Berkeley, Calif. (September 3, 2018)- Under the guidance of jockey Juan Hernandez, two time San Francisco Mile winner Alert Bay easily defeated 8 other rivals in the premier race of the summer meet at Golden Gate Fields, the $50,000 Rolling Green Stakes for 3-year-olds and upward.
Alert Bay stalked the pace after breaking cleanly and sat about a length off pacesetter and eventual second place finisher Mithqaal most of the way. Down the stretch, Alert Bay put away Mithqaal and pulled clear late to win the mile and a sixteenth turf event by a length and a half. With the stakes score in the bag, Alert Bay bumped up his career earnings to $1,331,605, with 15 wins from 35 career starts.
“[Alert Bay] has given us fantastic pleasure and excitement,” said winning owner Peter Redekop, who traveled to the Bay Area from his residence in Canada to watch his horse perform. “We’ve had good people looking after him and they’ve done a fabulous job with him.”
Winning trainer Blaine Wright, emotional after the win, was equally as excited after the victory.
“With a horse like this, you expect good things with him and we just try to point him in the right direction and get out of his way,” said Wright. “He’s probably a horse I can never replace. Sometimes it gets me choked up that I’ve gotten to train a horse this good. I’m very, very humbled.”
J.T. Grace Handicap winner Ritzy A.P rounded out the trifecta while Southern California invader Any Questions checked in fourth. Editore, winner of the Berkeley Handicap last fall, finished fifth in his first start of a four-month layoff. Camino Del Paraiso, Eagle Screams, Faversham and Steel Plank completed the order of finish.
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