G. G. Ryder, Summer Hit could meet again in All American

It looks like a rematch is in the offing for the Grade 3 All American at Golden Gate Fields on May 25.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said G. G. Ryder and stablemate Summer Hit, who ran one-two in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile last weekend, will be pointed to the one-mile All American on the main track.

G. G. Ryder ran down Summer Hit late to score his first graded stakes victory. Summer Hit suffered what track announcer Michael Wrona described as an “exasperating loss” in the San Francisco Mile for the third straight year.

“He’s a runner. He tries,” Hollendorfer said of G. G. Ryder, who has won 9 of 18 starts and is 4 for 5 on the Golden Gate Fields turf, where he also won the Alcatraz last year. Owned by Hollendorfer and longtime client George Todaro, the modestly bred California-bred is a son of Chhaya Dance and Stormy Gigi, neither of whom had a turf win.

G. G. Ryder is equally adept on both synthetics (11-5-3-1, $147,670) and turf (7-4-0-0, $167,444). He’s done his best running at Golden Gate, where he ran second in the Grade 3 Berkeley last fall on the main track.

As a prep for last year’s Alcatraz, Hollendorfer tried G. G. Ryder on turf, and he won, opening a wider range of opportunities.

“You never know till you try them on any surface,” said Hollendorfer.

G. G. Ryder will be staying in Northern California, said Hollendorfer.

“I think the program up here supports him,” he said.

The trainer was not as “exasperated” as might be expected after Summer Hit’s third straight narrow defeat in the San Francisco Mile. The 6-year-old Bertrando gelding, owned by Hollendorfer and John Carver, lost by a neck to Tigah in 2013, by three-quarters of a length to Pepper Crown in 2014, and by a half-length this year.

It’s a record that reminds locals of Bold Chieftain’s frustrations in the Berkeley, a race in which he ran second three straight years, losing by a head each time.

“He was coming off a layoff and had only a good sprint,” said Hollendorfer.

Jockey Ricardo Gonzalez, who gave G. G. Ryder a perfect ride, also won the Silky Sullivan with Grazen Sky on Sunday. He finished fifth aboard the favored Heat the Rocks later in the Campanile after choosing her over the winner, La Fiera, whom he had ridden in her previous two starts.

◗ First post shifts to 1:15 p.m. Pacific beginning Thursday. There will be 11:45 a.m. starts May 2 (Kentucky Derby Day), May 16 (Preakness Day), and June 6 (Belmont Day).