All in all, it was a relatively quiet weekend of mid-Atlantic racing. A week after Charles Town hosted its biggest day of the year — and Pimlico carded four stakes — Saturday’s lone Midlantic added-money event was Pimlico’s Geisha, for Maryland-breds. Celtic Katie took that event, bursting up the rail to win by five, giving trainer Chris Grove his fifth Geisha triumph (more here and here)…
Also in the Geisha, Steady N Love, a three year-old filly who was just outside of the top five in the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred/The Racing Biz Top Midlantic-Bred Poll, ran fourth of five against older fillies and mares, beaten nine lengths…
Trainer Mike Geralis earned the first win of his career — as the trainer of record, at any rate — when Bowman’s Boy rallied outside to win a five-furlong turf allowance on Saturday at Pimlico. The long-time right-hand man for Damon Dilodovico, he struck out on his own earlier this year and now has a record of 8-1-2-3…
Atlantic City announced attendance of more than 12,000 on Sunday — given that there is no turnstile count, the track’s official numbers are estimates, despite their exactness — a gaudy crowd come to see the steady stream of starter allowances on the grass. On-track handle topped $216,000. On Saturday, though the track did not report attendance, one person who was there described it to The Racing Biz as “mobbed,” and all-sources handle for six Saturday races went over $800,000…
Charles Town resumed live racing on Saturday, and, boy, were trainer Ronney Brown and rider Jose Montano happy to see it back. The two paired up to take both halves of the early double, with Curve Appeal taking the first and Mia’s Angel, the second, both as favorites. Montano has won 57 races at the track this year, eight more than J.D. Acosta in second; Brown is, with 40 wins, one behind Jeff Runco for the lead…
Only one of Penn National’s eight Saturday races was decided by less than three lengths. That race, a $4,000 claimer, went to Pick Four and jockey Andrew Wolfsont by three-quarters of a length over Saturday Dance…
One Penn race that wasn’t close was the sixth, a second-level allowance. Convoy Captain, a horse whose first seven starts netted just two third-place finishes, won for the fourth consecutive time for trainer Tim Woolley and Harry Kassap LLC and bumped his earnings above $90,000…
