I'll Have Another, sent to post at boxcar odds of 43/1, sprinted away from the pack at the top of the stretch on his way to a shocking upset in the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita Park. Empire Way finished second, while Groovin' Solo finished third under the wire. There was an inquiry following the race after Liaison got squeezed in the stretch, causing the horse to dump jockey Rafael Bejarano. Following the inquiry, Groovin' Solo was disqualified, moving Rousing Sermon into the third position and Isn't He Clever into the fourth spot.

I'll Have Another is a three-year-old son of Flower Alley out of an Arch mare (Arch's Gal Edith) trained by Doug O'Neill and ridden by Mario Gutierrez. The Lewis was his first race of 2012 after finishing 6th, 18 lengths back in the G1-Hopeful last September at Saratoga. Prior to that, he finished 2nd to Creative Cause in the G2-Best Pal at Del Mar.

The top three betting interests in the Lewis - Liaison, Rousing Sermon and Sky Kingdom - all ran poorly, keying large payouts across all wagers.

Payouts
Win: 4-I'll Have Another ($88.60, $35.80, $12.00)
Place: 7-Empire Way ($11.80, $6.20)
Show: 6-Rousing Sermon ($3.40)

$1.00 Exacta: $399.00
$1.00 Trifecta: $3,461.00
$0.10 Super: $1,855.42
$2.00 Daily Double: $552.20
$1.00 Pick 3: $944.30

Fractions below the jump...

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Battle Hardened, with nary a win to his name in three lifetime starts before this weekend, and bet down from a morning line of 12/1 to odds of 9/2, unleashed a long grinding run to win the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. Prospective and Reveron each took command of the race for a moment near the top of the stretch, but neither could hold off the winner, finishing second and third, respectively.

Prior to today's win, Battle Hardened came up empty in three tries against Maiden Special Weight company. His debut race occurred at Churchill Downs in October, where he finished 4th while running six furlongs. He improved a bunch when stretched out, finishing second in another Churchill MdSpWt in late November. His last effort came in December when he missed by a head at Gulfstream Park while going nine furlongs.

Battle Hardened is a three-year-old son of Giant's Causeway out of a Northern Fashion mare (Jen's Fashion) trained by Eddie Kenneally and ridden by Julien Leparoux.

Payouts:
Win: 3-Battle Hardened ($11.00, $5.60, $4.40)
Place: 11-Prospective ($5.20, $3.60)
Show: 10-Reveron ($3.60)

$1.00 Exacta: $31.00
$0.50 Trifecta: $92.35
$0.10 Super: $256.13
$1.00 Daily Double: $15.20

Fractions below the jump...

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Champion juvenile Hansen, Breeders' Cup runner-up Union Rags, and almost 400 other three-year-old were among the horses nominated to the 2012 Triple Crown, a 9.1% increase from 2011. Only 11 horses have ever won the Triple Crown, the last occurring in 1978 when Affirmed defeated his rival Alydar in all three races. The 33-year drought without a Triple Crown winner is the longest in history.

Not only has the Triple Crown eluded horses for the past three decades, but it's become in the last few years it's become rare that a horse even wins more than one leg of the series. Since Big Brown was defeated in the Belmont Stakes there have been ten different winners of the ten Triple Crown races. The last time we saw a similar stretch was between 1924 to 1929, when there were 18 different winners over 18 Triple Crown races. Gallant Fox broke the streak by winning the Triple Crown in 1930.

Previous Triple Crown winners:

Sir Barton - 1919
Gallant Fox - 1930
Omaha - 1935
War Admiral - 1937
Whirlaway - 1941
Count Fleet - 1942
Assault - 1946
Citation - 1948
Secretariat - 1973
Seattle Slew - 1977
Affirmed - 1978

The 2012 Triple Crown will take place over a period of five weeks, beginning with the Kentucky Derby on May 5th, continuing on with the Preakness on May 19th, and concluding with the Test of Champions, the Belmont Stakes, on June 11th.

Complete 2012 Triple Crown Nominations List

Despite racing four or five wide on both turns, Godolphin's Alpha cruised home to win the Grade 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct as the heavy 1/4 favorite. Long-shot Speightscity, sent to post at odds of 44/1, ran a huge race to finish second, while Tiger Walk rounded out the top three. Pacesetter How Do I Win faded to fourth.

Alpha has started off his three-year-old season in fine fashion by winning the Count Fleet and the Withers in back-to-back starts. As a juvenile, Alpha finished second to Union Rags in the G1-Champagne before running up the track in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs.

