Wednesday, May 16, 2018
2018 ALCATRAZ STAKES THIS SUNDAY
The $75,000 Alcatraz Stakes for three-year-olds is the feature race this week at Golden Gate Fields. The one-mile turf event will be drawn on Thursday afternoon, with a projected field of six to eight runners set to go postward on Sunday.
Among the list of probables is Afleet Ascent, who comes off a fourth-place finish in The Singletary Stakes at Santa Anita for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. Afleet Ascent ran second in The Baffle Stakes at “The Great Race Place” earlier in the year and completed the superfecta in last December’s Gold Rush Stakes.
Respect the Hustle will make his second start off a four-and-a-half month break for trainer Bill McClean in The Alcatraz. The son of Colonel John won the Oak Tree Juvenile Stakes last October and ran third in The Gold Rush Stakes against Southern California stakes colts City Plan and Ayacara in December.
Unpossible most recently ran second in the $100,000 Silky Sullivan Stakes for California-breds on April 29 and will be facing open company in the Alcatraz for trainer Felix Rondan and owners/breeders Dr. and Mrs. William T. Gray. Unpossible has hit the board in 6 of 11 lifetime starts.
Tortosa and Bronze Warrior, the top two finishers in an April 6 allowance race, round out the list of probables. Silky Sullivan Stakes winner Hardboot, recent Santa Anita maiden special weight victor Huddle and Grade 3 placed colt Ayacara are all marked down as “possible” for the race.
SPECIAL FIRST POST TIMES ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
This Friday and Saturday, the opening race at Golden Gate Fields will go off at a different time than the usual 12:45 PM first post.
The first of 8 races on the Golden Gate Friday program will be at 1:15 PM Pacific time, with gates opening for simulcasting at 10:00 AM. Fans on-site can watch and wager on the Black Eyed Susan card at Pimlico Racecourse in Baltimore, Maryland, with their massive 14-race program featuring 7 stakes races. Included on the card is the aforementioned Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.
Meanwhile, the first of nine races at Golden Gate this Saturday, May 19, begins at 12:15 PM PT. Patrons can also tune in and bet on the Preakness Day card from Pimlico, with gates opening for simulcasting at 9:00 AM. The Preakness, a $1,500,000 race and the second leg of the Triple Crown, features Kentucky Derby winner Justify and is scheduled to go off at 3:20 P.M. PT. Along with the Preakness, Pimlico’s Saturday program features seven other stakes events.
Saturday is also the first of four “Fiesta Latina” days at Golden Gate, to be held every Saturday beginning this week and ending on June 9. Every Fiesta Latina Day features live music, food specials and 50% off specialty beers. Fans under 17 years old get into the track for free while general admission for patrons 18 and older is five dollars.
FINISH LINES: William Antongeorgi III and Abel Cedillo continue to battle for the top spot in the jockey standings. With four weeks left to go in the meet, Antongeorgi has a one-win lead over Cedillo (73-72 wins)…Jerry Hollendorfer has pulled two victories ahead of Jonathan Wong in the trainer standings…Congratulations to Jonathan Wong and his fiancée Megan Davenport. The couple welcomed their first child, a healthy baby boy, into the world last week…Jockey Silvio Amador broke the tibia and fibula bones in his left leg after going down in a spill during Saturday’s first race. Amador had successful surgery to repair the bones and will be out of action for 6 to 8 weeks, according to Dr. David Seftel…The Golden Pick 6 Jackpot wager was taken down three days in a row (last Thursday-Saturday) but was not hit on Sunday, resulting in a $5,815 carryover heading into this Thursday’s card….A REMINDER: Golden Gate is offering a GUARANTEED $50,000 Late Pick 5 pool every Sunday for the remainder of the winter/spring meet. The Late Pick 5 sequence is always the last five races on each race card.