Sat, 06/22/2013 - 18:27

Calder: Mike Smith sweeps stakes with Yes I'm Lucky and Sweetmarys Success

Coady Photography
Jockey Mike Smith is all smiles after winning his second stakes on Saturday's card at Calder with Yes I'm Lucky.

MIAMI - Winning a $100,000 stakes race with a promising 2-year-old will make any trainer smile. But winning Calder's Frank Gomez Memorial on Saturday with Yes I'm Lucky was extra special for trainer Eddie Plesa Jr.

"Winning this race today was very special to me. We were the second outfit into the grounds and he [Gomez] was right behind us when this place opened 40 years ago," said Plesa referring to himself and his father, Eddie Plesa Sr. "Frank was stabled next to me and we were close friends for a long time. He was just a great guy."

Sat, 06/22/2013 - 17:45

Hollywood Oaks: Doinghardtimeagain changes tactics to beat open company

Benoit & Associates
Rafael Bejarano guides Doinghardtime to a 2 1/2-length victory in the Grade 2 Hollywood Oaks.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Doinghardtimeagain won the fourth stakes of her nine-race career in Saturday’s $150,000 Hollywood Oaks at Betfair Hollywood Park, a victory that displayed the filly’s marked improvement over recent months.

The Grade 2 Hollywood Oaks was Doinghardtimeagain’s first stakes win against open company and was achieved with different tactics than her previous stakes wins. In the Soviet Problem Stakes last December, and the Evening Jewel and Melair Stakes earlier this year, Doinghardtimeagain stalked the pace and pulled clear in the final furlong.

Sat, 06/22/2013 - 17:07

Woodbine: Conquest Whiplash romps in Victoria Stakes

Michael Burns
Conquest Whiplash is first filly to win the Victoria Stakes since Honky Tonk Tune in 1994.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Conquest Whiplash ($3.80) trounced the boys in her debut Saturday at Woodbine in the $153,000 Victoria Stakes.

Conquest Whiplash broke outward and bumped Enthrone before darting out to the lead in the five-furlong dash. She never looked back after an opening quarter-mile in 22.16 seconds, and coasted home on top by 2 3/4 lengths in 58.19 seconds.

First-time starter Ba Ba Brett rallied wide to finish a clear second over Bold 'n Golden, who outran 2-1 second choice No Fruit Degroote for third in the six-horse field.

Sat, 06/22/2013 - 16:54

Belmont Park: Lovely Syn breaks down, to have surgery

Tom Keyser
Lovely Syn's racing career is over after she took a bad step in training.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Lovely Syn, the undefeated New York-bred 3-year-old filly, fractured a sesamoid bone in her left foreleg during a workout Saturday morning at Belmont Park, trainer Dominick Schettino said.

While Lovely Syn's racing career is finished, she was shipped to the New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania on Saturday and was scheduled to undergo surgery on Sunday in hopes of being saved as a broodmare prospect.

Sat, 06/22/2013 - 16:48

Parx: Traffic Light displays versatility in 10-1 upset of Donald LeVine Memorial

Barbara Weidl/Equiphoto
Traffic Light, with John Bisono aboard, wins his second straight seven-furlong race to start his 4-year-old campaign in the Donald LeVine Memorial Handicap.

As a 3-year-old last season, Traffic Light was at his best going two turns, winning a restricted stakes and finishing second in a Grade 3 event. Now he’s 2 for 2 going seven furlongs to start his 4-year-old campaign.

Five weeks after scoring as the 7-5 favorite in a third-level optional $40,000 claimer, Traffic Light upset the $100,000 Donald LeVine Memorial Handicap at Parx Racing when he held off Brujo de Olieros by a neck.

Sat, 06/22/2013 - 16:24

Prairie Meadows: Delaunay the star of Iowa Festival opening night

Barbara D. Livingston
Delaunay has been on a roll and comes off a smashing victory in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes

ALTOONA, Iowa – The June 28-29 Iowa Festival of Racing, comprised of six open stakes races worth more than $1,000,000 in total purses, gets under way Friday at Prairie Meadows.

Headlining the first evening of the Festival and its trio of listed stakes is Delaunay, one of the nation’s top sprinters, in the $125,000 Iowa Sprint Handicap.

Sat, 06/22/2013 - 15:37

Churchill Downs: Wise Dan could pass Firecracker after getting 128 pounds



LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wise Dan has been assigned 128 pounds for the Grade 2 Firecracker Handicap at Churchill Downs, a heavy impost that Churchill racing secretary Ben Huffman evidently believes is commensurate with the gelding’s status as the reigning Horse of the Year in North America.

Charlie LoPresti, who trains Wise Dan for owner Morton Fink, said the assignment was not altogether unexpected, but that he and Fink would have to discuss it before committing the 6-year-old homebred to the Firecracker.

Sat, 06/22/2013 - 15:05

Gulfstream Park: Summertime card begins new era

Barbara D. Livingston
Gulfstream will hold its first-ever summer program with a special eight-race card on Tuesday.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.- What do Gulfstream Park and the National Hockey League have in common? Both have extended their 2012-2013 seasons into the summer.

The NHL finally decides the Stanley Cup this week while Gulfstream concludes its 2012-2013 championship meet, which began back on Dec. 1, with a special eight-race card on Tuesday. It will be first-ever summer program in the long and storied history of the track and a harbinger of things to come, with Gulfstream currently planning to begin its first summer-spring session on July 1.

Sat, 06/22/2013 - 14:57

Delaware Park: Absolute Crackers hot off layoffs

Timing seems to matter a lot more than location to the turf filly Absolute Crackers. Returning from a layoff, first in Ireland and then in Kentucky and Florida, Absolute Crackers fired her best shot all three times and won by daylight margins.

The Graham Motion-trained Absolute Crackers will try to repeat that successful pattern when she makes her first start since early March in a $40,000 turf route Monday at Delaware Park.

Sat, 06/22/2013 - 14:13

Hollywood Park notes: Pender readies Jeranimo for Shoemaker repeat

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Mike Pender celebrated the 100th Thoroughbred win of his career on Friday when Boat Trip won an exciting allowance race over five furlongs on turf at Betfair Hollywood Park.

The win left Pender thinking Boat Trip will be a factor in restricted turf stakes at Del Mar this summer. Before then, Pender, 47, would like to collect a more prestigious prize, and add to his total of 12 career stakes wins.