Tag: Racing

Four stakes worth a combined $300,000 highlight seven-day Thoroughbred meet at Los Alamitos that starts Friday, Sept. 16 and runs through Sept. 25.

Racing will be conducted Friday-Sunday the first week (Sept. 16-18) and Thursday-Sunday (Sept. 22-25) the final four days. Post time will be 1 p.m (PT) on weekdays (Sept. 16, Sept. 22 and 23) and 12:30 p.m. on weekends (Sept. 18-19 and 24-25).

The first of the stakes is the $75,000 E.B. Johnston for 3-year-olds and up bred or sired in California. The race at one mile will be run Saturday, Sept. 17.

The following day fillies and mares – 3-year-olds & up – will get together in the $75,000 Dark Mirage Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.

Completing the schedule are the $75,000 Los Alamitos Special for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles and the $75,000 Capote for 2-year-olds at 6 ½ furlongs. The Special will be offered Saturday, Sept. 24 while the Capote will be run on closing day, Sunday, Sept. 25.

The wagering menu includes a pair of $1 Pick 4's on races 2-5 and the final four races along with a $2 Pick Six as well as the Players' Pick 5 – a 50-cent minimum bet with a reduced takeout rate of 14% rate – on the first five races.

The Pick Six will have the standard 70-30 split with 70% of the pool going to those tickets with six winners with the remaining 30% going to tickets with five of six winners.

There will also be a handicapping contest Saturday, Sept. 24 and the Los Alamitos Racing Association will offer a cash prize and a pair of berths in the 2023 National Thoroughbred Racing Association Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas.

Cost to enter is $500. Of that amount, $100 will be placed in the contest prize pool with the remaining $400 going towards a live money wagering card.

Tournament races will include the entire card at Los Alamitos with permitted wagers including win, place, show, exactas, trifectas and daily doubles. Each entry must bet at least $50 on a minimum of five races that day, but there is no wagering limit.

The player with the highest bankroll at the end of the day will be declared the winner and the player with the second highest bankroll will be the runner-up.

The winner will receive 50% of the prize pool. The remaining payoffs: 20% (2nd place), 15% (3rd place), 7.5 % (4th place) and 7.5% (Most Money Wagered).

Entries for opening day of the September Thoroughbred meet will be taken Tuesday, Sept. 13.

The post Four Stakes Anchor Upcoming Los Alamitos Meet appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Trainer Chad Brown clinched his fifth H. Allen Jerkens Award for leading trainer at Saratoga Race Course and secured his 12th stakes triumph of the summer meet when saddling Emaraaty to his first graded win in $200,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap (G3) on closing day at the upstate New York track.

“I'm just so proud of my team and my horses,” Brown said. “So many hard-working co-workers and teammates. I'm so proud of them – they were so consistent with all of their tasks coming off a big Belmont meet. It appeared to me that we had really ran a lot of our ammunition so to speak at Belmont, but they were able to keep these horses in good form.”

Owned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, and Michael J. Caruso, Emaraaty has found the winner's circle four times since moving to the United States, all of which have taken place at Saratoga. The 7-year-old Dubawi gelding joined Brown's barn in the summer of 2019 and made a winning debut that July before finishing fourth in that year's Bernard Baruch – his lone loss at the Spa. He entered Monday's test from a one-mile allowance optional claiming win on August 4 over the inner turf, defeating graded stakes placed runners Floriform and Atone.

Breaking from the outermost post 6 under Flavien Prat, Emaraaty quickly joined sharp-breaking Winters Back and garnered command into the first turn to lead the strung out field through an opening quarter mile in :23.44 and a half-mile in 47.35 over the firm going.

Emaraaty registered the three-quarters in 1:11.21 around the far turn with Luis Saez in an all-out drive aboard Winters Back in second and  Forbidden Apple (G3) winner City Man trying to make up ground from third. Never seriously challenged in the stretch, Emaraaty strolled home a 3 1/2-length winner in a final time of 1:41.36 for the 1 1/16 miles.

Late-charging City Man finished another 2 1/2 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Winters Back. Ocala Dream, Dynadrive and the Brown-trained Mouillage, the odds-on favorite, rounded out the order of finish.

“He's a horse that can be aggressive,” said Prat, who earned his fourth stakes victory of the meet. “Today, it didn't feel like there was a whole lot of speed, so I let him run out of there and let him run all the way to the first turn. From that point, he relaxed well and kicked home well. I think the soft ground was a good thing for him as well, so it worked out well for us.”

Brown noted the difference in Emaraaty since being gelded in December.

“This ownership group had bought him privately [from Shadwell Stud] at the end of last year and we decided to geld the horse even though he was an older horse – it's a little late to be gelding him, but we tried it,” Brown said. “He was a bit of an aggressive horse, still a bit keen as you saw, but I'll tell you, he's been a different horse since we gelded him and gave him some time.”

Brown admitted some concern over the fast fractions set by Emaraaty.

“Of course, I had another horse in the race, Mouillage. I was peeking back at him and saying, 'Well, one way or another maybe this horse will kick, and Mouillage didn't care for the turf today it looked like – he didn't kick in today,” Brown said. “I was very impressed and proud of Emaraaty that after posting those fractions, when he posted the three-quarters in 1:11, that he was able to re-break again. It was impressive.”

