OUT OF THE GATE: The first race on opening day of the Del Mar summer meet is in this week's issue of The Blood-Horse.
Photo: Benoit Photography
Fans wait on the rail for the start of the first race on opening day at Del Mar.
Photo: Benoit Photography
United States Naval Captain and NASA astronaut Mark Kelly made the winner's presentation after 'The Gabrielle Giffords' on Friday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course, a race named in honor of his wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords, a representative from Southern Arizona, is recuperating from injuries sustained when she was shot at a constituent event on January 8.
Photo: Coglianese Photos
Del Mar hosts a hat contest on opening day.
Photo: Benoit Photography
The contest was very successful as much of the crowd participated.
Photo: Benoit Photography
The hat contest participants range in styles, from elegant . . .
Photo: Benoit Photography
. . . to flashy hats at Del Mar.
Photo: Benoit Photography
Even a few guys decide to participate with their hats.
Photo: Benoit Photography
Del Mar had competition for opening day hats, as Saratoga hosted the Hats Off to Saratoga contest.
Photo: Vic Zast
Kim Brooking, exercise rider, wins the Hats Off to Saratoga hat contest.
Photo: Vic Zast
Favored Georgie's Angel Easily Takes Schuylerville on Saratoga's opening day.
Jackson Bend slipped through an opening along the rail at the top of the stretch en route to his first win since October 2009 in the $78,000 James Marvin Stakes.
Godolphin Racing's It's Tricky recorded her second straight grade I victory when she outdueled Plum Pretty and defeated an all-star cast in the $250,000 TVG Coaching Club American Oaks.
Trainer Todd Pletcher says he's not comparing new stable star Overdriven to last year's champion 2-year-old colt Uncle Mo. But he may have trouble keeping others from doing so after an easy win in the Sanford Stakes July 24.
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