Velazquez Adds to Saratoga Wins

Jockey John Velazquez, who holds the record for most wins in a Saratoga meet with 65, is off to another great start at the track in upstate New York.

The winner of the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top jockey in 2004, Velazquez tops the standings after the first five days and two of his three wins Saturday came in stakes.

A little more than an hour after guiding 2-1 favorite Sand Springs to a wire-to-wire victory in the $500,000 Diana Handicap, Velazquez rolled to an easy win aboard 1-2 choice Flower Alley in the $490,000 Jim Dandy.

In a race reduced to seven starters after longshots Finery and Spotlight and defending champion Wonder Again were scratched, Sand Springs got away with very slow fractions (24.38, 48.33 and 1:12.23 for six furlongs) en route to a 2 1/4 length win over 11-1 shot Que Puntual.

Winning for the ninth time in 24 starts and for the third time in five tries on the Saratoga turf course, Sand Springs, a 5-year-old Dynaformer mare trained by Bill Mott, ran the 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.91.

The win in the Jim Dandy, accomplished against a less-than-stellar field of 3-year-olds, was the third in a row for Velazquez. Trained by Todd Pletcher, the son of Distorted Humor won for the third time in seven outings. He completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.50.

Reverberate, the 5-1 third choice, finished 6 1/2 lengths clear of Andromeda’s Hero, the 4-1 third choice. Noble Causeway was scratched minutes before the start when jockey Jerry Bailey was unhappy with the way the colt warmed up.

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Chick McClellan, who worked for some well-known riders during his long career as a jockey agent, died Friday night in his home in Arcadia of an apparent heart attack. He was 86.

McClellan was a rider and a trainer before he became an agent.

A private funeral is planned and the family has asked that donations be made to the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund.

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Perfect Drift provided jockey Mark Guidry with one of his four victories Saturday at Arlington Park when he won the $300,000 Washington Park Handicap.

In winning for only the second time in 13 starts since the beginning 2005, the 6-year-old Dynaformer gelding and 1-2 favorite won by 4 1/2 lengths in a track record 1:54 1/5 for the 1 3/16 miles. It was the second win in the Washington Park, a Grade II, in three years for Perfect Drift, who is trained by Murray Johnson.

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Shining Energy, an 8-1 shot, gave trainer Julio Canani a sweep of the two stakes run at Del Mar when she won the $150,000 San Clemente Handicap. Earlier, Tsigane, a 6-year-old trained by Canani, ended an eight-race losing streak with a victory in the $75,000 Wickerr.

Making her first start since finishing seventh in the Senorita on May 8 at Hollywood Park, Shining Energy ran the mile on turf in the Grade II in 1:34.25.