Golden Gate Fields: Specht calls for more stakes races

Trainer Steve Specht faced a difficult decision with the talented 3-year-old filly Marks Mine last weekend.

He did not want to run her against older males, so he didn’t even nominate her to the Oakland Stakes run at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday. He nominated her to Sunday’s 7 1/2-furlong, $100,000 Cat’s Cradle at Betfair Hollywood Park, but chose to run her that day in a one-mile turf allowance at Golden Gate Fields that was loaded with stakes-quality runners and probably was tougher than the Cat’s Cradle.

“I think it’s easier two turns going a mile than 7 1/2 around one turn,” he said. “And if a race is available at home, I’d rather stay there.”

Although she finished last in the field of five older fillies and mares, beaten 2 3/4 lengths by Halo Dolly, a multiple graded stakes winner on turf, Marks Mine turned in a solid effort.

“She just didn’t handle the turns,” Specht said. “There was too much fighting with [jockey Frank Alvarado]. The distance wasn’t an issue. The tight turns were. If she’d handled the turns better, I think they couldn’t have caught her. Frank just took care of her late, not pushing her just to beat one horse.”

Specht said he wonders why Golden Gate Fields doesn’t run more stakes. He noted that Marks Mine got to run in three sprint stakes during the summer fair season. There was only one Golden Gate Fields sprint stakes in 2013 for older fillies and mares. There were no main-track route stakes for fillies and mares in Northern California until the Pleasanton meet.

Although there are special allowance races such as Sunday’s, many of the races don’t fill. Specht said no one entered against Marks Mine when a race was offered earlier this meet. Specht said he realizes that horse inventory has a lot to do with it, pointing out that in years past, he couldn’t get races for top runners such as Gig Harbor and Lady Railrider.

Going back even further, retired trainer Greg Gilchrist once complained that his good sprinter Smokey Stover had 13 works between races before getting one to fill.

“If they’d make races like that stakes, they’d fill,” Specht said. “When you run these open allowance races, you won’t attract any horses from Southern California, but there are many horses, especially fillies and mares, in Southern California who would come up for stakes because the owners want black type.”

Halo Dolly’s victory was the 17th of her 35-race career, which also includes five seconds and four thirds. Nine of the wins have come in stakes. She also has two seconds and three thirds in stakes. Sunday’s victory increased her bankroll to $910,256. The 5-year-old Jerry Hollendorfer-trained mare is the first foal and the only winner for her unraced dam, Spanish Halo, a daughter of Comic Strip. Her sire is the Saint Ballado stallion Popular.

Buckridge is busy lady

Trainer Gloria Buckridge had a busy Sunday, rushing from the paddock to the grandstand and then to the winner’s circle several times. She won three straight races with Charming Topper ($30.20), Giannonatti ($13.20), and Playable Miss ($4.80), all from trainer Genaro Vallejo’s barn.

“I was just doing someone a favor,” said Buckridge, who has been the trainer of record for Vallejo’s stable for the past month while he served a suspension for a medical violation from April 2012. “He’s stabled in my barn, and it made it convenient for him, and I’m sure he’d help me if I needed it.”

Vallejo is now back at his barn. While he could not be on the grounds at Golden Gate Fields during the suspension, he was able to communicate with his crew and with Buckridge.

“He talked to me and let me know where he wanted to run his horses. I just entered them,” Buckridge said. “I had lots of smiles, and I guess [the three-win day] enhanced my record.”

Gallant Son still strong

Trainer Frank Lucarelli compared Gallant Son with the nursery-rhyme little girl with a curl right in the middle of her forehead – the one who, when she was good, was very, very good.

“He usually runs gangbusters three or four times and then tails off,” Lucarelli said after Gallant Son’s victory in the Oakland Stakes, his second straight win following almost six months on the sidelines. It was the 7-year-old horse’s eighth stakes victory.

Lucarelli knows the son of Malabar Gold well and knows what to do when he tails off.“We give him some time off, send him to the farm, bring him back in good spots like this, and he enjoys it,” Lucarelli said. “He’s always been a good horse, and he’s beaten a lot of good horses. And he’s still got some run in him.”

Given a perfect trip by Isaias Enriquez, Gallant Son scored by 2 1/2 lengths and earned a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

“When I asked him, he rebroke in the stretch,” Enriquez said. “He was very powerful. He’s a nice horse, an old pro that knows what to do. Frank has done a great job keeping him fit and happy.”

Gallant Son has won going two turns, but the Grade 3 Berkeley Handicap at 1 1/16 miles Nov. 29 probably comes up too quickly.“There are a few small stakes for him down South,” said Lucarelli, who saw Gallant Son win the Albany Stakes here last February.