Bred in Great Britain by Meon Valley Stud from the Zafonic mare Zee Zee Top, Emaraaty returned $14.60 and increased his lifetime earnings to $386,443 after banking $110,000 in victory. His record now stands at 6-3-1 from 18 starts.

The post Brown Secures Saratoga Training Title As Emaraaty Goes Wire To Wire In Bernard Baruch appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Midnight Memories cruised along on an easy lead early in the one-mile Torrey Pines Stakes (G3) at Del Mar Sunday but had to dig deep in the stretch to hold off favorite Desert Dawn to get the win.

Pegram, Watson, and Weitman's Midnight Memories scored by three-quarters of a length in the $125,500 test for 3-year-old fillies and finished the trip in 1:36.32 with Ramon Vasquez at the reins.

A homebred Mastery filly out of the Midnight Lute mare Tiz Midnight, Midnight Memories was taking her first try in a stakesand proved up to the task for trainer Bob Baffert. Her $75,000 winner's share of the purse pushed her bankroll up to $166,680. The Torrey Pines marked her her third win from four career starts.

“She broke well and we were going easy on the lead,” Vasquez said of the Kentucky-bred filly. “Then when it came time, she dug in down the stretch. She's a very nice filly. I'm so happy to be riding at the meet for the first time and doing well. I wanted to ride for someone like Bob Baffert and here I am. Today I rode two horses for him and both were winners. It's exciting.”

Desert Dawn, the 6-5 favorite, held on for second, 4 ¼ lengths ahead of Baffert-trained third-place finisher Grace Adler.

Midnight Memories returned $13. Her victory was the second on the day for the Baffert/Vazquez team and put the Hall of Fame conditioner in front in the contentious local trainers' race with 17 winners at the session, ahead of Phil D'Amato with 16 and Doug O'Neill with 15.

“I told 'Vaz' I don't know how far she'll go but just leave there and put her on the lead,” Baffert said. “I was afraid when Desert Dawn (came to her) because she has a lot of races under her belt. We've been high on this filly all along. I would have liked to run one-two-three, but it's been a good day.”

Baffert, who has been the leading trainer at Del Mar seven times, most recently in 2003, also sent out Under the Stars, who finished fifth.

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Five weeks after being claimed for $25,000, Feast became a stakes winner in his first try against loftier company.

The speedy 5-year-old ridgling out-broke the field in Sunday's $100,000 Rumson Stakes, was passed by 7-10 favorite Hollis at the one-eighth pole, and then dug in along the rail, surging back for a half-length victory in the feature race on the Monmouth Park card.

Hollis, who looked well on his way to victory after swinging off the turn with full momentum, opening a half-length lead at the eighth poll, ran out of gas in the five-furlong dirt dash.

Baytown Bear was another 2¾ lengths back in third.

The winning time was :57.47 on a fast track.

“The reason we claimed him (on July 31) was because of his form and the fact that he's a Florida-bred,” said winning trainer Gerald Bennett. “There are a lot of spots for him (at Tampa Downs). He's eligible for starters, the claiming crown, so we have options with him.

“There were a lot of claims in for him that day. We were lucky to get him. I saw he runs good fresh so I freshened him up, and he's a horse that always tries. That's all you need with horses if they're tryers. You just have to keep them right and they give you a good effort.”

Though a consistent sprinter throughout his career, Feast had not tried stakes company until Sunday – doing so exactly five weeks after being claimed. The victory was his third straight and fourth in his last five starts.

“I had no doubt I would make the lead, especially when he broke so sharply out of the gate,” said jockey Jose Ferrer. “(Hollis) is a fast horse but my horse is pretty fast, too. The last eighth of a mile (Hollis) went by me, then all of a sudden it seemed like he put the brakes on and started looking around. I just kept riding because you never know what is going to happen. I think when my horse saw (Hollis) outside of him he dug in again.”

Breaking from the outside post in the six-horse field of 3-year-olds and up, Feast asserted himself immediately, setting fractions of :22.27 and :45.35 with Hollis tracking him the entire time.

Ferrer had the rail coming out of the turn with Hollis angling outside. Hollis seemed to the race won when he surged to the lead at the one-eighth pole, but Feast responded determinedly.

“When (Hollis) came to him he dug in again because it looked like he was beat at the eighth pole,” said Bennett.

Now owned by Winning Stables, Feast recorded his sixth victory in 16 career starts. He has four wins and a third in five starts at Monmouth Park.

The son of Twirling Candy out of the Corinthian mare Corinthian Luck returned $11.60 to win.

“The last eighth of a mile (Hollis) went by me, then all of a sudden it seemed like he put the brakes on and started looking around,” said Ferrer. “I just kept riding because you never know what is going to happen. I think when my horse saw (Hollis) outside of him he dug in again. He's a nice horse. And we know he likes Monmouth Park. So this was a good set-up for him, especially being able to break from the outside.”

Feast was bred by Farm III Enterprises.

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