GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Rub surged past Leaping Plum in the closing yards to win the $30,000 Pepsi Sprint Handicap by a 1 1/2 lengths on Saturday.
Ridden by Ken Shino, Rub raced in fifth place as Leaping Plum and Abbi's Choice contested the pace through fractions of 23 seconds, 46, and 1:11.60.
Leaping Plum, with Perry Compton aboard, edged clear turning for home but came up empty in the late stages of the 6 1/2-furlong race, allowing Rub to surge by in deep stretch.
GROVE CITY, Ohio - All Out Springs dueled early then drew away for an easy 9 1/4-length victory under David Appleby Jr. in the $40,000 Howard B. Noonan Stakes Saturday at Beulah Park.
All Out Springs covered the six furlongs in 1:11.68, defeating six other Ohio-bred 3-year-olds. The victory was All Out Springs's third in four career starts for trainer Charles Burneson Jr. and owner-breeder Merril Speiss.
NEW ORLEANS - A Californian won the Explosive Bid Handicap with a powerful stretch run. It just wasn't the Californian most people expected.
In the first major stakes victory of his career, Sarafan ran down the highly touted Beat Hollow in deep stretch and won the $700,000 by a neck.
Before Sunday, the 5-year-old Sarafan had won only five races in his career, the best of which were a pair of minor stakes races, one in Europe, one in California. In the Grade 2 Explosive Bid, he proved best among a 14-horse field that included eight different graded stakes winners.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Bella Bellucci won the $80,925 on Sunday with a last-to-first move in the final furlong.
Making her first start since finishing third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies last October, Bella Bellucci remained on target for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 3 with her second stakes win in the Santa Paula.
Trainer Neil Drysdale said Bella Bellucci will have another prep in the Grade 3 Comely Stakes over a mile at Aqueduct on April 14.
ALBANY, Calif. - Mellow Fellow made a bid for Horse of the Meeting honors as he won his fifth straight race and second stakes, capturing the $61,125 at Golden Gate Fields on Sunday.
Mellow Fellow let Tony's Royalty cut out a fast early pace of 21.19 and 43.55 before making his patented wide move into the lane. He won the six-furlong race by 6.5 lengths over Tony's Royalty in 1:08.66 as he won for the fourth time during the current meeting. His career record is 10 wins, four seconds and three thirds in 23 starts with $307,263 in earnings.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Christophe Clement figured to win his fourth straight Orchid Handicap with Moon Queen. But when Clement was forced to withhold the 121 pound highweight from the race due to a minor injury he found an able substitute in Julie Jalouse who ran down 6-5 favorite Sweetest Thing in the final strides to post a neck victory in Sunday's $200,000 at Gulfstream Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The winter officially ended for Golden Apples on Saturday when she won her seasonal debut in the $150,000 Santa Ana Handicap at Santa Anita against an outstanding field of older fillies and mares.
Since November, when Golden Apples finished third in the Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park, trainer Ben Cecil had anxiously awaited the continuation of the 4-year-old filly's career in the Grade 2 Santa Anita.
"It's hard when you've got your best horse sitting in the barn, but it was worth it in the end," Cecil said.
FLORENCE, Ky. - Perfect Drift was up in the final strides Saturday to win a three-horse photo in the $500,000 , earning a starting berth in the Kentucky Derby and vindicating trainer Murray Johnson's decision to summon his longtime friend Eddie Delahoussaye from California to ride the colt.
