ARCADIA, Calif. - Got Koko became only the third filly to sweep the three-race La Canada Series with a hard-fought win in Saturday's $200,000 at Santa Anita.
It was not an easy victory for Got Koko, who raced wide through the 1 1/8 miles.
Breaking from the outside post in the field of five 4-year-old fillies, Got Koko was three wide on the first turn and backstretch, tracking the pace of Sightseek, who set fractions of 23.03 and 46.67 seconds.
NEW ORLEANS - The field in the Pan Zareta Handicap hit the far turn with four horses lined up on the lead. From where he sat on Fuse It, Gerard Melancon thought things looked pretty good.
Melancon and Fuse It waited for the speedballs to flame out, then slipped up the rail to nail Stonington - the last pace survivor - in the Pan Zareta's final half-furlong. Fuse It scored by a half-length, running six furlongs on a fast track in 1:10.62 and paying $24.80.
Seven Four Seven emerged from a tight group on the final turn and went on to a 4 1/2-length victory in the $50,000 Likely Exchange Stakes on Saturday at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.
Ridden by Turfway's leading jockey, Jason Lumpkins, Seven Four Seven returned $6.40 as the favorite in a field of 11 fillies and mares. She finished one mile in 1:37.17 over a fast track for her eighth victory in 28 career starts.
Majority Whip finished second, followed by Looking Afar and Gal on the Go. The 7-8 exacta paid $36.60.
Gimmeawink and jockey Jeremy Rose ran down pacesetter Gators N Bears in the stretch and held off a late charge from Penobscot Bay to win the $50,000 Miracle Wood Stakes.
Gimmeawink won the Miracle Wood, for 3-year-olds, by 1 1/4 lengths over Penobscot Bay in 1:43.07 for 1 1/16 miles. Gators N Bears held third in the field of seven.
Trained by Tim Ritchey, Gimmeawink returned $6.80 as a slight favorite over Gators N Bears.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Emily Ring won her third straight stakes Saturday when she led throughout for a 3 1/4-length win over Princess Jen in the at Oaklawn Park. It was another two lengths back to Southern Tour in third.
The field was reduced to four starters with the scratch of Lake Charles. As a result there was no show or trifecta wagering.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - For several years jockey Russell Woolsey came to Tampa in the winter after battling top riders at Delaware Park in the summer. While he never cracked the top 10 at Tampa Bay Downs he quietly knocked out a decent living.
Then last April, when several of the leading jockeys left this meeting early to ride at other tracks for the summer, Woolsey had the opportunity to get on some live mounts. He made the most of those chances, winning a flurry of races in the final four weeks of the season to finish with 29 wins, which put him in a tie for ninth in the standings.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After winning a 5 1/2-furlong allowance race last June, Boston Park ran in seven consecutive stakes without success.
But, trainer D. Wayne Lukas is nothing if not persistent, so Boston Park made his eighth straight stakes start in Saturday's Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct. And, as it so often has in Lukas's Hall of Fame career, persistence paid off as Boston Park went gate to wire to win the Whirlaway by one length before 6,761 at Aqueduct.
NEW ORLEANS - In general, Mondays have been slow days at Fair Grounds this season, but though this Monday card lacks numbers there is plenty of quality.
The day starts with a 3-year-old filly maiden race around two turns, and has a solid core with a 3-year-old allowance sprint in race 7 followed by a full field of turf allowance horses in the eighth and upper-level filly and mare sprinters in the ninth.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - On the same day that trainer Mark Hennig was preparing to say goodbye to Mystic Lady, he was ready to welcome back Gold Mover, Raging Fever, and Summer Colony, all of whom figure to give Hennig a strong hand in stakes races for older fillies and mares throughout the year.
Mystic Lady finished fifth while making her final start in Saturday's Sabin Handicap. She will be sent immediately to the breeding shed, though Hennig said that owner Lee Lewis had yet to select a mate for Mystic Lady.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Man Among Men, making his stakes debut on dirt, upset the heavily favored Empire Maker in Friday's $81,000 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita.
Man Among Men had an ideal trip under Alex Solis. Third for the first six furlongs, Man Among Men rallied past fading pacesetters Truckle Feature and Ten Most Wanted in early stretch and finished a length in front of Empire Maker.
Man Among Men ($20.20) ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.39.
