INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Game On Dude, set to defend his title in the Grade 1, $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on Saturday at Betfair Hollywood Park, turned in his final prep for that race Monday at Santa Anita with an official clocking of 47.80 seconds for four furlongs. Trainer Bob Baffert said he had Game On Dude going out six furlongs in 1:13.
“He went nice, just cruised around there and galloped out real strong,” Baffert said.
OCEANPORT, N.J. – Lady Samuri glided around the sealed, wet-fast track to win the $77,250 Lighthouse Stakes on Sunday, giving trainer Yvon Belsoeur and jockey Abel Mariano another 9-1 upset in a Monmouth Park stakes race for fillies and mares.
They combined to capture the Blue Sparkler on June 22 with My Place Anytime, a $20.40 winner. The return on Lady Samuri was $20. In both instances, Belsoeur turned an inexpensive claim into a stakes winner.
Showing little sign of rust in his first start of the year, Saratoga Snacks stalked the early pace, rallied in earnest on the outside in the stretch, and edged clear of a rail-skimming Mine Over Matter in the final furlong to win Sunday’s $100,000 Shy Groom overnight stakes by just over a length at Belmont Park.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The favored Original Script led the way and then held off a charging Smartyfly to notch her first stakes victory Sunday at Woodbine in the $250,000 Bison City, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Tiara.
Caviar N Champagne prompted the early pace in the $50,000 J. Wm. Petro Memorial under Scott Spieth at Thistledown on Sunday before drawing clear by nearly three lengths in upper stretch and going on to win by a half-length.
Trained by Jeff Radosevich, Caviar N Champagne was fully extended late to hold off a charging Startin Something. The favored Pay the Man tired and finished third, three lengths behind Startin Something and jockey Deshawn Parker.
The running time for the 1 1/16 miles over a fast track was 1.46.62, and Caviar N Champagne returned $5.80 to win.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Strait of Dover, last year’s Queen’s Plate winner and Canada’s champion 3-year-old male, will not see action this season.
“We had to put him away,” said Danny Vella, who trains the British Columbia-bred Strait of Dover for owners and breeders Wally and Terry Leung. “He has a small injury in his leg, the same leg he hurt last year.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wise Dan came out of his adventurous triumph in the Grade 2 Firecracker Handicap on Saturday night at Churchill Downs “without a scratch,” according to Charlie LoPresti, who kept breathing deep sighs of relief in the race’s aftermath.
ALTOONA, Iowa – Prayer for Relief's 1 3/4-length triumph in Saturday night's Grade 3, $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap was a long-awaited and well-deserved win. The Steve Asmussen trainee, who hadn't won since he was trained by Bob Baffert in the 2011 Super Derby, carried his good 2013 form into the Cornhusker following a pair of runner-up finishes to stablemate Master Rick.
"It was great to get him in the winner's circle,” Asmussen said. “He has so much back class, and he was given a great ride.”
Maryland shipper Do It for Don collected his fourth straight wire-to-wire victory in Saturday’s $50,125 Oh Say Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters at Delaware Park.
Do It for Don ($4.20) set swift fractions of 21.75 and 44.32 seconds under Daniel Centeno and finished 4 1/2 lengths in front of 9-5 second choice Wynns Nighthawk while completing six furlongs in 1:08.84. Do It for Don, trained by William Komlo for M & D Stable, is 5 for 8 lifetime with earnings of $117,770. He has won his last four races by a combined 21 1/4 lengths.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Up With the Birds, the probable favorite for next Sunday’s $1 million Queen’s Plate, and stablemate His Race to Win had their final major tune-ups here Sunday morning.
Working in company, the pair was clocked in 1:00.60 for five furlongs, with regular rider Eurico Rosa da Silva doing the honors on Up With the Birds and exercise rider Chris Garraway piloting His Race to Win.
“All we have to do now is keep them healthy for another week,” said trainer Malcolm Pierce, who caught his workers galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.
