Belmont at Aqueduct

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has moved Saturday's 11-race card at Aqueduct, featuring a quartet of graded stakes races, to Sunday and pushed Sunday's 10-race program to Wednesday due to torrential rainfall causing widespread flooding and hazardous conditions in the New York metropolitan area. Friday's 11-race card, featuring the GIII Noble Damsel and Ashley T. Cole, was canceled with more than five inches of rain expected and Ozone Park under a flash flood warning and flood watch on Friday. Heavy rainfall will continue throughout Friday and into Saturday....

David Jacobson's Bowl of Cherries (Speightster) collapsed and died on the horse path following her sixth-place finish in Thursday's second race at the Belmont at Aqueduct meeting. Making her 32nd lifetime start, the 5-year-old mare went off favored at 6-5 but was never a factor in a $25,000 claiming race eventually won by Beautiful Karen (Competitive Edge). Bowl of Cherries was also owned by Jacobson but had a claim voided on her following the race. "Following the running of Race 2 at Aqueduct on Thursday, Bowl of Cherries (#3) collapsed...

A pillar-to-post winner of a maiden special weight here over a sloppy 6 1/2 furlongs Oct. 2, GOOD SAM (f, 2, Good Samaritan--Twizzler, by Twirling Candy) stepped up to a mile with aplomb, handing her freshman sire his first black-type winner in the process Sunday. Heavily favored, the Peter Brant silksbearer was part of the early pace discussion perched three deep down the backstretch. She eventually settled in a stalking third while punching the breeze through a half-mile in :46.84. Revved up for her bid by Irad Ortiz, Jr. as...

Madeline Rowland's journey to becoming a jockey reached the next level last Sunday when she scored her first win on the NYRA circuit over the Aqueduct main track. Still just a teenager and already over the million-dollar mark in earnings, Rowland knew early on that her future was in horses. "I always grew up around horses," she said. "My dad trained steeplechase horses before he passed and my mom galloped for a little bit and helped my dad train. When I was 12 or 13, I started pony racing and...

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is Belmont's GI Frizette S., a race with a tremendous amount of repercussion on the sport. The 1905 mare Frizette, for whom this 2-year-old filly race is named, may have been just a minor sprint stakes winner, but she was an absolute giant in the breeding shed. A foundation mare in both the U.S. and France, Frizette's descendants through her daughters include one of yesteryear's top...

Kimari (Munnings) tuned up for the GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint with an effortless victory in the GII Gallant Bloom S. at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet Sunday. The 3-5 favorite sat just off pacesetting Lady Rocket (Tale of the Cat) through an opening quarter in :23.55. The pacesetter looked to skip away into the stretch after a half in :46.98, but Joel Rosario was still motionless aboard Kimari. Rosario flicked his wrists at the favorite and she duly inhaled Lady Rocket and strode clear to the wire while under...

1st-Belmont The Big A, $95,000, Msw, 9-16, 2yo, 6f, 1:12.12, ft, 1 1/4 lengths. QUICK HAMMER (c, 2, Mor Spirit--Malibu Cove, by Malibu Moon), picked up for just $100,000 out of the Fasig-Tipton Timonium Sale (:10 1/5) earlier this year, broke sharply from an outside gate, outpaced only by Warman Road (Unified) to his outside. Taken in hand, he rated patiently while racing two wide in company into the far turn with Space (Ghostzapper) until given his cue with just over a quarter mile to run. Still with a length...