great reserved off rapid fractions, then closed stoutly in the stretch to complete six furlongs in 1:11.05 seconds.
Bop inched away from Rudirudy near the wire to win the $100,000 Thomas Edison Stakes before a meet-opening crowd of 13,529 Monday at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.
Ridden by Phil Teator, Bop stalked the pace while running third on the turn, caught and dueled the pacesetting Rudirudy starting at the furlong pole, and pulled away to win by a neck. Texas Glitter, the 8-5 choice, pressed the pace and finished another three lengths back in third.
Bop ran the five furlongs in 56.05 over a sloppy main track. It was his fifth win in six starts this year.
Betting handle and attendance at Monmouth Park's 78-day meeting that concluded Sunday declined from last year's meet, according to the track.
Ontrack handle for the 2002 live cards averaged $785,976 this year, a 15.7 percent drop from last season. Ontrack handle on live and simulcast races averaged $1,466,065, a drop of 10 percent. Total handle on Monmouth races averaged $3,450,861, a drop of 12.7 percent from 2001. Total handle from all sources on Monmouth races and simulcasts averaged $4,130,950, down 11.1 percent from the previous year.
An inadvertent scratch led to considerable confusion Saturday at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., when the "scratched" horse won, racing for purse money only.
A misunderstanding between a racing official and the mutuel department led to the scratch of Backwater Nikki about 30 minutes before the fifth race. "Once a horse is scratched, it's irrevocable," said Butch Becraft, an Ellis steward. "The mistake stemmed from a jockey change on the subject horse. Somehow she became a scratch. Obviously it was a very unfortunate situation."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Full of Wonder became the latest runner to inscribed on the scrolls of Sam-Son Farm turf stakes winners when he captured Saturday's Grade 1 Niagara at Woodbine.
And Full of Wonder will be looking to join even more select company here Sept. 29, when the Grade 1 Canadian International is run at 1 1/2 miles on the E.P. Taylor turf course for a purse of $1.5 million.
But for the moment, the stable's thoughts are focused on Sunday's $1 million Atto Mile, with Quiet Resolve and Strut the Stage on tap for the Grade 1 turf race.
FLORENCE, Ky. - Bob Elliston has a burly build that isn't exactly suited to a high-wire act - yet surely there are aspiring acrobats in the world who would envy his talent for delicate balancing.
As the president of Turfway Park, Elliston is charged with these contradictory duties: Tell the dwindling number of horseplayers who remain loyal to Turfway that their track is a lively place with a viable future, but also tell the politicians of Kentucky that the track is doomed if the state does not afford an avenue of financial relief.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The scalding pace of the Pacific Classic has taken a toll on another front-runner. Sky Jack, who finished 11th in the 14-horse field, emerged with a chip in his right knee and will undergo surgery that will keep him out of action until next summer.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Veteran trainer R.L. Martin celebrated the Fourth of July this year by taking a gamble. He claimed 3-year-old Sixty Two Lincoln for $8,000 out of a maiden race at the Alameda County Fair in his hometown of Pleasanton.
The gamble paid immediate dividends when Sixty Two Lincoln won his maiden race in his first start for Martin, beating older horses for a $12,500 claiming price and going a mile for the first time.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Take Me Up scored an easy 3 1/2-length victory over stablemate Le Numerous in the $81,200 Ralph Hayes Stakes, the featured event on Saturday's Iowa Classic Night program, which included six Thoroughbred stakes for Iowa-breds at Prairie Meadows.
Take Me Up ($4.20) stalked the pacesetters to the second turn of the 1 1/16-mile Hayes for older statebreds under jockey Perry Compton before rallying to take the lead leaving the furlong marker. He was timed in 1:44.21.