Heavy rains forced the $200,000 Calder Derby to be switched from the turf to the main track. The surface switch played right into the hands of Western Pride, who made a triumphant return to Miami by posting an easy five-length victory over Tour of the Cat.
The race would have had Grade 3 status if it had been contested on the grass as originally scheduled, but its graded status will now be reviewed by the National Graded Stakes Committee.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The pre-race wagering for the $113,600 Valley View Stakes at Keeneland suggested the Grade 3 turf race was going to be close. In a field of 10 3-year-old fillies, Sluice was a tepid 5-2 favorite, followed by a major cluster in the 5-1 to 10-1 range.
But hardly anyone could have predicted it would have been this close.
Cozzy Corner and Chausson Poire finished in a dead heat for first, giving a symbolic conclusion to a race that seemed to thoroughly vex an ontrack crowd of 20,811 and thousands of off-track bettors.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The real Volponi stood up Friday night at the Meadowlands with a strong closing move to take the $250,000 Pegasus Handicap under jockey Shaun Bridgmohan.
The son of Cryptoclearance sat off a steady pace and swept to the lead in the Grade 2 contest, holding off race-favorite Burning Roma to earn his second straight victory and a second career graded stakes victory. Owned by Amherst Stable and Spruce Pond Stable and trained by Hall of Famer Phil Johnson, Volponi covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.55.
Churchill Downs announced Friday that it would add a $1 pick four to its wagering menu and reduce the minimum wager for daily doubles and pick three bets to $1 for its fall meet, which begins on Oct. 28.
Located in Louisville, Ky., Churchill will join a handful of other major tracks that have added pick four bets this year, including a neighboring track, Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington. The pick four requires bettors to pick four winners in a row. It will be offered on races 1-4 and 6-9 each day, Churchill officials said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Eleven days into a Keeneland meet is not normally the time that trainer Elliott Walden finds himself "getting off the schneid," as racetrackers say.
So when Gino's Spirits drove to victory for Walden in the Friday feature, the $84,750 Bryan Station Stakes, Walden said he felt more relieved than anything. The trainer had been winless until then.
"It's like a weight was lifted off me," said Walden.
"I just appreciate the mare. She's the kind you just lead over there."
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Fabulous Flight looks like a standout in an allowance race restricted to fillies and mares who haven't won a stakes race in 2001 and have started at least once at the current Hastings Park meet. The 1 1/16-mile feature drew five other horses, including Pretzel Logic, who is the only other horse who is stakes-placed this year.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stakes winners Miss Noire and Parisia should be all the rage in Sunday's $148,095 Fanfreluche Stakes, a six-furlong dash for Canadian-bred 2-year-old fillies at Woodbine.
Devil Valentine heads the supporting feature on the 11-race card, the $108,600 Deputy Minister Stakes for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds. The seven-furlong Deputy Minister was originally scheduled for last Wednesday, but the entire card was scrapped because of high winds.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A six-filly hodgepodge entered the $75,000 Anoakia Stakes on Sunday at Santa Anita, but if Green Eyed Lady reproduces her impressive Fairplex Park stakes win, she could turn the six-furlong race into another runaway.
"She's an absolute professional, she'll do whatever you want," trainer Paul Aguirre said. "She's training very well, I think she'll be tough."
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Seldom are there singular defining moments. The evolution of the most respected horse in any given division in any given region tends to happen over time, in the busy context of day-to-day racing, when no one can stop to think and say, "That's it!"