Apprentice Leparoux Wins Churchill Riding Title
At age 23, Julien Leparoux became the second apprentice in Churchill Downs' 131-year history to earn a leading rider title when he finished the 2006 spring meet with 87 winners on July 16.
At age 23, Julien Leparoux became the second apprentice in Churchill Downs' 131-year history to earn a leading rider title when he finished the 2006 spring meet with 87 winners on July 16.
Victor Espinoza finished with 60 winners to clinch his second Hollywood Park spring/summer meeting title as the Inglewood track closed its 61-day meet on Sunday.
Favored T.H. Approval and jockey Alex Solis had the opposition in the $159,700 Sunset Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. IIT) at their mercy Sunday, coming off the pace to register a 1 1/2-length victory as the 2006 Hollywood Park spring/summer meeting ended.
The 6-year-old mare Nicole's Dream set a five-furlong turf course mark at Arlington Park Sunday when she won the $47,550 J J'sdream Stakes for the third time in four years.
Jayeff B Stables' Awfully Smart took command in upper stretch and rolled to a 5 1/2-length win in the $300,300 Leonard Richards (gr. IIIT) at Delaware Park Sunday.
Fishy Advice dictated the pace under Mario Pino and held his rivals safe through the stretch for a 3 1/4-length win in the $201,500 Caesar Rodney Stakes on a good Delaware Park turf.
Fleet Indian's victory in the 1 1/4-mile Delaware Handicap (gr. II) was so easy it was hard to believe the field was running for $1 million Sunday at Delaware Park. Ridden by Jose Santos for trainer Todd Pletcher and owner Paul H. Saylor, the brilliant 5-year-old mare galloped to her sixth straight triumph and went over the $1 million earnings mark.
Red Bullet, the 2000 Preakness Stakes (gr. I) winner, was represented by his first winner as a sire when Princess Nikki won Saturday's second race at Calder Race Course.
Alexandrova pulled off a Classic double and gave jockey Kieren Fallon a welcome morale boost when she ran away with the Darley Irish Oaks (Ire-I) at The Curragh on Sunday.
Odds-on choice Silver Train outfought War Front by a neck in a gritty stretch duel to capture the $150,000 Tom Fool Handicap (gr. II) over seven furlongs at Belmont Park Sunday.
The Fasig-Tipton Kentucky select yearling auction, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Lexington, should have more of a European flavor than usual.
Champion Declan's Moon fell from the ranks of the undefeated in his first start in more than 16 months when Desert Boom nipped him by a nose at the wire of an optional claiming allowance race at Hollywood Park Sunday.
Haps Stables' Casino Evil, who lost his right eye in a paddock accident as a foal, knew where the to find the finish wire in order to take the $150,000 Round Table Breeders' Cup Stakes for 3-year-olds by a nose over Barely Union Scale on Saturday at Arlington Park.
Fasig-Tipton officials are hoping that the law of supply and demand works in their favor during the Kentucky select yearling sale scheduled for Monday and Tuesday at the conpany's Newtown Paddocks near Lexington.
Despite the opinion of its general counsel that the action could be "fraught with legal risk," the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association board of directors voted July 16 to endorse a licensing agreement with a group that plans to operate a wagering hub for the benefit of horsemen in North America.
Halonator's nine-race winning streak ended Saturday when Hastings Park shipper April Foolish captured the day's feature event at at Emerald Downs.
Elmer Carter, a World War II veteran who trained Thoroughbreds and American Quarter Horses in Texas and Oklahoma for several decades, died July 14 at the age of 80.
Jockey Kate Repp is believed to have broken two bones in her left ankle after she was thrown from her mount, Call Me Gracie, after the fourth race on Saturday at Emerald Downs.