TRAINER JOSE BAUTISTA PICKS UP FIRST STAKES WIN WITH TORTOSA
Equine conditioner Jose Bautista notched his first stakes victory as a trainer last Sunday with three-year-old colt Tortosa, who made a last to first move to win the $75,000 Alcatraz Stakes on turf. For Bautista, winning his first stake was an exciting experience.
“I was in shock, to be honest,” said Bautista. “Down the stretch I said to myself, ‘Wow, he’s going to do it.’ But it took a little while to realize, ‘Wow…he did it.’ It was a great feeling.”
“I’m mostly excited for the owners, Edward and Theresa DeNike,” continued Bautista. “They’ve been dedicated to me and have given me some nice horses over the past few years so I am very excited to finally win a stake for them.”
Bautista, who currently trains 25 horses, worked for longtime trainer Tony Diaz before going out on his own about five years ago. Jose noted Wednesday morning that Tortosa came out of the Alcatraz in good order and that there were a couple of options in mind regarding his summer schedule.
“I could ship [Tortosa] to Del Mar and run him down there in a 3-year-old stake or send him to the farm during the [Northern California] fairs and give him some time off,” relayed Bautista. “The good news is I still believe this horse has room to grow. He’s still a little bit green. I’m excited to watch him get better.”
PSARRAS SENDS MOTHER OF DRAGONS NORTH FOR NEXT STAKES TEST
Mother of Dragons, winner of the Camilla Urso Stakes on March 17, shipped to Emerald Downs in Auburn, Washington earlier this week and will compete in the $50,000 Hastings Stakes on Memorial Day Monday. The Hastings, a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares three-years-old and upward, typically draws the best female sprinters the Pacific Northwest has to offer. Trainer Andreas Psarras indicated Wednesday morning that he believes his stable star is ready to roll coming off a two and a half month freshening.
“She is training lights out,” said Psarras. “She broke her maiden on dirt at Santa Rosa so the switch from the tapeta at Golden Gate to the dirt at Emerald shouldn’t be an issue.”
Mother of Dragons, also owned by Psarras, has won 4 of 6 lifetime starts and will be ridden once again by jockey Julien Couton, who was aboard the daughter of First Dude when she won the Camilla Urso. The Frenchman rider has been at Emerald since early May and will spend his summer at the Washington state racetrack.
Another Golden Gate possible for the race is Strip It Down, trained by Blaine Wright. The 4-year-old filly by Congrats broke her maiden at Golden Gate in February and most recently ran second in an allowance race.
GRADE 3 ALL AMERICAN THE FEATURE RACE ON MEMORIAL DAY MONDAY
Golden Gate Fields offers five racing days this week, with our usual Thursday-Sunday cards and special holiday racing on Memorial Day Monday, May 28. The feature race this week is the $100,000 Grade 3 All American Stakes for colts and geldings three-year-olds and upward. The majority of the field will be local horses, with the possibles including stakes winners Force, My Friend Emma and Grecian Fire. Also possible are graded stakes placed runners Many Roses and More Power To Him and recent allowance winner Taima the Hawk.
Live racing each day begins at 12:45 PM Pacific time. Our second Fiesta Latina Day will be held on-track this Saturday, with live music, good food and 50% off specialized beers.
FINISH LINES: A $50,000 pool will be guaranteed once again in The 50 Cent Late Pick 5 this upcoming Sunday…With three weeks left to go at the winter/spring meet, Abel Cedillo sits atop the jockey standings with 78 wins, four more than fellow journeyman rider William Amtongeorgi III. Juan Hernandez and Irving Orozco are tied for third in the standings with 68 wins apiece….Jerry Hollendorfer holds the most wins out of any trainer at the current meet with 46 victories. Jonathan Wong and John Martin complete the top three spots in the trainer standings with 45 and 42 wins each, respectively…Well done to jockey Catalino Martinez, who took down both turf stakes’ in the past two weeks of live racing. Martinez won the Golden Poppy Stakes with 4-year-old filly Bella Luma on May 12 and came back to win the Alcatraz Stakes eight days later with 3-year-old colt Tortosa…Congrats to trainer Dan Markle and jockey Rocco Bowen, who teamed up to win the Seattle Stakes at Emerald Downs on Sunday with 3-year-old filly Ima Happy Cat. The California-bred daughter of Smiling Tiger broke her maiden on April 28 at Golden Gate and was facing winners for the first time in The Seattle Stakes. Interestingly enough, Blaine Wright trainee Bella Mia ran second in The Seattle Stakes, completing a Northern California exacta in Washington State’s premier race last week….The 20 Cent Golden Pick Six jackpot pool has climbed to $20,139. The Golden Pick Six begins with Race 2 on Thursday…$3,200 has been carried over into the Rolling Super High 5 pool for Race 4 on Thursday…Happy birthday to outrider Ashton Compoy, who celebrated his birthday this week.