By Matt Dinerman
The prestigious Rolling Green Stakes is the marquee race at Golden Gate Fields every summer. This Labor Day Monday, the 2020 edition takes place, with a field of 8 contenders entered in the one-mile and-a-sixteenth turf contest. Let’s introduce you to the field, beginning with the horse who draws the inside post position.
#1 MAJESTIC EAGLE (9-2 morning line) freshens up two and a half months for Hall of Fame trainer Neil Drysdale after an off-the-board finish in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile over this turf course. He won the Grade 3 All American Stakes at Santa Anita in 2019 but has failed to visit the winner’s circle in six starts since then.
#2 CAMINO DEL PARAISO (4-1) hits the board a lot more often than he wins; he sports a 5 for 38-lifetime record with 16 other in-the-money finishes. He completed the trifecta in the 2020 San Francisco Mile and, earlier this year, finished as the runner up in the Grade 3 San Luis Rey Stakes and Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at Santa Anita.
#3 NAVY ARMED GUARD (20-1) made his first start off a four-and-a-half-month vacation last month at Del Mar and finished second as a 56-1 massive longshot. He takes a significant bump up in class from the first-level allowance condition to this stakes level.
#4 THE BLACK ALBUM (7-2) races under the care of leading Del Mar trainer Peter Miller. The French-bred gelding has won a pair of minor stakes races since moving to the United States in 2018 and won a Group 3 turf race in France earlier that same year. Last time out, he won the Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial at Indiana Grand, his first start in over 8 months. He races as a gelding for the first time in the Rolling Green.
#5 KIWI’S DREAM (5-2) was dueled into submission in his last start, the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile, after setting the pace while pressured at a sizzling fast pace. He wheels back in two weeks for trainer Victor Trujillo and figures to get a much easier time of it on the lead this time around. His best effort will make him tough to reel in: he earned a 102 Beyer speed figure while finishing second in the All-American Stakes earlier this year (albeit that run came on Tapeta), and was also the runner up in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile and Wickerr Stakes at Del Mar.
#6 BUILDER (10-1) ran second in the 2019 Rolling Green and has made four afternoon appearances this year. Most recently, the son of Gio Ponti finished fourth in a salty allowance at Del Mar, used as a prep run for this race. His last victory came two starts ago against second-level allowance foes at Pleasanton. Leading Golden Gate trainer Isidro Tamayo trains, which should only be seen as a positive.
#7 IRISH HEATWAVE (6-1) is a perfect 2 for 2 over the Golden Gate Fields grass course. Last year, he pulled off a gate to wire score in the Silky Sullivan Stakes against California-breds and was a gutsy victor of an allowance race over the course this past June. 2016 Eclipse Award-winning jockey Evin Roman teams up with 2-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O’Neill.
#8 SLOANE GARDEN (6-1) is a filly facing males in the 2020 Rolling Green. The daughter of top European stallion Ifraaj has won three races in a row, including her last two starts against filly and mare stake company (the Luther Burbank and Golden Poppy Stakes) over this turf course. She enjoys sitting off the pace, making one run, and gobbling up ground late. This will be her toughest assignment to date.
Who wins? We’ll let you handicap the race and decide for yourself. Good luck!
***First post on Monday afternoon is 1:15 PM PT. The Rolling Green goes as Race 8 on a 9-race Labor Day holiday program, with post time for the Rolling Green set at 4:45 PM PT.***