DAY 34 of 57
THURSDAY'S ATTENDANCE 4,000
THURSDAY'S ON-TRACK HANDLE $338,929
THURSDAY'S TOTAL HANDLE $2,666,505
THURSDAY'S PICK-5 PAYOUT $27,582.85
TODAY'S SIMULCAST SCHEDULE Laurel Park, 11:30 a.m.; Gulfstream Park, 11:35 a.m.; Tampa Bay, 11:35 a.m.; Aqueduct, 12:20 p.m.; Golden Gate, 2:45 p.m.; Santa Anita, 3 p.m.; Hawthorne, 4:10 p.m.; Fair Grounds, 5 p.m.; Penn National, 5 p.m.; Turfway Park, 5:15 p.m.; Delta Downs, 5:40 p.m.; Charles Town, 6 p.m.; Palm Beach (greyhounds), 6 p.m.; Daytona Beach (greyhounds), 6:25 p.m.; Sam Houston, 7:10 p.m.; Southland (greyhounds), 8:30 p.m.; Los Alamitos, 9 p.m.
THURSDAY'S STARS
Ramon Vazquez took over the lead in the jockey standings when he won the third race on Annuity ($3.80). Vazquez has 31 victories in 180 starts and leads Ricardo Santana, who has been out since suffering a shoulder injury when he was thrown from Lawyer Daggett. Santana has 30 victories in 138 starts.
Thomas Pompell won the second race, riding Sarah's Swington ($97.20), and the seventh riding Husky Clipper ($65.60) to victory by a neck over Mojo Street. On the season, Pompell has nine victories in 95 starts.
Trainer John Cox won his first two races of the season. He won the seventh race with Husky Clipper and the eighth with A Terrific Shot (6.80) with Alex Canchari aboard.
SILVER BULLION TO REBEL
Lightly raced Silver Bullion will make his next start in the $900,000 Rebel Stakes for 3-year-olds on March 18 at Oaklawn, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Thursday morning. Ramon Vazquez, Oaklawn's leading rider this year, will have the mount on the colt, has made all three career starts at the meeting.
The gray son of Pioneerof the Nile broke his maiden Feb. 9 after finishing fourth in his career debut Jan. 15. Most recently he finished second Feb. 18 in a first-level allowance/optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles. Silver Bullion, in his two-turn debut, was beaten 3 lengths by Senior Investment, who is scheduled to make his next start in the $1 million Louisiana Derby on April 1 at Fair Grounds, trainer Kenny McPeek said.
"Like every 3-year-old in the country that we have grandiose ideas about, they've got to step up," said Lukas, who trains Silver Bullion for Calumet Farm [Brad Kelley]. "But I think he deserves the chance to see if he can. He's a very competitive horse, and I think he'll make a good showing. We'll find out more what he is. This is the time of year you need to find out."
Other locally based horses pointing for the 1 1/16-mile Rebel include Lookin At Lee and Silver Dust, third and fourth, respectively, in the $500,000 Southwest Stakes on Feb. 20 and recent arrival Untrapped, runner-up in the $400,000 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 25 at Fair Grounds.
Lookin At Lee worked 5 furlongs in 1:01 over a fast track Thursday morning for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who also has Untrapped.
Trainer/co-owner Ron Moquett of Hot Springs said Thursday morning that he's "leaning more toward" the Rebel with Petrov, runner-up in the Southwest and $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Jan. 16.
Riley Tucker -- The Man
Riley Tucker is on the Oaklawn grounds, but it's not the Ahmed Zayat-owned horse that won Oaklawn's $50,000 King Cotton Stakes in 2012. It's the horse's namesake, Riley Tucker Mott, the son/assistant of Hall of Famer trainer Bill Mott.
Riley Mott is overseeing the preparations of Elate, the 5-2 program favorite for Saturday's $200,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies. It's the first trip to Oaklawn for Mott, 25, who was born five years after his father topped the 1986 trainer standings in Hot Springs with 35 victories.
"I hear a lot of memories and stories about him being here," Mott said during training hours Thursday morning.
Bill Mott hasn't started a horse at Oaklawn since Close Hatches won the $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap in 2014 en route to an Eclipse Award as the country's champion older female.
The regally bred Elate -- a daughter of Oaklawn stakes winners Medaglia d'Oro and Cheery -- races for her breeders, famed Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider. She broke her maiden by 12 ½ lengths at a mile in her Nov. 26 career debut at Aqueduct before finishing second in her only other start, the $100,000 Suncoast Stakes on Feb. 11 at Tampa Bay Downs.
"Ever since we led her off the van as a 2-year-old at Saratoga, I mean, we realized that she was a very nice filly," Mott said. "For various baby things, we had to delay her debut until Aqueduct in the fall. But she ran the way we thought she would. It was nice to see her reproduce that on the track."
Sports on 03/10/2017