Alpha is a three-year-old son of Bernardini out of a Nijinsky II mare (Munnaya) trained by Kieran McLaughlin and ridden by Ramon Dominguez.

The payouts were fairly pedestrian given the presence of such a heavy favorite, with the exception of the return for a place bet on runner-up Speightscity, which came back at a fat $16.20 for a $2 bet.

Payouts:
Win: 7-Alpha ($2.70, $2.50, $2.10)
Place: 2-Speightscity ($16.20, $5.40)
Show: 6-Tiger Walk ($2.90)

$1.00 Exacta: $16.20
$1.00 Trifecta: $66.00
$0.10 Super: $19.05
$1.00 Grand Slam: $1.85
$1.00 Daily Double: $2.00
$1.00 Pick 3: $7.30

Race fractions below the jump.

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A trio of graded stakes races for three-year-old colts dot this weekend's graded stakes action, along with some nice races for older colts and fillies at Aqueduct, Santa Anita, Tampa, and Gulfstream Park. The three-year-old races will capture much of the attention but strong fields in the G2-Strub, G2-Arcadia, and the G3-Endevour make for a very nice start to Super Bowl weekend.

Let's take a look at some of the top action this weekend.

G2-Strub Stakes

There isn't a whole lot of speed in the Stub, which should greatly benefit the 6/5 morning line favorite, 7-Tapizar. After running a lackluster race in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, Tapizar rebounded nicely to dominate the G2-San Fernando at Santa Anita on Jan. 14^th. He's run well at this track in the past (3-2-0-0) but will be trying nine furlongs for only the second time in his career. His other attempt at this distance was a 5^th place finish in last year's Robert Lewis Stakes. If Tapizar is able to shake free of 4-Ultimate Eagle (9/2) in the early stages he will be awfully tough to catch.

1-Jaycito (4/1) has yet to show that he can run a big race on conventional dirt and, even more important, he's hasn't recorded a victory since winning the G1-Norfolk in October of 2010. He's coming off of another extended break suggesting that this colt has trouble staying in top physical condition. Those 4/1 morning line odds seem awfully low for a colt with as many questions as Jaycito.

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Godolphin's Alpha, winner of the Count Fleet Stakes on January 7th, leads a field of seven in the Grade 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday afternoon (Post time: 4:05pm ; TV: TVG & HRTV). The Withers is Alpha's fifth lifetime start, following a score against Maiden Special Weight's at Saratoga last September, a 2nd place finish in the G1-Champagne to Union Rags in early October, and a disappointing 11th place finish at the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. His first race of 2012, the aforementioned Count Fleet, Alpha wore down pacesetter Il Villano inside the final furlongs to win by a relatively easy two and a half lengths.

Alpha, like the winner of last Sunday's Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park, is a three-year-old son of Bernardini. He is out of a Nijinsky II mare (Munnaya) and most of his siblings spent their racing career in England or France.

Alpha followed up his victory in the Count Fleet with a blistering five furlong bullet work on Jan. 30th over the Belmont training track.

Two shippers from Laurel Park may provide the toughest test for Alpha in the Withers. 1-Hakama won a maiden race at Aqueduct before heading to Laurel to score in an $40k OC/N1X event in gate to wire fashion. He probably won't get any breaks in the early going but he's shown the ability to stretch his speed over two turns.

6-Tiger Walk also ships in from Lauren after defeating optional claimer/N1X company; prior to that score he ran primarily on the lawn. The son of Tale of the Cat didn't crush that field at Laurel but it was a nice workmanlike effort in his first dirt try, especially when you consider that he was wide throughout the race. There isn't any Trakus at Laurel so it's a guess as to how much ground he lost over the entire race, but there is no doubt that he ran much further than the runner-up, Service for Ten. His maiden score wasn't too shabby as the second place horse came back to win against Maiden Special Weights at Aqueduct in late November.

5-How Do I Win finished well behind Alpha in the Count Fleet but has shown enough flashes of talent in his prior races to be a contender in this race. Anything coming from Pletcher in a graded stakes race like this has to be respected, especially if the horse has shown some decent form on prior occasions.

The New York-bred 3-Swag Daddy will try non-restricted company for the first time in his career for trainer Richard Dutrow. Dutrow is winning at a 37% clip during the current Aqueduct meet.

4-King Kid ran a decent third to Reveron and Casual Trick in the ungraded Gulfstream Park Derby back on New Year's Day. Any improvement off of that race would put him right in the thick of the contenders in the Withers.

Below are the entries and post positions for Saturday's Withers Stakes.

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