Winter Squall ready this time

PLEASANTON, Calif. - The gauntlet has been thrown down.

"She out-trained me the first time," said Jeff Bonde, trainer of Winter Squall, about long-time family friend Carmela Anderson, trainer of Badgett's Mandate.

Bonde says things will be different in Friday's Everett Nevin Alameda County Futurity, a $50,000-added race for Cal-bred 2-year-olds at 5 1/2 furlongs. The race is a rematch of the two colts, who ran one-two in their debuts at Bay Meadows on June 12.

"I'm totally accepting that I ran a short horse that day," Bonde said. "I asked Roberto Gonzalez to let the horse go in his last work, and he gathered up on him. He's a big, stout horse, who needs work, and he got tired around the eighth pole."

Gonzalez rode Winter Squall in his debut and will ride him again Friday.

The race, which attracted eight entries, is more than a two-horse affair, but Badgett's Mandate and Winter Squall will certainly take some beating.

Their strong debut efforts were validated by the return of the third-place finisher from the race, Trish's Diamond, who was an impressive maiden winner here Sunday.

Anderson, who like Bonde lives in Pleasanton, Calif., always had Friday's race on her colt's agenda. She ran Badgett's Mandate in the June 12 race only to get some experience in him for his stakes debut.

"He had been training really well," she said. "He's a well-behaved horse, and we thought it was important to get a race into him. He jumped up and ran a big race to set him up for this stakes."

Winter Squall dueled with Trish's Diamond in the June 12 race. He'll have plenty of other speed to deal with Friday, including One Smart Cat, a wire-to-wire winner with fast fractions and a fast final time in a $40,000 maiden claimer at Hollywood Park, and Lil' Bro Eddie, another $40,000 maiden claiming winner down south, who was just claimed by trainer Jeff Mullins.

While Winter Squall is dueling on the lead, Badgett's Mandate will be set up for another good stalking trip like he got on June 12.

* Obermeister ($15.80), claimed by owner-trainer Armando Lage for $8,000 on March 26, recorded his first stakes victory, winning the $49,900 Pleasanton Stakes wire to wire Wednesday at the Alameda County Fair.