INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Clubhouse Ride, second to top handicap horse Game On Dude in three major stakes in California and West Virginia earlier this year, won the first graded stakes of his career in his 28th start in Saturday’s $150,500 Californian Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park.
Although she was making her turf debut, Unusual Way ($3.60) was heavily favored in Saturday’s $100,000 Campanile Stakes at Golden Gate Fields. She then ran just the way an odds-on favorite is expected to as she scored a 2 1/4-length victory in the one-mile turf race.
Unusual Way broke nicely and let Adriatic Skye set the early pace, but as the field moved onto the backstretch, Unusual Way edged to the front on her own along the rail. She set an even pace of 48.36 seconds 1:12.69 while relaxing on the front end.
Good things happen for Easter Gift when he travels to Pennsylvania.
The first stakes wins of the 4-year-old Easter Gift’s career came when he shipped to Parx and won the Grade 3 Smarty Jones Stakes last September, and on Saturday evening, a trip to Penn National produced a 2 1/4-length victory in the $250,000 Mountainview Handicap.
Easter Gift, owned by Robert LaPenta and trained for his last four starts by Chad Brown, won his third straight race. The second win in that string – no surprise – came in another excursion to Parx.
Look At the Time overtook 1-5 favorite String King nearing the wire to win the fourth stakes race of his career Saturday in the $50,000 John Franks Memorial at Louisiana Downs. The race was one of two one-mile turf stakes for Louisiana-breds on the card. Drinking Fund closed fast to win the $50,000 Honeymoon.
Trainer Jason Servis and Ron Lombardi of Mountain Lakes, N.J., who operates as Mr. Amore Stable, clearly regretted losing Tightend Touchdown when he was claimed for $30,000 last December. So they prompted re-claimed him for $35,000 a month later.
Tightend Touchdown delivered huge dividends on that modest investment when he scored a front-running victory in the $150,000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup Handicap at Penn National on Saturday.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Hop Skip and Away won the $61,800 John J. Reilly Handicap on Saturday in a triumph for two of Monmouth Park’s grand old men.
The 8-year-old gelding, the oldest member of the seven-horse field of New Jersey-breds, finally won the Reilly on his fourth try. He hit the board in each of the last three editions.
It was also rewarding moment for trainer and co-owner Joe Pierce Jr. At 85 years young, Pierce is the senior trainer on the Monmouth backstretch.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The old racing adage pace makes the race was clearly evident in Saturday’s $125,000 Kingston Stakes at Belmont Park as the front-running King Kreesa was able to get away with comfortable early fractions on his way to a 2 1/4-length victory in the race for New York-breds on the turf.
Rick Mettee, newly appointed trainer for Team Valor International, admitted he wasn’t sure whether putting blinkers on Cerro was the right move to make with the 3-year-old colt.
After watching the stretch run of Saturday’s $75,000 Canonero II Stakes for 3-year-olds at Pimlico, in which Cerro and Alan Garcia won a head bob over Dynamic Strike and Forest Boyce, Mettee knew the new equipment played a positive factor.
