Bettor Trip Nick the one to catch in El Dorado Shooter Stakes

Bettor Trip Nick may have run too well when he won a six-furlong allowance race by two lengths at 7-1 on Feb. 6 at Golden Gate Fields in his first start in seven months.

Saturday, Bettor Trip Nick starts in the $75,000 El Dorado Shooter Stakes for California-breds at six furlongs at Golden Gate Fields, a race that will indicate whether the gelding has maintained his excellent form or regressed from the recent victory.

“That’s the big question,” trainer Jonathan Wong said Thursday. “Obviously, he ran a huge race off a long layoff. I wish we had a few more weeks.”

Owned by Gary Oetman and Ray Pagano, Bettor Trip Nick won the Gold Rush Stakes for 2-year-olds in 2019 when trained by Bill Delia. In 2021, Bettor Trip Nick won an allowance race and was winless in four stakes when trained by Quinn Howey.

After a fifth in the Oak Tree Sprint at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton last July, Bettor Trip Nick was given a rest.

“They wanted to give him some time off,” Wong said. “We’ve had him several months.”

In the Feb. 6 race, Bettor Trip Nick started for Wong for the first time. Bettor Trip Nick led throughout, holding an advantage of 1 1/2 lengths through the opening half-mile.

In the El Dorado Shooter, Bettor Trip Nick is expected to set the pace under jockey Brayan Pena.

“You can’t beat what you can’t catch,” Wong said.

Bettor Trip Nick could face pressure from In Our A, a 6-year-old gelding who was second by a nose in the El Dorado Shooter when the race was run last October. In Our A is winless in four starts since a win in a six-furlong allowance race last September.

A duel between Bettor Trip Nick and In Our A would work in favor of the red-hot Psycho Dar, who may go favored. Psycho Dar has won two allowance races or optional claimers this year in sprints since being claimed for $25,000 by current trainer Sam Calvario in December.

“The last two times, he’s run great races,” Calvario said. “The horse responded in the stretch.”

Golden Gate alters schedule

Golden Gate Fields has altered its racing schedule in early March, canceling racing on Saturday, March 5, in favor of a program on Monday, March 7.

Track general manager David Duggan said earlier this week the decision will allow Golden Gate Fields to take a prominent position in the simulcasting and account-wagering market on March 7 instead of being part of a crowded calendar on March 5 when tracks such as Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita have programs loaded with leading stakes.

“It’s a pretty busy day and pretty congested,” Duggan said of the March 5 simulcast menu. “We’re looking at new things. Let’s see how it goes.”

There will be a limited number of Thoroughbred tracks operating on March 7. Aside from Golden Gate Fields, the only other venue scheduled to race that afternoon in the western half of the country is Turf Paradise in Arizona.

According to Equibase, Turf Paradise handled more than $2.2 million on its Feb. 14 program. Duggan expects Golden Gate Fields to be better received.

“I’d be confident of eclipsing that,” he said. “I think we’ll do an awful lot better than on a busy Saturday when eyes are elsewhere.”