JAMAICA, N.Y. - Richard Dutrow Jr. has trained for Samantha, Mace, and Jan Siegel for four years but never won a stakes for them. That changed on Saturday at Aqueduct when the Dutrow-trained Here's Zealous won the $107,900 Gravesend Handicap* (click here for chart) for the Siegels.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A confident ride from Garrett Gomez put Verruma into the winner's circle of Saturday's $150,000 Dahlia Handicap* (click here for chart), but only after her backers got a thrill watching her weave her way through the Hollywood Park stretch.
Verruma was seventh of eight on the backstretch, and reached contention on the final turn. Gomez had her two-wide entering the stretch and angled to the inside in midstretch, just behind the leaders. Using a quick turn of foot, Verruma rallied to win by a half-length over Vencera.
NEW ORLEANS - The Lecomte Stakes, Fair Grounds's first 3-year-old route stakes race of the meet, picked up a likely starter Friday when Easyfromthegitgo scored a 5 1/2-length win in a mile and 40-yard allowance race here. Easyfromthegitgo's second straight win was impressive enough to encourage trainer Steve Asmussen to point the colt to the Jan. 26 Lecomte.
Easyfromthegitgo launched his career at Saratoga this summer and finished second in his first three races before breaking through with a maiden win Nov. 16 at Churchill Downs.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Greg Gilchrist has one important piece of business to take care of at Golden Gate Fields on Monday before taking a Hawaiian vacation during California's eight-day racing break.
He will saddle recent maiden winner Mt. Rainer in a six-furlong $40,000 optional claimer that is the feature race on the getaway card.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Tranquility Lake, an eight-time stakes winner and one of the top female turf runners in California in recent years, has been retired, owner Marty Wygod said on Saturday.
The 6-year-old Tranquility Lake will be bred to Storm Cat in coming months. A winner of 11 of 27 starts and $1,663,390, she finished ninth in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Belmont Park on Oct. 27 in her final start.
Tranquility Lake was entered in Saturday's Bayakoa Handicap at Hollywood Park, but was scratched.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - With Tempera, the winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, in Dubai for the winter, there is a vacancy at the top among California's 2-year-old fillies.
The victor of Sunday's $365,000 Hollywood Starlet Stakes, led by Grade 1 winners Habibti, Tali'sluckybusride, and You, should fill that hole.
The Starlet is the year's final major stakes for the division. The winner will be looked upon as a top West Coast challenger for the Kentucky Oaks in May, a race on Tempera's schedule.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - White Ibis is the dominant 2-year-old New York-bred male this year, with three consecutive wins in restricted stakes at a mile and under.
The gelding faces a new challenge on Sunday in the $75,000-added Damon Runyon at Aqueduct, when he tries two turns for the first time.
* is the likely favorite of the eight-horse Damon Runyon, restricted to New York-breds and run at 1 1/16 miles over the inner track.
NEW ORLEANS - The second of five older-horse sprints stakes at the Fair Grounds 4 1/2-month meet, the $75,000 F.W. Gaudin Memorial Handicap, is on tap here Sunday. You know the players. Bonapaw, Abajo, Crucible - they've been running here for years, taking advantage of the stakes-rich schedule.
ALBANY, Calif. - Bill Patterson, trainer Chuck Jenda's assistant, likes to joke that Sea to See, Hoovergetthekeys, and Sir Alfred get together for lunch every week.
They know each other well enough. When they meet in Sunday's feature at Golden Gate Fields, it will be the fifth time all three have run in the same race.
Their previous meeting was in the Nov. 4 Bay Meadows Derby when Sir Alfred ran second, Sea to See third, and Hoovergetthekeys sixth.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Hurricane Rylie, who was named horse of the meeting last season at Portland Meadows after posting four impressive stakes scores, will reemerge Sunday when she takes on seven rivals in the $7,500-added City of Roses Handicap at one mile.
