The Usual Q T held off a charge from favorite Battle of Hastings to win the $300,000 Hollywood Derby for his fifth straight victory on Sunday at Hollywood Park.

Ridden by Victor Espinoza, The Usual Q.T. was third in the field of a dozen 3-year-olds for most of the 1 1/4-mile turf race, moved up to second coming out of the turn and kicked clear of the field to win in 1:59.69.

The Usual Q.T. paid $11.40, $5 and $4. Battle of Hastings paid $4 and $2.80. The longest shot in the field Acclamation briefly had the lead in midstretch, but had to settle for third and paid $18.60 to show.

A California-bred gelding trained by James Cassidy for owner Don Van Racing, Inc., The Usual Q.T. took six races to break his maiden but has not lost since. He earned $180,000 Sunday to raise his career total to $406,670.

The victory came on Zenyatta Day at Hollywood Park, in which the undefeated mare took a final jog and got a final round of applause at her home track in front of a crowd that included owners Jerry and Ann Moss, trainer John Shirreffs, jockey Mike Smith and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Zenyatta is heading to retirement with a 14-for-14 record that included a win over males in the $5 million Breeders Cup Classic on Nov. 7.

Earlier Sunday, The Mailet rallied to beat In the Slips by a half-length to win the $100,000 Miesque Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.

Ridden by Joel Rosario for trainer Bruce Levine, The Mailet covered one mile on turf in 1:35.05 and paid $25.40, $9.40 and $6. In the Slips paid $5 and $3.40. The favorite, Connie and Michael, was another half-length back in third and paid $3 to show.

Borrowing Base, the only mare in field, upset Atoned by three quarters of a length Sunday in the $67,250 Power Lunch Stakes at Aqueduct.

Alan Garcia was aboard as Borrowing Base moved into contention with a four-wide surge on the final turn. The 6-year-old continued the rally through the lane, edging past the 1-5 favorite Atoned, who had grabbed a narrow lead in midstretch.

Trained by Patrick Quick, Borrowing Base got her seventh win in 56 starts, paying $28.60, $5.90 and $4.20. Atoned returned $2.60 and $2.10, while Janes Kid paid $4.80 to show.

The time was 3:03.92 for the 1 3/4 miles on the fast track.

Vodka has become the latest female to win a big horse race with a narrow victory in the $5,9 million Japan Cup.

The 5-year-old mare held off Oken Bruce Lee by a nose before a cheering crowd of more than 98,000 at Tokyo Race Course on Sunday.

Vodka is Japans reigning Horse of the Year and had come up short in the last two Japan Cups before her breakthrough victory in 1.5-mile race on turf.

Vodkas win follows several top efforts by female stars against male horses, such as Zenyattas victory in the Breeders Cup Classic and Rachel Alexandras wins in the Preakness and the Woodward.

Vodka was the favorite in the field of 18. Two-time Breeders Cup Turf winner Conduit was fourth.

The winner earned $2.8 million and boosted her career earnings to $13 million.

The debt crisis in Dubai was being closely monitored Friday by buyers and sellers of high-end racehorses, but there was no immediate indication Dubais ruler would scale back his enormous financial ties to the industry in the United States and elsewhere.

The emirates ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and his family have been among the highest spenders at major American thoroughbred auctions dating to the 1980s, often paying millions of dollars for top bloodstock even during market downturns such as the current one.

Dubai World, the main investment arm of the Middle Eastern city-state, is asking for at least a six-month delay on paying back a nearly $60 billion debt. It was unclear what effect the countrys debt crisis would have on the sheiks horse racing and breeding interests and whether the American thoroughbred market would feel any repercussions.

Weve seen no sign that its going to have any impact, and we certainly hope theyre able to work their way through the situation, said Nick Nicholson, president of Keeneland, a Lexington racetrack and auction house where the sheik is a major horse buyer and regularly attends sales.

Sheik Mohammed has been a longtime horse enthusiast. He is one of the worlds premier endurance riders and is married to Princess Haya of Jordan, president of the International Equestrian Federation.

In 2001, he bulked up his horse operations in the United States with the purchase of Jonabell Farm in Lexington. Among the top stallions stabled there are 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense and his sire, Street Cry, 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini, and Medaglia dOro, who sired Rachel Alexandra, winner of this years Kentucky Oaks and Preakness Stakes.

