NEW ORLEANS - When the owner Michael Cooper and trainer Wes Hawley stepped up and claimed Aloha Bold for $75,000 last Jan. 31, they hoped for a stakes horse. Nearly a year later, they got one, as Aloha Bold won the $60,000 Handicap by a length over Ole Rebel on Sunday at Fair Grounds.
But this hardly was the path Cooper and Hawley had plotted. Before Aloha Bold started even once for them, he came back from a workout with a fractured knee.
"The vet told me he'd never race again," Hawley said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Harmony Lodge successfully defended her title in the $100,000 with a 1 3/4 length victory over House Party at a blustery Gulfstream Park on Sunday. The final margin was exactly the same as when she defeated Fly Me Crazy to capture the 2003 The First Lady.
ARCADIA, Calif. - In the last year, During has found a niche competing in races that did not feature the top horses from his age group.
The campaign strategy may end after During's gritty win in Saturday's $221,800 for 4-year-olds at Santa Anita, his fourth stakes win.
In posting a one-length win, During showed remarkable determination that will make it easier for owner Jim McIngvale and trainer Bob Baffert to consider more difficult races.
HALLANDLAE BEACH, Fla. - Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide made a triumphant 2004 debut and notched his first victory since the Preakness Stakes when drawing off to an easy five-length victory over four overmatched rivals in Saturday's at Gulfstream Park.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Live racing returns to Portland Meadows on Monday, following the cancellation of three programs due to wintry weather.
Monday's headliner, a nonwinners-of-three allowance for older fillies and mares at six furlongs, has a field of eight.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Wynn Dot Comma showed a new dimension in Saturday's at Gulfstream Park, rallying from off the pace to a 1 1/4-length victory over runner-up Saratoga County in the Grade 3 sprint for 3-year-olds.
Wynn Dot Comma had raced on or with the pace in each of his five previous starts. But with jockey Joe Bravo aboard for the first time, Wynn Dot Comma rated off a contested pace, swung wide after Smokume bore out into the stretch, then finished full of run once leveling off to wear down the leaders and win going away.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Megahertz won the eighth stakes of her career in Saturday's $147,000 at Santa Anita, giving Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel his 100th career stakes win at the track's winter-spring meeting and his seventh victory in the San Gorgonio, a turf stakes for fillies and mares.
Ridden by Alex Solis, Megahertz ($3.20) rallied from last in a field of four to win by a length over pacesetter Garden in the Rain. Megahertz finished 1 1/8 miles on turf in 1:49.51.
ALBANY, Calif. - Even-money favorite Skipaslew ($4) scored his second straight stakes victory and won his first graded race, capturing the $100,000 Grade 3 Golden Gate Derby at Golden Gate Fields.
"We're on the [Kentucky Derby] path," said Skipaslew's owner, Merv Griffin.
Skipaslew won by two lengths over O.K. Mikie, who edged Bensquito by a head for second. The winning time for the 1 1/16-mile race over a wet-fast track was 1:41.84.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Wild Speed, under Derek Bell, stalked pacesetter Crafty Tears for more than a half-mile, passed her leaving the furlong marker, and won the $60,000 Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs by 2 1/4 lengths.
Owned by Victoria Farms Inc. and trained by Javier Contreras, Wild Speed won her third race from four career starts. She returned $14 and covered the six furlongs over a "good" strip in 1:11.93.
Weight has been blamed for the losses of many stakes horses, but it could not stop Saratoga Humor in the $50,000 Wishing Well Stakes at Turfway Park.
Carrying 122 pounds and picking up 12 pounds off a stakes victory in the New Year's Eve Handicap at Mountaineer, Saratoga Humor spotted her nine rivals six pounds apiece and won comfortably by 1 3/4 lengths over Emily Ring. Sent immediately to the front by leading rider Rafael Bejarano, she broke the hearts of her opponents by forcing them to chase a fast pace.
