Pleasanton ready for new meet highlighted by six stakes

No matter where racing is conducted in Northern California, trainer Manny Badilla has a consistent approach in advance of stakes – no pre-race interviews.

After a race, Badilla freely enjoys discussing results, particularly on Wednesday, three days after Lammas won his third consecutive stakes on the circuit in the $68,350 Bull Dog Stakes at the Big Fresno Fair.

The Fresno meeting ended on Monday. On Saturday, the Golden State Racing meeting begins a nine-week run in Pleasanton, a late autumn replacement for Golden Gate Fields, which closed permanently in June.

The Saturday program includes the $75,000 Bart Heller Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on dirt. Badilla starts Breve, a winner of her last two starts in allowance races at Santa Rosa in August and Fresno last month.

Breve’s record will have to speak for itself. Badilla was not volunteering an opinion on Breve’s chances on Wednesday.

“I’m not going to talk to too much,” he said.

Lammas, though, is an easy subject for conversation. The 7-year-old gelding raced wide throughout the Bull Dog Stakes at 1 1/8 miles and won by a half-length as the even-money favorite, beating the Southern California shipper Coalinga Road.

A wide trip was ideal, Badilla said.

“That was the best part of the track,” he said. “All the inside was deep. It was a blessing in disguise.”

Badilla said Lammas “was a little tired” after the race. There are plans for a start in the $75,000 Mt. Diablo Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 16.

Lammas, who races for Ron Charles and Samuel Gordon, has won five of his last six starts since late February. His only loss in that span was a fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on turf on Aug. 31. In April, Lammas won the final stakes at Golden Gate Fields, the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile on turf.

The Bull Dog Stakes was the first start for Lammas since the Del Mar Mile. There are no short-term plans for any excursions to Del Mar or Santa Anita with the 7-year-old gelding.

“Not if I can stay here and kick butt with him,” Badilla said.

Badilla, 67, has 15 horses at Pleasanton, with more expected to return soon after being turned out. While entries for Saturday were being finalized as of late morning on Wednesday, Badilla said he hopes to have at least three runners on the opening day program.

Through the season, six $75,000 stakes are scheduled. Pleasanton has a dirt track only with no turf course, although there have been preliminary discussions about adding a turf course. Golden Gate Fields had a synthetic main track and a turf course used in the autumn until early December and in the spring, when the bulk of the region’s rainy season had ended.

There is an urgency within the Northern California racing community for a successful start to the Pleasanton meeting, which is run under the management of Golden State Racing, a consortium of northern owners, breeders, and trainers working with the California Authority of Racing Fairs.

“We’re ready. Heck ya,” Badilla said, echoing sentiments shared by many other owners and trainers.

The season continues through Dec. 15. This weekend, there is racing on Saturday and Sunday. A weekly Friday-through-Sunday format begins on Oct. 25.

Pleasanton is about 35 miles southeast of Golden Gate Fields, a more convenient trip for Bay Area horsemen than a lengthy commute of more than 2 1/2 hours to Fresno in the last five weeks.

“It’s a long way,” Badilla said. “That last drive home, I was loving it.”

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