Golden Gate Fields: Numbers in Hollendorfer's favor for Corte Madera

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer sends out three of the six 2-year-old fillies in Saturday’s $75,000 Corte Madera Stakes at Golden Gate Fields, a race that should start to separate the sprinters from the routers among those being pointed for the Jan. 21 California Oaks.

A one-mile race on Tapeta, the Corte Madera follows the six-furlong Golden Gate Debutante in Golden Gate’s series for fillies foaled in 2009, culminating in the 1 1/16-mile Oaks.

Hollendorfer saddles Lady of Fifty, who won the Nov. 5 Golden Gate Debutante; Sweet Nothings, a maiden winner going a mile on turf on Nov. 19; and Hennessy River, who is unbeaten in two starts.

Lady of Fifty went wire to wire in the Debutante and tries to stretch her speed two turns in the Corte Madera. Lady of Fifty refused to let Corte Madera rival Power of Nine past her in the stretch in the Debutante.

Kevin Krigger rode Lady of Fifty in the Debutante and will be back aboard on Saturday. He points out that she stalked the pace in her first two starts, which included a winning debut going six furlongs at Santa Rosa, and thinks she can do that again in the Corte Madera.

“Lady of Fifty is huge,” said Krigger. “I’m sure she’ll be happy going two turns.”

Power of Nine won the Wine Country Debutante at Santa Rosa and stalked Lady of Fifty all the way around the track in the Debutante. That race was her first in nine weeks, and she could improve on Saturday.

The Hollendorfer-trained fillies will have their hands full with My Gi Gi, who was second in a one-mile turf stakes at Louisiana Downs in her second start before moving to California and joining trainer Brian Koriner’s barn. She was fourth in the Grade 1 Oak Leaf Stakes on the Santa Anita dirt in October, and then ran 12th after a poor start in the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4.

My Gi Gi has had two drills since her Breeders’ Cup try and will be meeting much easier in this spot. Frank Alvarado rides.

Sweet Nothings is the only other member of Saturday’s field to have competed around two turns. She won her maiden on yielding turf, but she has run well on the Golden Gate Tapeta before, having missed by a half-length in a one-mile maiden race in September.