San Francisco Mile win highlight of Paszkeicz's big week

Winning the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile last Saturday with Pepper Crown – a horse he bred, owns, and trains – would by itself have given Alex Paszkeicz an unforgettable week. But Paszkeicz wasn’t done.

On Sunday, Paszkeicz won a maiden race with Pepper Crown’s younger full brother, Pazmeifucan. Earlier in the week, He’s a Pepper, a 2-year-old full brother to Pepper Crown and Pazmeifucan, arrived at Paszkeicz’s barn in Pleasanton, where he will soon get his first official work.

Pepper Crown scored a $94.20 upset in the San Francisco Mile, giving Paszkeicz the first stakes victory of his training career.

Pepper Crown had run third to then-stablemate Pepnic in a March 30 prep for the Mile. Pepnic was claimed from Paszkeicz for $62,500 in that race and went off as the 8.50-1 fourth choice in the Mile. But Pepnic ended up sixth in the Mile, while Pepper Crown and jockey Abel Cedillo ran down the favored Summer Hit to win the $100,315 race by three-quarters of a length as the longest shot on the board.

Pepper Crown, 4, has raced only 10 times and won five times. Pepper Crown won for a $25,000 tag in a Santa Rosa maiden race last summer, then won a starter allowance there and finished second in an allowance at Golden Gate Fields before going to the sidelines in September with what Paszkeicz thought might be a bowed tendon. He returned to racing in January and has improved right along.

Both Pepper Crown and Pepnic are by Peppered Cat, whom Paszkeicz claimed from Jerry Hollendorfer in 2004. Paszkeicz, 78, recalled that he won a 12-way shake for Peppered Cat after the 4-year-old equaled the Golden Gate Fields 5 1/2-furlong track record of 1:02.17 with a 15-length victory in a $4,000 claimer.

Though Peppered Cat never won again, he had three seconds and a third in six starts for Paszkeicz and ran for the last time in January 2005.

Paszkeicz purchased Pepper Crown’s dam, Crown This Lady, from a sale at Pleasanton as a yearling in 2006. She had a win, a second, and a fourth in three starts as a 3-year-old before being retired.

Although the San Francisco Mile was run on turf, Pepper Crown has won twice on Golden Gate’s Tapeta main track, and he might run next on it in the Grade 3 All American on May 26, Paszkeicz said.

As for Summer Hit, the beaten favorite in the San Francisco Mile, he ran well considering that he was pressured on the lead for most of the race.

Summer Hit also was second in the Mile last year before winning the All American and the Grade 3 Berkeley at Golden Gate.

Third-place finisher Hudson Landing might meet Pepper Crown again in the All American.

“I think his races on synthetics have been better than on turf of late,” said his trainer, Blaine Wright.

Oak Tree partnership seen as positive

The California Horse Racing Board last week granted the Oak Tree Racing Association a license to operate the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton. Officials for both organizations – as well as for the California Authority of Racing Fairs – see the action as a good thing for racing in the state.

Conducting the Pleasanton race meet, which runs for three weeks beginning June 19, keeps the nonprofit Oak Tree Racing Association in the sport. Oak Tree has conducted race meets at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park over the past five decades and contributed revenue to medical research, backstretch charities, and other industry causes.

“We’re both nonprofits,” said Alameda County Fair chief executive Jerome Hoban. “They have made a contribution to the success of the industry, and we can join with them to make improvements in racing here.”

California Authority of Racing Fairs executive director Chris Korby said: “Oak Tree has a great legacy of quality racing and service to the racing industry. It’s a very attractive partner and can create a new perception of racing in Northern California.”

Sherwood Chillingworth, Oak Tree’s executive vice president, said: “Our emphasis is on racing. We think this is a spot to help keep racing going.”

He hopes the Oak Tree brand can help not only the Pleasanton meeting but also racing in Northern California.

“Northern California was the cradle of California racing, and Pleasanton was the first track in California,” he said. “We hope we can impact handle and attendance.”

◗ The Pleasanton condition book and the fair circuit’s stakes schedule are now online at www.calfairs.com.