Mon, 05/21/2001 - 00:00

Lumpkins wins 6, and leads Baze

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Jockey Jason Lumpkins won six races Saturday, equaling a Bay Meadows record and opening an eight-win lead over northern California's perennial riding champion Russell Baze in the standings. Baze, however, came back to win two races on Sunday to close the gap to six going into this week's action.

Mon, 05/21/2001 - 00:00

Hear ye: Oye Yoye Yoye tries the grass

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stakes winners Speed Gun and My Golden Son are among the five 3-year-olds in Wednesday's feature, but Oye Yoye Yoye could also be tough in the six-furlong turf dash for $80,000 optional claimers.

Oye Yoye Yoye is sent out by one of Woodbine's hottest trainers, Bob Tiller, who captured Saturday's Marine Stakes with Win City. Oye Yoye Yoye won two of his four juvenile outings, but has improved significantly this year in terms of Beyer Figures.

Mon, 05/21/2001 - 00:00

Point Given-Monarchos rivalry heats up

BALTIMORE - Monarchos and Point Given have been in the same race twice.

Yet, with two legs of the Triple Crown in the books, trying to decide which is the better horse comes down to a coin flip.

Heads Point Given. Tails Monarchos.

Monarchos won the Florida Derby by 4 1/2 lengths.

Point Given won the Santa Anita Derby by 5 1/2 lengths.

Monarchos won the Kentucky Derby by 4 3/4 lengths as Point Given flopped and finished fifth on a racetrack he didn't like.

Mon, 05/21/2001 - 00:00

Lots of luck - all bad - for 'Bill'

BALTIMORE - No one can say that Dollar Bill has been short-changed in the luck department during his two Triple Crown races.

Yes, Dollar Bill has indeed amassed a king's ransom of luck.

All of it bad.

For Dollar Bill, the ledger now reads two Triple Crown races and two trips similar to the one Gilligan and The Skipper took.

"I saw a sign on a desk that fits us," said Dollar Bill's trainer, Dallas Stewart. "Manure happens."

Mon, 05/21/2001 - 00:00

Sligo Bay wins Cinema Handicap

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Concerned that an allowance race next week might not fill, trainer Beau Greely entered Sligo Bay in Sunday's $108,600 Cinema Handicap at Hollywood Park to prepare for a summer campaign.

Mon, 05/21/2001 - 00:00

Point Given rebounds to win Preakness

BALTIMORE - The real Point Given showed up Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, erasing his mystifying Kentucky Derby performance by rolling to victory in the 126th Preakness Stakes before an announced record crowd of 104,454.

Point Given, who raced wide throughout but was not hurried for the first half of the race, overhauled his Bob Baffert-trained stablemate, Congaree, at the top of the stretch, then held off a late run from A P Valentine to win by 2 1/4 lengths. A P Valentine got up in the final strides to beat Congaree by a neck for second.

Mon, 05/21/2001 - 00:00

Into first turn, Ward had 'terrible feeling'

BALTIMORE - Trainer John Ward said he felt the Preakness would be the hardest of the three Triple Crown races for his 3-year-old Monarchos to win. He was right.

Two weeks after gliding over the rock-hard Churchill Downs surface en route to a demonstrative victory in the Kentucky Derby, Monarchos appeared to be spinning his wheels on the deeper Pimlico track while finishing sixth, 7 1/2 lengths behind Point Given in Saturday's Preakness.

Mon, 05/21/2001 - 00:00

Hap whistles in Dixie off 6 1/2-month layoff

BALTIMORE - Bill Mott's prowess with layoff horses once again was on display Saturday at Pimlico as he saddled Hap to victory in the $200,000 Grade 2 Dixie Handicap off a 6 1/2-month layoff.

And he did it against a field that included defending Dixie champion Quiet Resolve and North East Bound, recent winner of the Grade 2 Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland.

Mon, 05/21/2001 - 00:00

Disco Rico thrills trainer with Maryland BC win

BALTIMORE - In 22 years of training horses in Maryland, never has Valora Testerman experienced the kind of thrill that Disco Rico gave her Saturday at Pimlico.

Disco Rico won the $200,000 Maryland Breeders' Cup Handicap, a Grade 3 race carded directly before the Preakness, by leading virtually gate to wire. A 4-year-old Citidancer colt, Disco Rico put away favored Explicit after a wicked speed duel, then ran away to a 2 1/2-length triumph over Flame Thrower.

Mon, 05/21/2001 - 00:00

Top jockeys battle in Riding Cup IV

ALTOONA, Iowa - Six of the nation's leading riders invade Prairie Meadows Monday afternoon for the fourth annual Riding Cup.

Riding assignments for the three races were drawn by lot Friday. Laffit Pincay Jr., racing's all-time leading rider, leads Team West. Pincay is joined by Corey Nakatani, Victor Espinoza, and Terry Thompson, the meet-leading jock at Prairie Meadows.

Team East consists of Hall of Famers Pat Day and Jerry Bailey, Jorge Chavez, and Luis Quinonez, who is second in the standings here.