Oliver Tait, chief operating officer at Jonabell, declined to comment Friday about the debt crisis except to say that operations at the farm hadnt changed.

Its business as usual, Tait said. Our object has remained the same. Were carrying on.

Seven horses owned by the sheiks Godolphin Racing stable have run in the Kentucky Derby, including Desert Party and Regal Ransom this year. The highest finish for a Godolphin horse in the Derby is sixth, by China Visit in 2000.

Mohammeds goal of winning a Derby has been amplified in recent years with some record-shattering purchases of not just stallions but also mares, including Playful Act, which he bought in 2007 at Keeneland for an unprecedented $10.5 million.

Sheik Mohammed obviously has a passion for thoroughbred racing, said Case Clay, president of Three Chimneys Farm in Lexington. Im guessing the money hes using to buy is small potatoes compared to whats going on over in Dubai. If it all falls down in Dubai, I think he still has disposable income to enjoy horse racing.

In this months recently concluded Keeneland sale, however, neither Mohammed nor his representative John Ferguson participated, even though the sale featured the dispersal of about 150 horses that belonged to the great Kentucky horse breeding operation, Overbrook Farm.

I think many of us were surprised given some of the pedigrees we were selling, said Ric Waldman, who served as Overbrooks stallion consultant.

Waldman said he didnt know if the sheiks absence from the November sale had anything to do with the debt crisis.

The influence of Dubai on horse racing extends far beyond the sheiks individual interest. Last year, a company headed by one of his close associates purchased Fasig-Tipton, the other major horse auction house in Lexington.

Dubai each year also hosts the worlds richest horse race, the Dubai World Cup. A world-class racecourse seating 60,000 people is being planned for next years event.

Meydan, the company spearheading that project, also is a top sponsor of next years World Equestrian Games in Lexington. Jamie Link, CEO of the World Games 2010 Foundation, said he expects Dubais financial troubles will have no effect on that commitment.

Fluke beat Ever a Friend by a length in an emotional upset to win the $300,000 Citation Handicap race at Hollywood Park on Friday.

The Brazilian-bred Fluke, the sixth choice at odds of 9-1, was trained by Humberto Ascanio, who took over the late Bobby Frankels stable after the Hall of Fame trainer died on Nov. 16.

The 4-year-old horse, ridden by Joe Talamo, ran the 9 1/2 furlongs in 1:40.48, and paid $20, $7.80 and $4.40. Ever a Friend returned $6 and $3.80. Cowboy Cal paid $3.20 to show.

The race was worth $180,000 to the winner and boosted Flukes career earnings to $308,348.

Steeplechase and hurdles racing in Australias Victoria state will end after the 2010 season following the deaths of 20 horses over the past two years.

Racing Victoria said Friday a program of weight races will be scheduled for the 2011 season to help steeplechase jockeys, trainers and horses go through the transition. It came after animal rights groups had led a recent campaign to have the racing stopped.

The decision means the three-day Grand Annual Steeplechase carnival in Warrnambool in southeast Victoria next May will be its last after 138 years.

Neighboring South Australia, the only other state in Australia to conduct jumps racing, said it would continue with such racing events in March 2010 and hoped to attract trainers and horses from Victoria for its program.

Racing Victoria chairman Michael Duffy said it was an extremely tough decision for the board.

The board could not allow jumps racing to wither on the vine or, worse still, become the victim of an immediate knee-jerk ban at some future point in time, Duffy said.

Racing Victoria adopted all the essential safety recommendations made by Judge David Jones in his 200-page Jumps Racing Review, which was delivered in December of last year. Despite the changes, eight horses died in jumps races this season, after 12 were killed last year.

Country Racing Victoria chief Scott Whiteman said the decision was unbelievable.

We are absolutely gutted by the decision and we cant believe it, Whiteman said.

RSPCA Victorian president Hugh Wirth said the animal rights group had battled against jumps racing since 1980.

Its taken a long time, but this couldnt be better news, he said. Despite large numbers of reviews which have always backed jumps racing, the writing has been on the wall for some time now.

Wirth said the RSPCA would prefer jumps racing to end immediately instead of being allowed to continue next year, but it agreed those involved should be given a years notice.

The difficulty for us is its another year of jumps racing and there will be horses injured and horses killed, Wirth said.

