Horse Racing Roundup : Derby-Bound Badger Land Wins at Hialeah

Kentucky Derby-bound Badger Land ran away to win the $300,000-added Flamingo Stakes by four lengths over Bolshoi Boy Saturday at Hialeah, Fla.

Jockey Jorge Velasquez held Badger Land, who went off at 1-5 odds, in second place behind Big Jolt for much of the race but turned him loose with three furlongs remaining.

Badger Land sprinted home unchallenged and finished the 1 1/8-mile race in 1:47.

Trainer Jeff Lukas said Badger Land’s next start will be in the Kentucky Derby.

Badger Land was a supplemental entry and parlayed the $15,000 supplemental fee into a $180,000 payday for owner Mel Hatley. The payoff was $2.60, $2.20 and $2.10.

Mogambo charged from third place in the stretch to pass Groovy 25 yards from the finish and win the $312,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Park in New York.

The victory moved Mogambo into the forefront of the Kentucky Derby picture along with Badger Land and Snow Chief.

Mogambo ran the mile in 1:34 3/5, which was 1 2/5 seconds off Secretariat’s Gotham record, and paid $9.60, $4.60 and $2.60.

Groovy was disqualified after the race for interference out of the gate and placed fifth. Tasso and 6-5 favorite Zambaleta were moved up to second and third.

In an earlier race at Aqueduct, jockeys Don MacBeth and Laffit Pincay were thrown from their horses. MacBeth was hospitalized overnight for minor injuries, but Pincay was not injured and rode Tasso in the Gotham.

Bordeaux Bob, a 30-1 shot, took the first step toward a shot at $2 million by winning the $155,400 Cherry Hill Mile by a half-length over Fobby Forbes at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, N.J.

The race was the first leg of a $2-million challenge for 3-year-olds. A horse winning either the Cherry Hill Mile or the $250,000 Garden State Stakes, plus the Kentucky Derby and the $1-million Jersey Derby will earn a $2-million bonus.

If the horse wins only the three New Jersey races, it will earn a bonus of $1 million.

John Ed Anthony of Fordcye, Ark., said Saturday night that his Eclipse Award winner, Vanlandingham, was injured and that his racing career is probably over.

Anthony said Vanlandingham was diagnosed by Dr. Gary Lavin as having a fracture of his left front pastern. The pastern is the part of the horse’s foot between the fetlock and the hoof.

Anthony said Vanlandingham came back lame after he ran second in the $143,500-added Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark., and that X-rays revealed the break.

Vanlandingham won the Eclipse Award for his season as a four-year-old when he won five of 10 races, including three Grade I Stakes.

The injury, Anthony said, would require three to five months of inactivity. “At this stage of his career, with stud duties committed in 1987, it would be virtually impossible to get him back to the races to accomplish anything,” he said.

Red Attack caught Vanlandingham in the final strides to win by a half-length. Red Attack, trained by A.J. Foyt III, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 and returned $23.40, $4.80 and $3.20.

West Tip, who four years ago escaped death in a road accident, won the $101,500 Grand National Steeplechase by two lengths at Aintree in Liverpool, England.

Richard Dunwoody, 22, the youngest jockey in the race, steered the 15-2 shot over the 4 1/2 miles and 30 fences on the course.

The 9-year-old West Tip, owned by Peter Luff and trained by Michael Oliver, overtook 66-1 outsider Young Driver, ridden by Chris Grant, on the 440-yard run from the final fence.

West Tip carries a foot-long jagged scar on its hindquarters after being hit by a truck while he was being exercised four years ago.