Bob and Jackie noses Friar's Road in San Gabriel Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. - Bob and Jackie has spent his career racing on turf. In seven starts this year prior to Sunday, Bob and Jackie had been second in three stakes.

It turns out the 5-year-old horse Bob and Jackie is more versatile.

Making his debut on dirt, Bob and Jackie ($12) led throughout Sunday’s Grade 3 San Gabriel Stakes at 1 1/8 miles, holding off a sustained threat from 7-10 favorite Friar’s Road to win by a nose.

Ridden by Jose Valdivia Jr., Bob and Jackie took the lead shortly after the start and held a one-length advantage to the final furlong before Friar’s Road closed steadily to pose a challenge.

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“We were the speed of the race,” Valdivia said. “I had to use him. When he reached the front, he really settled.

“He had a lot left at the end.”

Bob and Jackie was timed in 1:53.51. The race was scheduled for turf, but switched to dirt because of persistent rain in the days leading to Sunday’s opening day of the track’s winter-spring meeting.

Friar’s Road, third in two Grade 2 turf stakes in October and November, finished a half-length in front of 5-2 Ready Soul, who was 17 lengths clear of the only other finisher, Indian Peak. Hit the Road, Majestic Eagle and Red Storm Risen were withdrawn after the surface switch.

The $196,000 San Gabriel Stakes was Bob and Jackie’s first win since the restricted Wickerr Stakes at a mile on turf at Del Mar in July 2020, a span of nine races.

Bob and Jackie was sixth of seven in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Del Mar in November. Last January, Bob and Jackie was second in the San Gabriel Stakes when the race was run on turf on the first weekend of this year.

Owned by Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran, Bob and Jackie has won 5 of 16 starts and has earned $484,631.

The San Gabriel is Bob and Jackie’s first graded stakes win, but the level of the race’s grade was uncertain as of Sunday. When graded stakes change surfaces, a Kentucky-based committee evaluates the race's quality in the days following a race to determine whether to leave the grade the same or downgrade the race one level. The race is automatically downgraded one level when a surface switch occurs.