Tribal Gal stands out in Oak Tree Distaff
It’s good to own a Cal-bred.
That’s been the mantra of California breeders and owners of California-breds, and it couldn’t be any truer than on Saturday, when six statebred fillies run six furlongs for a $100,000 purse in the Oak Tree Distaff at the Oak Tree at Pleasanton meeting at the Alameda County Fair.
Nondescript is a polite way to describe the field that includes three runners, including the maiden Ticaboo, making their stakes debut. A fourth, Frisco Fog, was last every step of the way in her lone stakes try as a 2-year-old in the Juan Gonzalez Memorial Stakes here.
Tribal Gal seems an overwhelming favorite. Six of her nine victories have been in stakes, and she’s run second in three stakes, including a Grade 3, and third twice in stakes company. Her lifetime earnings of $385,801 are nearly three times the amount of her richest rival.
That rival, Princess Bertrando, is a 3-year-old whose trainer, Jeff Bonde, wisely passed last weekend’s $50,000 Pleasanton Oaks for this spot, which, on paper, is much easier for twice the purse. She was third in last year’s Juan Gonzalez and second in the $200,000 Golden State Juvenile Fillies.
OAK TREE DISTAFF (RACE 9)
KEY CONTENDERS
Tribal Gal (Last 3 Beyers: 79-88-75)
* By virtually any measure, she’s the one to beat. She has good speed and is drawn outside her primary pace rivals. She’s a six-time stakes winner meeting a field with no other stakes winners. Hers is the only dam to have won a stakes, and she’s one of only two runners in the field with a stakes-winning sibling. She’s also the only runner with a win over this track. She won a six-furlong stakes by eight lengths in Arizona two back and followed up with a third in a $150,000 stakes at Santa Anita.
Princess Bertrando (Last 3 Beyers: 83-57-54)
* Three-year-old has a pair of stakes placings and is meeting older for the first time. Smart move by barn to run here because last weekend’s sprint stakes for 3-year-old fillies seemed much tougher on paper. Hasn’t shown much speed of late, even when routing, but should make her presence felt in the lane. She is stakes-placed here and has a pair of nice works over the track.
Pop Fizz Clink (Last 3 Beyers: 65-69-64)
* She’s shown more speed this year and seems to like the front end but might not be as quick as the top pick. She has never beaten allowance rivals, but she’s in good form, which could earn her black type in her stakes debut.