I'mgonnabesomebody, Lammas provide local hope in final San Francisco Mile

In the last year, the geldings I’mgonnabesomebody and Lammas have combined to win six races in Northern California, two of the more consistent performers in the circuit’s older horse division.

How that form translates into the deeper statewide rankings will be better known in Saturday’s Grade 3 San Francisco Mile on turf at Golden Gate Fields.

The $175,000 San Francisco Mile is the final stakes before the track’s scheduled closure on June 9. The race has a projected field of 13, including seven horses based in Southern California – Air Force Red, Astronomer, Balnikhov, Cathkin Peak, Coalinga Road, I’m A Gambler, and Sumpter.

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Balnikhov won the 2023 San Francisco Mile for trainer Phil D’Amato.

Lammas, trained by Manny Badilla for Ron Charles and Samuel Gordon, has won his last two starts in allowance races on the Tapeta synthetic main track at Golden Gate Fields since late February. In his last stakes appearance on turf, Lammas rallied from fourth of seven to win the Sam Spear Memorial Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Golden Gate Fields last September.

Lammas should have a pace to follow in a big field in the San Francisco Mile.

“He might be slightly better on the synthetic, but he couldn’t be training better,” Charles said on Wednesday.

Lammas, a 7-year-old English-bred gelding, won the Grade 3 Berkeley Handicap on the synthetic track in November 2022. The San Francisco Mile will be the graded stakes debut for Lammas, who has won 9 of 29 starts.

I’mgonnabesomebody has won three stakes at Golden Gate Fields in the last two years, including the 2022 Spear Memorial, his only career stakes win on turf. A 6-year-old gelding, he has finished third in his last two starts behind Lammas in allowance races on the synthetic track, closing some ground in the stretch.

A change in surface could lead to a brighter performance in the San Francisco Mile, trainer Bill McLean insists.

“He likes the turf,” McLean said. “He’s not really a Tapeta guy.”

Southern California stables have won the last six runnings of the San Francisco Mile. The last locally-based runner to win was Alert Bay, who won the race for the second consecutive year in 2017.

Alert Bay was trained by Blaine Wright, who this year starts the 4-year-old stakes winner Clovisconnection.

The San Francisco Mile is part of a program that includes a mandatory payout in the 20-cent Golden pick six. The bet begins the racing week on Friday with a carryover of $82,785.

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