Northern California notes: Lucarelli starts Golden Gate meet with a bang

Frank Lucarelli couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Golden Gate Fields meet. On Saturday, he won the Miss America on the turf with Stormy Lucy. On Sunday, he sent out Gallant Son for the first time since a third-place finish in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile on April 27 and saw him win a six-furlong prep for the Nov. 16 Oakland Stakes.

Gallant Son, whose victory in the six-furlong Albany last February was his first main-track stakes win since the 2010 Grade 3 Inglewood, edged favored Moonshine Bay and Administer in a three-way photo Sunday.

The 4-year-old Stormy Lucy won last year’s Golden Poppy in her lone turf start here. She ran second in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks and third in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive before finishing 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

After seven months on the sidelines, she ran twice on the turf at Betfair Hollywood Park this year, then finished third in a six-furlong main-track sprint here Sept. 7 as a prep for the Miss America.

Lucarelli said he’d have to look for races down south now for Stormy Lucy.

“This horse is so much better on turf,” he said. “I was glad to see this race here, because it was a good race to get her back on her game.”

Stormy Lucy pulled away from favored Halo Dolly through the lane.

“Last year, she had a great kick, so I was hoping to see that again, and she did,” Lucarelli said. “Probably, she’ll run down south, but I haven’t really looked ahead because if she got beat I’d be looking at a whole different program.”

Isaias Enriquez, whose agent is Lucarelli’s brother, rode both winners.

Call him John Fresno Martin

Trainer John Martin is capable of putting together some amazing streaks. And he was white hot at the nine-day Big Fresno Fair meet, where he won the training title with 14 winners from 28 starts. He also had five horses run second and two more run third for a 75 percent on-the-board rate.

He saddled more winners than any single jockey rode and had nearly three times as many as the runner-up in the trainer standings, Michael Lenzini, who had 5 wins from 11 starts.

At the long winter-spring Golden Gate meet, Martin saddled winners at a 45 percent clip for the first two months of the meet and 72 percent of his runners in that period hit the board. That was despite starting that meet 0 for 5.

“It was fun,” Martin said of his Fresno experience. “I had a plan, and it all came together. We freshened everything up before the meet. I didn’t run a lot of horses at Stockton. It doesn’t surprise me. I got there and had a lot of live horses.

“I had the luxury of having a lot of horses, but you gotta get lucky. It’s hard to get that many doing well at the same time.”

Martin complimented trackman Steve Wood for the condition of the track.

“He had it beautiful, and I’m not saying that just because we won a lot of races,” Martin said. “He got a new harrow that picks up rocks, which really made a difference.”

Baze serving days

Russell Baze was on the sidelines opening day of the Golden Gate meet and will miss this week as well as next Thursday’s Halloween card while serving suspensions from two rides that led to disqualifications at Fresno. That means he’s sitting out six of Golden Gate Fields’ first nine days, although he should be able to ride in Saturday’s $100,000 Pike Place Dancer because it is designated as one of the races that suspended riders are allowed to participate in.

Fresno was a tough meet for Baze, who got a three-day suspension when Rock Solid Charm was disqualified from a win and placed second Oct. 5. Baze’s suspension was for Oct. 13 and 14 at Fresno and Oct. 17 at Golden Gate.

He did get to ride on Oct. 13 in the $75,000 Bull Dog, which was a designated race. He won the race aboard Positive Response but was disqualified to fourth for bumping Hudson Landing in the lane. He’ll sit the next five racing days for that infraction.

This is the second time Positive Response has been disqualified from a stakes win. He was moved from first to fourth in last year’s Grade 3 Berkeley Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.

Baze wound up second in the Fresno jockey standings with 10 victories. Leslie Mawing ended up with 11 wins.

◗ Twelve 2-year-old fillies were nominated to Saturday’s $100,000 Pike Place Dancer at one mile on the turf. None owns a turf victory, although Colonel Joan was third in the $100,000 Surfer Girl at Santa Anita and the maiden French Tart was second in her first try on grass. Considered definite for the race are Alasharchy, Come On Alannah, Purims Faith, and Time and Tides.