Four hundred-granders on stakes schedule

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Two graded races and four races with minimum $100,000 purses highlight the race scheduled for the Bay Meadows fall meeting, which begins Oct. 18.

Nine stakes worth $725,000 have been listed by the Bay Meadows racing secretary, Tom Doutrich.

The Grade 3, $150,000 Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Handicap will be run for 3-year-olds & Up on Saturday, Oct. 28. The race is a 1 1/8-mile turf affair.

The Grade 3, $100,000 Bay Meadows Derby, also at 1 1/8 miles on the turf, will be run on Nov. 5.

Fillies and mares have two shots at $100,000 purses, the first coming opening weekend on Oct. 21, with the $100,000 William P. Kyne Breeders' Cup Express at six furlongs and the $100,000 California Distaff Turf Championship at one mile for older California-breds.

The stakes schedule includes a pair of six-furlong events for 2-year-olds, two other turf route stakes, and the Autumn Leaves, normally a turf race for older fillies and mares, which will be run on the main track this year.

Missing from the stakes schedule is a sprint for males, but Doutrich explains, "Some categories, like the sprint division, just don't have a lot of horses. What older sprinters do we have? There are bumps in the road this time of year."

Doutrich believes the Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Handicap could prove to be a solid race with Cal Cup the next day at the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita, meaning timing could be good to get a solid field.

"We have some good horses here and could get an interesting group from Southern California," he said.