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Cross Country Pick 5 From Delaware, Belmont Handles $259,823; Pays $3,295

Saturday's Cross Country Pick 5, featuring all graded stakes races at Belmont Park and Delaware Park, paid $3,295 for selecting all five winners for the 50-cent wager. The total pool was $259,823.

Delaware Park hosted the first two legs, starting the sequence with a huge price when Project Whiskey captured the Grade 3, $300,000 Delaware Oaks in Race 8. The 1 1/16-mile dirt route for 3-year-old fillies saw Project Whiskey, trained by Robert Reid, Jr., win her graded stakes debut after going off at 38-1. Ridden by Frankie Pennington, Project Whiskey returned $79.60 on a $2 win bet.

The remainder of the Cross Country Pick 5 was more chalky, with favorite Gufo winning the Grade 3, $125,000 Kent in Race 9. Piloted by Trevor McCarthy, the son of Declaration of War was a half-length winner for Clement in the 1 1/8-mile turf route for sophomores. He paid $3.20.

Belmont hosted the final three legs, starting with a bang with Vekoma's 1 ¼-length win in the Grade 1, $500,000 Runhappy Met Mile – one of five graded stakes on Belmont Park's loaded card – in Race 9 to give trainer George Weaver his first win in the prestigious race. Vekoma stayed undefeated in his 4-year-old campaign, improving to 3-for-3 in defeating a talented field that included 2019 Grade 1 Runhappy Travers-winner Code of Honor and last year's Grade 1 Whitney winner in McKinzie. Ridden by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, who notched his third Runhappy Met Mile win, Vekoma paid $5.90.

Race 10 at Belmont saw another prestigious Grade 1, the $400,000 Manhattan, with trainer Chad Brown saddling the first-and-second-place finishers in Instilled Regard and Rockemperor. Instilled Regard [$6.30], under Belmont spring/summer meet-leading rider Irad Ortiz, Jr., edged his stablemate by a neck to win the contest for 4-year-olds and up at 1 ¼-miles on the inner turf. It marked the sixth win in the Manhattan for Brown.

The concluding leg saw the top-two finishers of the 2019 Grade 1 Belmont Stakes rematch in the Grade 2, $200,000 Suburban in Race 11. Tacitus, who was runner-up in that Belmont Stakes, along with running second in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and Runhappy Travers at Saratoga, finally earned a return trip to the winner's circle, romping to an 8 ¾-length win. Tacitus completed the 1 ¼-mile course in 1:59.51, never having been seriously challenged in the stretch, and returned $4.20. He was trained and ridden by a pair of Hall of Famers in Bill Mott and John Velazquez, respectively.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on track, on ADW platforms, and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

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Ny Traffic Bound For Jersey’s Haskell After Sharp Gulfstream Drill

Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Ny Traffic and Tonalist's Shape tuned up for upcoming 3-year-old stakes engagements Sunday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Ny Traffic, who currently sits seventh in the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying-points standings, breezed five furlongs in 58.64 seconds, the fastest of 12 workouts recorded at the distance, for a likely start in the $1 million Haskell (G1) at Monmouth Park July 18.

“I worked him Monday last week, so he came back in six days. I wanted to get a good work into him and he worked super. He finished up really good. He ran the last quarter in 22-and-4 and galloped out strong,” Joseph said. “After that work today, I'd say we're probably going to run him in the Haskell, 95 percent sure.”

Ny Traffic, who is owned by John Fanelli, Cash is King LLC, LC Racing and Paul Braverman, finished second, a length behind Maxfield in the May 23 Matt Winn (G3) at Churchill Downs last time out. The 3-year-old son of Cross Traffic previously finished second, 1 ½ lengths behind Wells Bayou in the Louisiana Derby (G2), and third in the Risen Star (G2) at Fair Grounds. In his first start for Joseph, the New York-bred colt scored a front-running 6 ¾-length romp in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream Jan. 11.

Tonalist's Shape, who currently ranks seventh in qualifying points for the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks (G1), breezed five furlongs in 59.43 seconds, the third-fastest five-furlong work of the morning.

“Last week's work was a little quicker than ideal, so we just tried to slow her down a little. Once again, she worked super. We're very happy with where we are with her,” said Joseph, whose Oaks hopeful breezed a half-mile in 45.35 seconds a week earlier. “We still haven't decided. It'll be either the Ashland or the Coaching Club. We'll probably decide [Monday].”

The $300,000 Ashland (G1), a 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-old fillies, is scheduled to be run next Saturday at Keeneland, while the $350,000 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) is scheduled to be run at 1 1/8 miles July 18 at Saratoga.

Tonalist's Shape is coming off a sharp 3 3/4-length victory in the May 15 Hollywood Wildcat, her first win around two turns, rebounding from her first career loss in the March 28 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2). The Kentucky-bred filly had won her first five starts, including victories in the Forward Gal (G3) and the Davona Dale (G2) during the 2019-2020 Championship Meet at Gulfstream.

“She's in good form. She's holding good weight. She's happy and strong. We're happy with where we're at,” Joseph said.

