| Berkeley, CA (March 28, 2018) – