ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Hand-painted served notice that she could be a potential Canadian champion with a very easy four-length victory in Saturday's $136,125 My Dear Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Woodbine.
Handpainted, a daughter of A.P. Indy and stakes winner Daijin, was reluctantly loaded into the gate for the five-furlong dash. She broke alertly and battled for the early lead, before drawing away in the stretch under a hand ride from Todd Kabel.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Leslie's Love broke like a shot and led throughout to win the $75,000 Miller Lite Stakes at Lone Star Park by
2 1/2 lengths. Asheville finished second, followed by Southern Tour in third.
Leslie's Love was clear soon after the start of the five-furlong race for fillies and mares, and led the field through an opening quarter of 22.23 seconds. She went on to cover the distance over firm turf in 56.72 seconds under regular rider David Guillory.
Your Out likely raced her way into next month's Delaware Park Handicap, making a last-to-first move to win the $100,000 Obeah Stakes for fillies and mares at Delaware Park.
Last of nine horses after a quarter-mile, Your Out began passing horses on the turn under leading rider Ramon Dominquez, swung four wide into the stretch, and seized the lead. Your Out beat runner-up Quiet Lake by four lengths with Shag a neck behind in third and Unrestrained another head back in fourth.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Sixtyone Margaux and Dubai Fall battled heads apart from the eighth pole to the wire, with Sixtyone Margaux prevailing by a head in the $50,000 Serena's Song Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Monmouth.
Sixtyone Margaux ran the mile and 70 yards over a fast track in 1:42.25 with jockey Julian Pimentel aboard. She improved to 3-1-0 in five lifetime starts, and gave New York-based trainer Bill Mott his first stakes win of the meet in his third stakes try. Maresha finished 1 3/4 lengths behind Dubai Fall in third.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - One race after finishing third behind Astra and Starine in the Grade 1 Gamely Handicap at Hollywood Park, Voodoo Dancer won the Grade 3, $168,900 Locust Grove Handicap Saturday at Churchill Downs by 1 1/4 lengths.
Bet down to 4-5 in a field that included Snow Dance and Megans Bluff, Voodoo Dancer gave her supporters no cause for worry. She stalked the pace in seventh place under Jose Santos, awaited room briefly leaving the backstretch, and inhaled the opposition in the stretch.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Some things are meant to be. Chris McCarron, who is set to retire Sunday, put an exclamation point on his Hall of Fame career Friday night when he won the National Thoroughbred Racing Association All-Star Jockey Championship at Lone Star Park.
McCarron claimed the crown over Edgar Prado after he won the final leg of the four-race competition with 7-1 shot Yoto Speakes.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The final day of Chris McCarron's riding career Sunday at Hollywood Park will take him into unchartered territory.
There will be a ceremony in the winner's circle after the fifth race and a speech from McCarron, not to mention six mounts, including a ride aboard heavily favored Came Home in the Affirmed Handicap.
McCarron admits he does not know how he will react, but he knows that Sunday will be as emotional for him as the press conference a week ago when he announced his retirement and had to pause a few times to collect himself.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Three days before the Kentucky Derby last month, owner Trudy McCaffery arrived on the Churchill Downs backstretch at 6 a.m. to find a surprise rider preparing Came Home for a jog.
Chris McCarron, not an exercise rider or trainer Paco Gonzalez, had asked for the assignment.
"He didn't have to do that," McCaffery recalled. "He could have stayed in bed, but there he was."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The heat of battle is no place for sentimentality, and the Grade 3 Affirmed Handicap on Sunday at Hollywood Park is by no means a foregone conclusion.
"It's a tough race," Came Home's trainer Paco Gonzalez said, "especially with the weight he carries."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - There's no disputing the fact that Anglian Prince is a deserving candidate for Sunday's Queen's Plate.
His best effort, a scintillating performance in the Marine Stakes at Woodbine, probably would be more than enough to make him the king of the Plate lineup.
But in view of his schedule this spring, will Anglian Prince be on the upswing or downswing Sunday?
Anglian Prince, trained by 75-year-old Mort Hardy for 82-year-old Len Prussky, certainly has not taken the path of least resistance on his way to this year's Queen's Plate.
