Horse Racing News

Havre de Grace, the 2011 Horse of the Year, will make her first start of the new year in the Grade 3, $150,000 Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 17, owner Rick Porter and trainer Larry Jones said Wednesday.

City to City could do no better than fourth as the 9-5 favorite in the Grade 2 Robert J. Frankel Stakes on New Year's Day, so bettors let her go off at 8-1 in Monday's Grade 2, $150,000 Buena Vista Handicap.

Rafael Bejarano and trainer Bob Baffert teamed up to win the second division with the highly-rated Secret Circle.

The Bob Baffert-trained Castaway stepped up off a maiden win at Santa Anita to dominate the first division of Monday's Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

After rating in behind stablemate This Ones for Phil for nearly six furlongs, Steel Your Face Stables' Yawanna Twist drove up inside that rival with a sixteenth remaining to grab the Grade 2, $200,000 General George Handicap.

TwinSpires.com, the official advance-deposit wagering service for Churchill Downs Inc., is offering its players an opportunity to win up to $1 million by betting the Kentucky Derby preps and the Triple Crown with TwinSpires.com.

R Holiday Mood dueled with Funny Sunny throughout Sunday's Hurricane Bertie Stakes at Gulfstream Park, and just got the best of that rival when keeping her neck in front on the wire of the 6 1/2-furlong affair under jockey John Velazquez.

Trainer Bob Baffert had to go back to the drawing board after Drill dropped five straight, but the Hall of Famer evidently came up with the right game plan as the colt returned to his best in Sunday's Grade 2, $147,000 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita.

Ellafitz led all the way home in the Grade 2, $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday, scoring by 1 1/4 lengths over a furiously rallying Vision in Gold and Miss Mittagong, who dead-heated for second.

Bob and Cathy Zollars' Daddy Nose Best outdueled Lucky Chappy after a stretch-long drive in Saturday's Grade 3, $201,300 El Camino Real Derby, prevailing in the tightest-ever finish to Golden Gate Fields' signature prep for the Kentucky Derby.