GGF GENERAL MANAGER DAVID DUGGAN TO THROW OUT THE FIRST PITCH AT SEPTEMBER 17 OAKLAND A’S GAME
Golden Gate Fields General Manager and Vice President David Duggan was always intrigued by the Oakland Coliseum, even decades before he moved to America.
“The ‘Coliseum was the last place that Led Zepplin played live in the United States. They were my favorite band,” said Duggan. “And I loved [the movie] Moneyball [about Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane and their 2002 season, working with limited resources to produce a championship-caliber team.] It feels like I was preconditioned to root for the Oakland A’s.”
Since moving to the U.S., Duggan has become a die-hard fan of the Athletics, following each and every game of the Oakland ball club. But Duggan’s enthusiasm for the A’s may grow even more with this in mind: a few weeks ago, he was delighted to get a call from Oakland Athletics President Dave Kaval, who invited Duggan to throw out the first pitch at this Tuesday’s game vs. the Kansas City Royals. Of course, Duggan accepted without hesitation.
Start time of the game is approximately 7:07 PM PT., with Duggan set to take the mound 10-15 minutes before scheduled “post time.”
“The Oakland A’s business philosophy is similar to ours,” said Duggan. “We work with the cards we are dealt and we’ve got to make the most of what we have.”
“Exponentially, we’ve got a better type of horse coming through with the likes of Anothertwistafate and many others who we have seen over the past couple years that are running in major stakes races. They pop up on the screen and their previous starts are at Golden Gate Fields,” continued Duggan. “Like the Oakland A’s, we are always looking to improve. Every day. And everybody at Golden Gate and the Stronach Group is very excited for the future.”
In addition to Duggan throwing out the first pitch, it will be announced at the game that all fans in attendance that come to Golden Gate Fields next Friday, September 20 or Saturday, September 21 (or both days) with their Oakland Athletics ticket stub will be offered free admission into the races.
On Tuesday night, the Oakland Athletics celebrate “Irish Heritage Night.” So, it makes sense that Duggan will be throwing out the first pitch on the aforementioned evening; he was born and raised in the town of Dublin Ireland, where much of his family still resides.
“It is a huge honor to be throwing out the first pitch on Irish Heritage Night,” Duggan concluded. “I couldn’t be more excited.”
INDUSTRY LOW 12% TAKEOUT STRONACH 5 WAGER FEATURES $96,906 CARRYOVER
A 60-1 winner in Leg E (Gulfstream Park, Race 9) of last week’s Stronach 5 wager prompted a $96,906 carryover in the industry-low 12% takeout wager this Friday, September 13. The Stronach 5 sequence this week goes as follows:
Leg A: Laurel Park Race 8 (approximate post time: 5:12 p.m./ET; 2:12 p.m./PT)
Leg B: Gulfstream Park Race 4
Leg C: Golden Gate Race 4
Leg D: Laurel Park Race 9
Leg E: Gulfstream Park Race 9
Leg C at Golden Gate attracted 13 starter allowance fillies and mares set to sprint five furlongs on the turf. The 9-5 morning line favorite is #13 Unchaining Melody, coming off an easy maiden 20k claiming win at Santa Rosa. That said, ‘Melody will need three defections to draw into the race: she is the third of 3 runners on the also-eligible list as 10 runners are the maximum allowed in the main body of the field.
The second morning line favorite draws the rail, 7-2 shot #1 Quick Song, who has run at the starter allowance level for quite some time but has failed to win at the condition. In fact, she has hit the board in 7 of her last 9 races at this level. #8 Gas Can comes off an easy maiden 8k claiming win on the Tapeta for trainer Andrew Lerner and is protected from being claimed in this spot while #9 Jaimi James cuts back in distance after routing and finishing fourth behind next out winner Oyster Shooter on August 17. Both fillies figure to get bet, along with the Victor Trujillo trained #3 Starza, the Tim McCanna conditioned #7 Waverly Way and undefeated #10 Ixtapa’s Finest, overseen by trainer Bill McLean. Post time for Leg C at GGF is 2:45 PM PT.
FINISH LINES: Irving Orozco has 20 victories at the current meeting and sits atop the jockey standings after 17 days of live racing. Frank Alvarado and Kyle Frey are tied for second in the standings with 16 wins apiece…Jonathan Wong continues to win at a high rate and remains at the top of the trainer standings with 15 winners circle appearances. Victor Trujillo is next on the list with 8 wins…California-bred Doc Tommy was privately purchased after an impressive maiden special weight win at Golden Gate on August 18 and has moved to the barn of John Sadler in Southern California. Doc Tommy, a 2-year-old son of Comic Strip, was trained by Felix Rondan and owned by breeders Mr. and Mrs. William T. Gray before the sale…Handicappers who like to analyze and bet turf races are in for a treat on Friday: 5 of the 8 scheduled races are on the Golden Gate lawn…For the second time this meet, the Golden Pick Six Jackpot was hit last week; one sharp handicapper took home over 15k on Friday when, after the last race, it was revealed that only one ticket had all six race winners… $6,960 carries over in the jackpot pool on Thursday (a 2-day carryover from over the weekend.)