Pleasanton: Three-stakes weekend

Three stakes, each worth $50,000, will be held during the holiday weekend at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, Calif.

Eight 3-year-olds will compete in Friday’s Livermore Valley Wines, a six-furlong sprint that has attracted the stakes winners Road Ready, Ain’t No Other, Mack’s Gold Bullet and Midnight Fiddle.

Eleven 2-year-old fillies were nominated to Saturday’s Juan Gonzalez Memorial Stakes, including City Route, who beat boys in the Lost in the Fog on June 11 at Golden Gate Fields. Local trainer Jeff Bonde, who has won several of Pleasanton’s 2-year-old stakes over the past few years, has nominated Attack the Jack, a maiden claiming winner in her debut here on opening day last Thursday, and the first-timers Fast City and Atticus’ Ghost.

Millionaire Bold Chieftain was among the early nominees for Monday’s Alamedan Handicap.

Trainer proves prophetic

Trainer Chuck Jenda said before last Saturday’s Alameda County Fillies and Mares Handicap that his 6-year-old mare Victoryasecret would relax and rate if someone wanted to gun to the lead against her. Jenda proved correct when Victoryasecret, normally a front-runner, relaxed just off the pace, sat quietly as favored Lady Railrider stuck her head in front at the quarter pole, and rallied through the lane to win.

Jockey Kevin Krigger said that being on the outside of pacesetter Sky High Hatty helped Victoryasecret to relax.

Victoryasecret, who set the pace to the final yards before being caught in last year’s Alameda County Fillies and Mares, might run next in the Luther Burbank at Santa Rosa, Jenda said.

◗ So Big Is Better scored a 10-length Arabian win Saturday, and the six-furlong race itself generated international attention as local news agencies and representatives from the United Arab Emirates were on hand for the race. The $7,000 purse included a $2,000 bonus from Sheikh Mansoor Bin Azyed Al Nahyan as part of the Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival. The sheikh is also offering bonuses in races at Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Fairplex and Fresno.