Racing action ramps up with opening of fall meet

Patrick Mackey survived his first summer meeting as Golden Gate Fields racing secretary, and he figures to have more to work with during the 36-day fall meet, which starts Thursday and ends Dec. 14.

With the race meet finished at Emerald Downs in Seattle and almost finished at Hastings in Vancouver, runners are arriving from Washington and Canada. Mackey also will have a larger population of 2-year-olds on the grounds and can take full advantage of the turf course.

Golden Gate has scheduled seven stakes for the fall meet, topped by the Grade 3, $100,000 Berkeley Handicap for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles. The Berkeley, which traditionally was run on the Friday after Thanksgiving, will be run on the Sunday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 30) this year.

“We did that in hopes of grabbing more attention for our Sunday crowd,” said Mackey. “Our biggest crowds are on Sundays, and we wanted to have our best card on that day.”

With the San Francisco 49ers not playing and the Oakland Raiders playing on the road, Golden Gate won’t lose fans to the NFL on Nov. 30.

“On closing day of the summer meet, the 49ers were playing that night, and both the Raiders and [San Francisco] Giants were home that afternoon, and our crowd dropped to close to 3,000,” he said.

The only other change to the stakes schedule is that the Pike Place Dancer, a one-mile turf race for 2-year-old fillies, had its purse cut from $100,000 to $75,000.

The 2-year-old series that continues into the California Derby and Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby next year remains in place. The six-furlong Golden Nugget will be run Nov. 8, followed by the one-mile Gold Rush on Dec. 6.

The stakes schedule begins Saturday with the $50,000-added Miss America for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on turf. Mackey is hopeful that the race will have at least 10 entries.

Mackey said Golden Gate hopes to honor the unbeaten Shared Belief, who is the probable favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, as well as California Chrome, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner. Shared Belief is trained by Jerry Hollendorfer at Golden Gate, and California Chrome is trained by longtime Northern California trainer Art Sherman.