Both Ny Traffic and Tonalist's Shape were ridden by assistant trainer Sabine Langvad Sunday.

“We're thankful to have her,” Joseph said. “She has a lot of passion for what she does, and that's what we need.”

Math Wizard, who gave Joseph his first Grade 1 success in last year's Pennsylvania Derby at Parx, breezed a half-mile in 49.14 in preparation for the $300,000 Monmouth Cup (G3) on the Haskell undercard.

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Lone Star Park Suspends Live Racing

Lone Star Park announced it was suspending live racing prior to its second race Sunday.

A notice on the Texas track’s Twitter feed announced, “Due to an abundance of caution, all racing operations at Lone Star Park have been suspended due to #COVID19. Racing will resume at a date to be determined.”

Lone Star Park opened for an abbreviated 36-day meet May 22 and began allowing fans into the grandstand for live racing June 14.

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Patience, Perseverance Couldn’t Overcome Physical Obstacle For Slain Student’s Namesake Little Guac

Carlo Vaccarezza's sons Nick and Mike made it out of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School alive on that horrific Valentine's Day in 2018 in Parkland, Fla., when a gunman opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle and killed 17 students and educators.

Nick's buddy Joaquin Oliver didn't.

“Nick said, 'Dad, the next horse you buy, let's name him after one of my best friends, Joaquin Oliver — they call him Guac,'” recalled the elder Vaccarezza, a horse owner, trainer and Boca Raton restaurateur.

Three weeks later, Vaccarezza paid $55,000 at the Ocala 2-year-old sale for a son of the Claiborne Farm stallion Flatter. The colt was named Little Guac (pronounced wok) to honor the slain 17-year-old.

It would be another two years and four months before Vaccarezza finally got Little Guac to the starting gate for his first start, racing with Nick as owner. If willing something to happen was enough, Little Guac would have been in the winner's circle after Ellis Park's eighth race Saturday. Instead, he raced up close to the leaders until late in the turn before fading to sixth under Miguel Mena in the eight-horse field running 5 1/2 furlongs on turf.

Vaccarezza and jockey Miguel Mena discuss Little Guac after the race

As he waited for the race to start, Vaccarezza said that he thought he finally had Little Guac ready for competition.

“At least I hope he's ready,” he said. “I think it would be a nice story. My son would be really emotional if the horse would win. Myself, too. It's a shame — a young not even 18-year-old kid, we lost him for something crazy. He was such a nice kid and had the world to live for, and unfortunately he got shot.”

Little Guac's finish wasn't simply a matter of the horse tiring in his first start ever. The horse experienced a pulmonary hemorrhaging episode, a common condition in the equine species known as bleeding. In fact, it was what had kept Little Guac from racing earlier in his career, with Vaccarezza giving the horse lots of time off from training and specialized treatments.

Treatment does allow many horses to race successfully with this condition. Little Guac just wasn't one. Now, with Saturday's result, Vaccarezza said Little Guac most likely is through racing after one race in which he earned $300.

“We did everything we could think of,” Vaccarezza said. “We did everything possible. … I think that's the end of his career. If I could look back, I wish I could have named another horse Little Guac, that maybe he'd have won a race. But at least we tried. This is horse racing. You can't predict the future of these animals. It doesn't matter how much you pay for them. We gave it a good try. I hope Little Guac in heaven is proud of his horse.”

The elder Vaccarezza said he doesn't regret trying to get Little Guac to the races.

“If this horse was any other horse, I'd have given up,” he said. “There are very few people who have a horse who is almost 5 years old and hasn't made a start. Due to the fact that it meant so much to my son and being the namesake, I did everything possible to try to let the horse be a good horse and let it run a decent race.”

Carlo Vaccarezza is best known in racing circles for campaigning $3.5 million-earner Little Mike, the horse named for his younger son. Little Mike in 2012 won Churchill Downs' Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, the Arlington Million and Breeders' Cup Turf when trained by Dale Romans. Vaccarezza, who owns Frank & Dino's restaurant in Boca Raton, races many of his horses in the name of family members: wife Priscilla and both sons. He began training his own horses in 2014.

After almost 30 years in Florida, Vaccarezza moved his entire 28-horse stable to Keeneland in mid-March. One factor is that his sons want to attend the University of Kentucky, Nick (who works for trainer Chad Brown) for the equine program and Mike for business administration.

“This has been brewing for a few months,” he said. “We're building another Frank & Dino's in Lexington, so that was the perfect scenario, just to move my horses to Keeneland. I love it in Lexington. I think it's a beautiful town.”

Vaccarezza had a win, three seconds and three thirds at Churchill Downs' spring meet, his first while training full-time in Kentucky. Saturday was his first time at Ellis Park, though he knows racing secretary Dan Bork well from Bork's years at Gulfstream Park.

“It's like a diamond in the rough,” Vaccarezza said of Ellis Park. “It's a pretty little place. Dan Bork is doing a phenomenal job. The main track is great; the turf course is superb, and the people are really friendly.”

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