Yesterday and today: June 25 racing highlights
A.P. Indian, here winning the 2015 Donald LeVine Memorial at Parx Racing, repeated on Saturday. Photo By Barb Weidl/EQUI-PHOTO
From Staff Reports
YESTERDAY’S NEWS: BLU MOON ACE CRUISES TO ALLOWANCE SCORE
Blu Moon Ace had finished second in each of his first two tries against winners.
But he wasn’t fooling around Thursday at Pimlico.
The sophomore Malibu Moon gelding made it look easy, stalking the early pace, easing out to the three-path entering the lane, and pulling away to a dominant victory under a Trevor McCarthy hand ride, one of McCarthy’s three wins on the day. The final margin of victory was 6 3/4 lengths, and the final running time for six furlongs on the main track was 1:11.45.
Fitzfarris rallied into second, and early leader Nye, who set a brisk pace, held the show spot. As the 9-10 favorite, Blu Moon Ace paid $3.80 to win and topped a modest $12.80 exacta.
Blu Moon Ace now sports a record of 4-2-2-0 with earnings of $79,578. Bred in Maryland by Howard M. Bender, Blu Moon Ace is out of the multiple stakes winning Menifee mare Access Fee, herself a Bender homebred. Blu Moon Ace is trained by Larry Murray for the Bender estate.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”double” size=”9″]BY THE NUMBERS
- HANDLE:
- Charles Town: $811,939
- Monmouth Park: $2,269,494
- Penn National: $775,136
- Pimlico: $1,774,400
- CLAIMS:
- Charles Town: 1
- Monmouth Park: 1
- Penn National: 3
- Pimlico: 2
- MULTIPLE WINNERS
- JOCKEYS
- Trevor McCarthy, 3 wins at Pimlico
- Jevian Toledo, 2 wins at Pimlico
- Orlando Bocachica, 2 wins at Monmouth
- Paco Lopez, 2 wins at Monmouth
- Nik Juarez, 2 wins at Monmouth
- TRAINERS
- Edward Plesa, Jr., 2 wins at Monmouth
- JOCKEYS
LOOK AHEAD: TODAY’S RACING
- Tracks in action today: Delaware Park, Parx Racing, Pimlico, Monmouth Park, Penn National, and Charles Town.
- There are five stakes at Pimlico this afternoon. Check out our handicapping roundtable podcast featuring Gary Quill, Derby Bill Watson, and Nick Hahn. Check out Gary’s analysis in The GQ Approach. And see who our experts pick in our In Focus guide.
- Monmouth Park hosts the Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes today, with an intriguing field topped by Isabella Sings, the 6-5 morning line favorite. Check out Shore Bets to see who aspiring announcer John Piassek likes in here, and why.
- Parx Racing hosts the Turning for Home Stakes Saturday, with a small but competitive field slated for the $100,000, 1 mile 70 yard test. Chad Brown trainee Majestic Affair (8-5) gets the nod as the morning line favorite off a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Alysheba on Kentucky Oaks day and will have Joshua Navarro in the irons. Last year’s runner-up in this race, Adirondack King (5-2), is a six-time winner over the strip and returns for another crack in here. His last-out second place finish to Bradester, in the Majestic Light at Monmouth Park, was significantly flattered when that runner won the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs in his next start. The show horse from the Majestic Light, Encryption (3-1), also is here.
