Badilla has strong hand in Sunday races

As happy as trainer Manny Badilla was to get back to racing at Golden Gate this week, his mare Ziarah was probably happier.

“She’s tearing the barn down. She’s got to run, now,” Badilla said Friday morning. “She’s a monster.”

Ziarah will return to action in race 5 on Sunday, under similar conditions to which she won her last two starts before an enforced vacation – in a two-turn race on the main track, racing for a $62,500 claiming price in an optional claimer in which four of the six runners are using their second-level allowance condition.

Ziarah, 5, won those two prior races going one mile. On Sunday, she’ll try to go 1 1/16 miles, which shouldn’t be a problem, based on her stalking style, but the fact remains she finished out of the money in two previous tries at that distance. Ziarah got a Beyer Speed Figure of 83, just three points shy of her career best, when she won her last start March 14. Not long after, Golden Gate was ordered shut by government officials owing to the coronavirus pandemic. The track reopened Thursday.

Badilla also has Morning Cynn in race 5. She too has not raced since March 14, when she won a first-level allowance sprint. She has won three times in five starts since Badilla took over as her trainer after she relocated to Northern California, but she is trying two turns for the first time, and following a layoff of more than two months.

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“There were no sprints for her except for a stakes race in a couple of weeks,” Badilla said. “She loves this Tapeta.

“Her rider,” Badilla said, referring to Juan Hernandez, “thinks she can rate. The problem is, she’s running against the other tiger.”

Badilla will hope to end the day with a victory, as he sends out British import Fuente for his first start in this country in race 10, a first-level allowance going six furlongs. A winner on synthetic at Lingfield earlier this year, Badilla is understandably concerned over the rail draw for Fuente, being as Fuente had a habit of breaking poorly overseas.

“He’s worked well in the morning,” Badilla said. “We’ve done a lot of gate work with him, but the one hole is a big deal. When the gate opens, we’ll see what we’ve got.”

The 10-race card begins at 12:45 p.m. Pacific time.

Top rider Hernandez shakes off spill

Jockey Juan Hernandez, who went down in the final race on Thursday at Golden Gate when his mount Conquest Sabre Cat suffered a catastrophic injury on the turf, was scheduled to ride Friday after working a horse that morning, according to his agent, Ramon Silva.

“He’s ok, ready to ride today!!” Silva said in a text.

Hernandez was tossed to the turf when the 7-year-old gelding Conquest Sabre Cat was injured at mid-stretch of the one-mile race for $12,500 claimers. Hernandez was examined by the track’s first aid department on Thursday, according Matt Dinerman, who handles publicity duties for the track in addition to being the track announcer.

Hernandez is the runaway leader in the jockeys’ race at Golden Gate. Entering Friday’s card, he had won 102 races from 310 mounts, giving him more than twice as many victories as second-place William Antongeorgi.

Giant handle overall and in pick six

The return of racing at Golden Gate on Thursday following an absence of nearly two months, coupled with a clever mandatory payout to spark further interest in the card, led to a blockbuster day, with $8,743.690 being wagered on the nine-race card.

The Golden Pick 6, Golden Gate’s version of the Rainbow 6, had a carryover of $398,294 going into the card, and another $2,101,256 in fresh money was put into that pool.

Six winners out of six returned $6,188.84. There was one winning favorite in the sequence.