After fighting with her rider early in the race, Maximova had some punch left to knock out Mariel N Kathy in the stretch and win Sunday’s $90,000 Bit of Whimsy Stakes for 3-year-old fillies by a head at Belmont Park.
Mariel N Kathy, who set a tepid pace, held second by a nose over Caroline Thomas, a daughter of the Grade 1-winning mare Bit of Whimsy for whom Sunday’s overnight stakes was named. With Sugar On Top, Magnificent Shirl, and Alternative Meds completed the order of finish.
GROVE CITY, Ohio – The venerable Catlaunch needed every inch of the Beulah Park stretch to come back and put his nose on the wire first in the $50,000 Sydney Gendelman Memorial Handicap on Sunday.
Trained by Ivan Vazquez, Catlaunch set the pace under Megan Fadlovich in the 1 1/16-mile race while well off the rail until upper stretch. The 12-year-old gelding was overtaken in the stretch but dug in gamely. With 10 yards to go, he looked beaten but forged ahead to win by a nose over Master Rocket.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Rosengold, the winner of two stakes for 3-year-olds on turf at Santa Anita this year, worked six furlongs on turf in 1:14 at Betfair Hollywood Park on Sunday, preparing for a start in the $70,000 Tsunami Slew Stakes on June 23.
Trained by Julio Canani for Bill Currin, Rosengold has won his last three starts: a maiden race in January and two turf stakes in March – the Baffle Stakes on the hillside turf course and the Pasadena Stakes over a mile.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Byrama, the former turf sprinter who won the Grade 1 Vanity Handicap over 1 1/8 miles at Betfair Hollywood Park on Saturday, will remain in two-turn races on the main track this summer, trainer Simon Callaghan said Sunday.
Callaghan and the filly’s owners, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, are even considering the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic over 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 as a possible long-term option.
“It’s in the back of our minds,” Callaghan said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Five Iron led all the way to upset Winning Cause, the 1-2 favorite from New York, in Sunday’s $153,300 Victoria Park Stakes at Woodbine.
Five Iron set moderate fractions of 24.87 seconds, 49.15, and 1:12.90 in the 1 1/8-mile route for 3-year-olds. Winning Cause trailed the four-horse field on the backstretch before mounting a three-wide bid on the far turn.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The wire-to-wire victory by Fort Larned in the Stephen Foster Handicap last Saturday night at Churchill Downs was similar to his performance last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Classic – even down to the Beyer Speed Figure.
Fort Larned, with Brian Hernandez Jr. riding, earned a 115 Beyer for his 6 1/4-length triumph over Golden Ticket in the Grade 1, $536,300 Stephen Foster. His front-running half-length score over Mucho Macho Man in the 2012 BC Classic at Santa Anita got him a career-high 117.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Up With the Birds, the pro-tem favorite for the July 7 Queen’s Plate, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.60 on the main track here Sunday.
Regular rider Eurico Rosa da Silva was aboard Up With the Birds, who worked in company with older stablemates Hotep and Aldous Snow.
“I was very, very pleased – it couldn’t have gone any better,” said Malcolm Pierce, who conditions the homebred Up With the Birds for Sam-Son Farm. “I broke him and Aldous Snow off about four lengths behind Hotep, and they all finished up nose-to-nose, so nobody got discouraged.”
Valiant Boy SBFAR lived up to his Horse of the Year billing on Saturday, drawing off to win by five lengths in the $103,659 President of the U.A.E. Cup at Churchill Downs, North America’s richest race for Arabians.
The French-bred son of Darweesh ran easily along the inside as Smoke House and VIP paced the field through an opening quarter mile of :27.41 seconds. Smoke House maintained a comfortable one-length cushion down the backstretch and widened his margin heading into the final turn.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Ken Ramsey is winning so much at Churchill Downs he can’t even jinx himself. Despite watching Saturday night’s Grade 3, $113,900 Regret at Churchill Downs from the winner’s circle – usually a sure-fire path for disappointment – it did little to stop his 3-year-old filly, Kitten’s Dumplings, from thoroughly dominating the race under Joel Rosario.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rendering his two season-opening efforts a distant memory, Fort Larned returned to his Breeders’ Cup Classic-winning form Saturday night with a dominating wire-to-wire triumph in the 32nd running of the Grade 1, $536,300 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs.