Ira Babe Hanford, who as an 18-year-old apprentice rode 20-1 shot Bold Venture to victory in the 1936 Kentucky Derby, has died. He was 91.

He died Saturday in Ocala, Fla., following a long illness, said Virginia Hanford, his wife of 67 years. He was the oldest-living jockey to have won the Derby and the first apprentice to have done so.

Hanford did not get a chance to ride Bold Venture in the Preakness because racing officials suspended him for 15 days following the Derby. He retired in 1953 without running in another Derby. He is one of 22 jockeys to win the Run for the Roses in their only appearance.

Its something that once you win, it never gets taken away, Virginia Hanford told The Associated Press by phone on Wednesday. Its something that he always held very close to him.

Hanford said officials never told him why he was suspended, along with two other jockeys. During an interview with the AP in 2006, Hanford said he suspected it had to do with the rugged nature of the sport at the time.

Ive always assumed it was for knocking down a horse, he said. I heard a few years ago that I was suspended for crossing over somewhere on the backside.

Back then, the starting gate didnt have front or rear doors to lock the horses in a somewhat uniform line. They were led in and stood there until a bell rang.

Hanford looked to his right and saw Bien Joli standing at an angle and about a neck in front of him and Bold Venture. He called out to jockey Lester Balaski to straighten his horse.

I didnt get horse out of the mouth and the bell rang, said Hanford, who as an apprentice got to carry less weight than senior riders. When he made the first or second jump out of the gate, he hit me and turned me almost sideways.

Hanford and Bold Venture careened to the left and into Granville, knocking jockey Jimmy Stout to the ground.

That was a hell of a bump that I got and so did he, Hanford said. Bold Venture got a going over leaving the gate as bad as anybody, but he was very agile and he collected himself good. By the time I got to the first turn, he was maybe six or seven lengths off the lead.

Bold Ventures trainer Max Hirsch replaced Hanford with George Woolfe for the Preakness, which the horse won. Bold Venture did not run in the Belmont.

In addition to his wife, Hanford is survived by older brother Carl, who trained five-time Horse of the Year Kelso.

Jamaica will for the first time allow horse racing on Sundays in a bid to revive the economy and draw tourists, but will ban off-track betting on the day.

The decision to allow races on Sundays - the first meeting will be this weekend - came despite ardent opposition from church leaders who argued it would lead to gambling addictions and bankruptcies. But the Reverend Michael Shim-Hue, chairman of Jamaicas Pentecostal Union, said leaders are satisfied with the ban on off-track bets.

Horse racing officials plan to fight the decision that off-track betting parlors close on Sundays.

Information Minister Daryl Vaz said on Wednesday he will meet with promoters and decide whether the ban will remain in place for a second race scheduled on Dec. 13.

When the government debated whether to allow Sunday races, Finance Ministry spokesman Arthur Williams said it would help revive the islands struggling economy and attract more tourists.

Races are usually held on Wednesdays and Saturdays, drawing thousands of spectators who bet on horses with names such as Explosive Cat and Super Dave.

Kingstons Caymanas Park is the islands only thoroughbred track, and promoter Caymanas Track Limited owns 62 off-track betting parlors.

Spokesman Christopher Armond said he was disappointed by the off-track betting decision and will push to reverse the ban.

Sheltered held off a late charge by Lemon Twirl to win the $49,655 feature race by a nose at Churchill Downs on Wednesday.

Ridden by Julien Leparoux and trained by Paul McGee, Sheltered covered the mile on firm turf in 1:36.86.

The 4-year-old Kentucky bred paid $15, $8 and $5.40. The victory was worth $31,375 and increased her career earnings to $119,032.

Lemon Twirl returned $7 and $5.80 to place, and Brezing Rain paid $4 to show.

Jockey Garrett Gomez, who was banged up in a spill over the weekend, returned to the winners circle on Wednesday with a seven-length victory aboard betting favorite Conveyance in a $38,000 allowance feature at Hollywood Park.

Conveyance, a 2-year-old colt, covered six furlongs in 1:09 and paid $3.20, $2.40 and $2.10. Joyful Success returned $4.20 and $2.40. Majestic Afleet paid $2.10 to show.

Conveyance earned $22,800 to boost his career earnings to $44,400.

Gomez escaped serious injury Saturday when his mount, a 2-year-old filly named Bonnie Brown Eyes, broke down in the stretch, sending him to the ground. The horse later died.