Large fields anticipated at Golden Gate fall meet
Golden Gate Fields racing secretary Patrick Mackey is about to begin an eight-month grind of filling races, but he’s looking forward to the 32-day fall meeting that begins Thursday at the Albany, Calif., track and continues through Dec. 13.
“Our horse population is at its highest this time of year,” he said. “Trainers bring horses down from Washington, and we have a lot of new trainers here.”
The fall meet provides a perfect setup for the winter-spring meet that begins the day after Christmas and is highlighted by the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby, an early Kentucky Derby prep.
The fall meeting includes four stakes for 2-year-olds: the $75,000 Pike Place Dancer at one mile on turf for fillies Nov. 1, the $50,000 Golden Nugget at six furlongs Nov. 7, the $50,000 Golden Gate Debutante at six furlongs for fillies Nov. 28, and the $75,000 Gold Rush at one mile Dec. 5.
Mackey also will offer trainers a number of maiden races and allowances to get their 2-year-olds prepared for the 2015 stakes and their 3-year-old campaigns.
The meeting’s premier race, the $100,000, Grade 3 Berkeley Handicap, will be run at 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 29.
Mackey is hopeful that the meet can get off to a good start with large fields.
Due to a scheduling irregularity, Golden Gate’s summer meet included a two-week break for the Stockton fair meeting, then two weeks back at Golden Gate, followed by the past two weeks at Fresno. In most years, the Stockton and Fresno meets run back to back.
“We had a lot of people stay put here,” said Mackey. “They’d run, take a [two-week] break, run, and take another [two-week] break. The little breaks on the turf helped, too.”
California’s drought conditions are expected to change with plenty of rain because of El Niño conditions this winter, and Mackey said the track has been readying for wet weather. One of the primary concerns is the track’s drainage system, which Mackey said has been inspected and cleaned.
“We stay on top of that constantly, but most synthetic tracks tighten up when they get wet,” he said.
The meet will mark the return of apprentice David Lopez, who had 70 victories and was fourth in the standings before fracturing his back in June. He’ll be going up against perennial champion Russell Baze as well as Juan Hernandez and Ricardo Gonzalez.
John Martin scored his first Golden Gate training title during the 19-day summer meeting, snapping Jerry Hollendorfer’s stranglehold on the training title. It was the first time since the 2011 summer meeting that Hollendorfer had not won the title.