Tracksideview.com staff report

Tin Cup Chalice proved he belonged in graded company when he went wire to wire to win the Grade 2 Indiana Derby on Saturday at Hoosier Park in Anderson, Ind. Pyro was second and Acai was third.

Francis LaBelle Jr.
Belmont Park

Vineyard Haven stamped himself as powerhouse in his division, as he withstood early pressure from A.P. Cardinal and then ran away from the field Saturday afternoon for an impressive 5¾-length victory in the 137th running of the Grade 1, $400,000 Champagne for two-year-olds at a mile on Belmont Park’s fast main track.

Jenny Kellner
Belmont Park

Watching Sky Diva starting to roll past the competition as the field of 10 2-year-old fillies straightened for home in the Grade 1, $400,000 Frizette Saturday afternoon at Belmont Park, trainer Steve Klesaris went from feeling cautiously optimistic to downright positive in a matter of moments.

Ron Correll
Senior columnist

Square Eddie, who was making his first appearance in the United States, won the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity on Saturday at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky. The mile-and-a-sixteenth affair for 2-year-olds was a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In’ race.

Tracksideview.com staff report

Peppers Pride stands alone with 17 straight wins for a North American thoroughbred after taking an optional-claiming race on Saturday at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M. She broke a record that she held with Citation, Cigar, Mister Frisky and Hallowed Dreams.

Francis LaBelle Jr.
Belmont Park

IEAH Stable and WinStar Farms’ Court Vision rolled to the lead off the turn and held off the inside threat of favored Gio Ponti on Saturday afternoon to win the 59th running of the Grade 2, $250,000 Jamaica Handicap for three-year-olds at nine furlongs on the inner turf course at Belmont Park by three-quarters of a length.

(Edited Oak Tree at Santa Anita report)

ARCADIA, Calif., – Following second and third-place finishes in her first two United States starts, New Zealand-bred Exquisite broke through with a winning effort at Santa Anita Friday when she gamely withstood a pair of stretch challenges to take Oak Tree’s $50,200 allowance feature for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Laurie Ross
Tracksideview.com

IRON MAIDENS
Saturday, October 4, 2008– Belmont – Frizette and Champagne

Laurie Ross
Tracksideview.com

Friday, Oct. 3, 2008 – Keeneland
Darley Alcibiades Stakes Grade: 1
Race 9 |1 1/16 Miles | Fillies | 2 YO Stakes | Purse: $500,000

(Edited NYRA report)

There are those who would rather be lucky than good, but Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel doesn’t subscribe to that theory – at least as far as Vineyard Haven is concerned. In a race that had more trouble lines than a country-western song, the two-year-old son of Lido Palace proved to be both lucky and good in winning the Grade 1 Three Chimneys Hopeful at Saratoga Race Course.