Horse Racing News

Mr. Commons took another step on what his connections hope will be a special campaign when he rallied from off the pace to win the $150,000 Arcadia Stakes on turf Feb. 4 for his second graded win of the Santa Anita meet.

Just as he did when winning the Count Fleet Stakes a month earlier, Alpha easily defeated an overmatched field to take the $200,000 Withers by 3 1/4 lengths Feb. 4 at Aqueduct.

Repole Stable's Calibrachoa overcame a stumbling start to post a second consecutive victory in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan at Aqueduct, a six-furlong inner dirt dash for older horses.

Already with a slew of top 3-year-olds taking aim at the Triple Crown, Todd Pletcher will send out yet another prospect in the $250,000 Sam F. Davis, a race he has won four of the last six years.

Alpha opened his three-year-old season with a 2 1/2-length score in the January 7 Count Fleet Stakes at Aqueduct and will remain on the inner track for Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000 Withers Stakes.

Separated by less than a length in two stakes at Hollywood Park last fall, Liaison and Rousing Sermon will renew acquaintance in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita.

The Maryland Jockey Club will honor the connections of Rapid Redux on February 18. Rapid Redux has won 22 consecutive races, including a perfect 19-for-19 season a year ago and took home a pair of national awards last month.

Game On Dude was less than sixteenth of a mile from winning the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs last November when jockey Chantal Sutherland sensed victory.

Rachel Alexandra and her foal returned to Stonestreet Farm Jan. 30 after being treated at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital as a precautionary measure for pain management related to the Jan. 22 birth of a colt by Curlin.

Eclipse Award winner Hansen may have been the center of attention, but it was Algorithms who stole the show in Sunday's $400,000 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park.