OLDSMAR, Fla. – When Crusader Kris ($94.20) outgamed 27-1 Musical Journey to take the nightcap Saturday and top a list of exotic-wager payoffs that included a $1,519.60 exacta, a $42,994.10 superfecta, and a $26,194.20 pick four, it was a fitting final act to a bizarre afternoon of racing that featured plenty of prizes and surprises.
While there actually were three races in which the betting favorites won, there also were races full of stunning upsets, like the fourth race.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Take Charge Brandi will race at Oaklawn Park in early 2015 in an attempt to extend a three-race winning streak from this fall that helped her clinch the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding 2-year-old filly of 2014.
Take Charge Brandi won the $350,500 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos on Saturday, her second Grade 1 win of the autumn. Lukas said in the winner’s circle that Take Charge Brandi will be at Oaklawn Park for the track’s winter-spring meeting, not far from owner Willis Horton’s home in Marshall, Ark.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Track records do not last long at Los Alamitos this year.
In a little more than 90 minutes on Thursday, Bernster and Sweet Marini lowered the marks for two sprint distances.
Bernster, one of the last runners by the legendary stallion Storm Cat in training, ended a layoff of nearly three years with a win in a maiden race over six furlongs in 1:08.18 in the fourth race. In the seventh race, Sweet Marini ran 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:01.95.
NEW ORLEANS – Graded stakes winner Albano, who hasn’t raced since finishing third in the Smarty Jones Stakes on Sept. 1 at Parx, worked a half-mile at Fair Grounds on Wednesday in 48.20 seconds, his fourth workout since he arrived in New Orleans last month.
“He’s starting to get into a little form,” said trainer Larry Jones, whose prime target for Albano at this meet is the New Orleans Handicap.
NEW ORLEANS – What turned out to be a practice race Nov. 30 at Fair Grounds for the 5-year-old gelding Paddy’s Notes set him up to win last Sunday for trainer Tim Glyshaw. The victory was the second of the weekend for Glyshaw in starter-allowance/optional-claiming races.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Wildcat Red, who closed out his 3-year-old campaign with a third-place finish in the Sunshine Millions Classic Preview at Gulfstream Park West, just stretched his legs a bit through an easy half-mile in 52.26 seconds here Friday under regular exercise rider Peter Shelton.
Wildcat Red won 3 of 10 starts and earned almost $850,000 this season, with his most important victory coming in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth here Feb. 22.
NEW ORLEANS – There’s life in those old legs yet, Gantry showed Thursday, when he rallied past solid allowance foes on turf to win for the first time since March.
A 7-year-old gelding with career earnings of more than $800,000, Gantry had been off form since winning the Colonel Power Stakes at the end of the last Fair Grounds meet. Returning from a five-month layoff in the Thanksgiving Handicap, he ran a nonthreatening fifth, his third consecutive subpar performance.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Lost among all the hoopla of opening week here was the result of the Jockey Challenge held at Hipodromo La Rinconada in Caracas, Venezuela, on Dec. 6. Jocy Gomez pulled off a major upset, winning the competition over a field that included John Velazquez, Javier Castellano, Alex Solis, and Ramsey Zimmerman.
CYPRESS, Calif. - Los Alamitos announced Thursday that it has released the purse of the $972,100 Los Alamitos Super Derby for Quarter Horses, run on Nov. 22, despite trace-level positives in pre-race tests for the bronchodilators clenbuterol and albuterol among several the 10 finalists. Clenbuterol and albuterol both have muscle-building qualities in addition to helping aid breathing.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Taris, the winner of the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland in October, is in training at Santa Anita for a scheduled start in the $300,000 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, the opening day of the winter-spring meeting.
Taris is trained by Simon Callaghan on behalf of Susan Magnier, Derrick Smith, and Michael Tabor. The filly was purchased at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky sale last month for $2.35 million. By Flatter, Taris has won 4 of 5 starts. The Raven Run Stakes is the most prestigious win of her career.
