Fog best option for California colt

Backbackbackgone follows the trail blazed by Lost in the Fog when he runs Saturday at Turf Paradise in the race named for the late champion sprinter of 2005.

The Lost in the Fog, for 2-year-olds, is one of three $50,000 stakes offered on the card, along with the Arizona Juvenile Fillies and the Kachina Handicap.

But it is the 6 1/2-furlong Lost in the Fog that will attract the most attention, as trainer Peter Miller hopes to use the race as a springboard to the $250,000 Sunshine Millions Dash for Backbackbackgone - just as Lost in the Fog did after setting a track record in a 14 3/4-length victory in 2004 in this race, then called the Arizona Juvenile.

Backbackbackgone, scratched as the 7-5 morning-line favorite in last week's one-mile Gold Rush at Golden Gate Fields, will be a solid favorite in a field of nine.

"I just decided that I'm going to wait and run him next week in either the Eddie Logan at Santa Anita or the Lost in the Fog at Turf Paradise," Miller said after scratching Backbackbackgone from the Gold Rush. "We drew the rail [in the Gold Rush] and it looked like there was a bunch of speed outside of us. I still think he could have won the race but I just decided I'd rather wait and run in one of the other races. Our main goal is the Sunshine Millions."

The Eddie Logan is a one-mile turf race, so Miller has chosen to sprint his colt again prior to the six-furlong Dash on Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park.

Backbackbackgone won his first three starts, capturing a Bay Meadows maiden race in his debut before winning the Willard Proctor at Hollywood Park. After a five-month layoff, he won the Jack Goodman at Santa Anita before finishing fifth after setting a pressured pace in the seven-furlong Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue on Nov. 23.

Although he has good speed, Backbackback-gone doesn't need the lead. He drew post 8, which should work to his advantage in case anyone inside him tries for the lead.

Glenn Corbett, battling for the lead in the Turf Paradise jockey standings, gets the call.

The field includes undefeated Wonder's Sensation, who hasn't run since Sept. 24 and meets the toughest field of his career. The stakes winner Albacore Bob, stakes-placed Spectaculartop and Hidden Bounty, plus Rockin Zola, who has won two straight, could also provide competition.

Earlier on the card, the undefeated 2-year-old filly Carlsbad, who won the filly division of the $54,832 Arizona Breeders' Futurity by 14 1/4 lengths on Nov. 29, will try to make it three in a row in the 6 1/2-furlong Arizona Juvenile Fillies. Carlsbad ran a faster time in the Arizona Breeders' Futurity than Clean Hit ran in the colt division, running six furlongs in 1:09.44 to his 1:09.88.

The field includes Chikazu, who beat colts in a stakes earlier this year, and Keyless, who was second in the Arizona Breeders' Futurity in her debut.

The one-mile Kachina Handicap for fillies and mares drew a competitive field. Star of Whitney, a multiple stakes winner, ran third in the Dec. 6 Queen of the Green Handicap on the turf in her first start in more than seven months. She's Sensational, a stakes winner on the California fair circuit, is also entered.