Smarty Jones broke 10th from his inside post in the field of 11 in the $50,000 Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes for statebred 2-year-old colts and geldings at Philadelphia Park - but it didn't much matter.
Smarty Jones accelerated quickly and was in front and clear before leaving the chute. The rest of the race was uneventful for the odds-on Smarty Jones, who sped off to a 15-length victory under wraps for trainer John Servis, .
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Time of War benefited from a good trip under jockey Jim McAleney to post a $45.90 upset in the $128,500 Sir Barton Stakes at Woodbine.
Executive Legacy prompted Biddy's Lad through fractions of 23.40 and 48.06 seconds in the 1 1/16-mile race for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds. Favored El Gran Maestro and Time of War stalked the pace, before Time of War overhauled Executive Legacy inside the sixteenth pole to prevail by a half-length in a final time of 1:46.10 over a fast track. Biddy's Lad finished third in the six-horse field.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It was Friday morning, and trainer Steve Margolis was still sweating the tough beat he took the previous afternoon when one of his horses, Adele Lucille, finished a narrowly beaten second in a maiden claiming race at Churchill Downs.
Margolis was moderately upset that the horse who finished third in the race appeared to slightly impede Adele Lucille's rally.
"The other horse was shying from the whip and coming out on us," said Margolis. "We would've won if we'd had a better trip."
VANCOUVER, British Colum-bia - It was a struggle, but after three days of hard work the Hastings racing office finally came up with seven races for Sunday's card. The feature race, an $11,000 optional-starter race for 3-year-olds and up, is a rematch between Flying Officer and Your Welcome. The 1 1/16-mile race drew eight horses and goes as the sixth race.
Flying Officer led the whole way to beat Your Welcome by three-quarters of a length in a similar spot last Saturday, and if he can get the lead again he'll be very tough to beat. He also won his previous start Nov. 1.
ALBANY, Calif. - The first steps on the northern California Derby trail begin Sunday at Golden Gate Fields with the $60,000-added Golden Bear Stakes.
Nine 2-year-olds were signed up for the six-furlong race, although some trainers did so reluctantly.
"That's the way the thing came up," said trainer Bud Klokstad, who will enter stakes winners Market Report and Corvallis Dee. "I have no other choice but to go there."
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After a failed journey to California to run in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, Forest Music finds a more suitable spot in Sunday's $100,000 Valley Stream at Aqueduct.
Nine 2-year-old fillies were entered in the six-furlong Valley Stream.
Forest Music won her career debut in impressive fashion at Laurel Park on Oct. 8. Forest Music, a daughter of Unbridled's Song, won the six-furlong race by 8 1/2 lengths and covered the distance in a snappy 1:08.40. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 105 - the highest Beyer earned this year by a 2-year-old.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Quero Quero was a rising star in the 3-year-old filly division in late spring before she injured her ankle. Instead of starting in the major turf stakes during the summer, she was on the sidelines.
Sunday at Hollywood Park, Quero Quero makes her first start in more than five months in the $70,000 Audrey Skirball-Kenis Stakes, run over 1 1/8 miles on turf for 3-year-old fillies.
Trainer Paulo Lobo is guarded about Quero Quero's chances but remains optimistic about her long-term prospects.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Last Sunday, Irish Pleasure paid $59.60 when he won the Lion's Gate, an allowance race restricted to horses who hadn't won a stakes this year. Next Sunday, he'll be one of the favorites in the closing-day feature, the Au Revoir Handicap.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Yankee Gentleman, a stakes winner at Del Mar during the summer who was unplaced in two Grade 1 stakes last month at Santa Anita, has been retired after he was found to have a suspensory injury to his right foreleg, owner Marty Wygod said Friday.
Yankee Gentleman was in training for Thursday's $100,000 Vernon Underwood Stakes at Hollywood Park when the injury was detected.
Wygod said that Yankee Gentleman will stand at stud in Kentucky and that negotiations with farms were continuing.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Toccet will return to Aqueduct for the first time since winning the Grade 2 Remsen a year ago when he runs in Saturday's Grade 1 Cigar Mile Handicap.
On Friday, trainer John Scanlan and owner Daniel Borislow decided to run in the $350,000 Cigar Mile, rather than the $500,000 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs one day earlier. Another race that was considered was the $600,000 Hollywood Derby on the grass, the day after the Cigar Mile.
Scanlan said Toccet's 2 1/4-length win in last year's Remsen played into the decision to run in New York.