Fashionably Fast seeks Harris Farms Stakes triple

Fashionably Fast was vanned from Santa Anita to Fresno on Wednesday afternoon for Saturday’s $75,000 Harris Farms Stakes at the Big Fresno Fair.

It’s a path, and a race, the 7-year-old gelding knows well.

Fashionably Fast was second by a head in the 2018 Harris Farms Stakes and won the race in 2019 and 2021. Coming off a hard-fought win in an allowance race at Del Mar on Aug. 27, Fashionably Fast has the form to win the Harris Farms Stakes for a third time, according to trainer Dean Pederson.

“To get a three-peat in any race is quite an accomplishment,” Pederson said. “You have to have longevity and consistency.”

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Owned by John Harris, who owns Harris Farms, in partnership with Per Antonsen and John Nicoletti, Fashionably Fast ended a five-race losing streak with the win at Del Mar. His last victory had come in the 2021 Harris Farms Stakes.

“He showed that old spark,” Pederson said. “It wasn’t like he was running bad races, he just wasn’t winning. He hasn’t lost his competitiveness.

Fashionably Fast won by a head over Letsgetlucky, who was a neck in front of Howbeit. On Oct. 1, Howbeit won the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

In the Harris Farms Stakes, Fashionably Fast is part of a field of seven that includes several accomplished sprinters based in Northern California.

Top Harbor, second in the 2021 Harris Farms Stakes, will have his first start since a win in the El Dorado Shooter Stakes for statebred sprinters at Golden Gate Fields last October. Trained by Tim McCanna, Top Harbor has worked quickly for his return.

Other runners include Cool Mountain Lad and Ultimate Bango, who were first and second in the Oak Tree Sprint at six furlongs at Plesanton in July, and Psycho Dar, the sharp winner of an allowance race at five furlongs on turf at Golden Gate Fields on Sept. 16.

Fashionably Fast is likely to track expected pacesetter Good Vibes Only, who will have his stakes debut on Saturday.

“I think he’s better that way, having a target to run at,” Pederson said. “I hope we get a clean trip.”

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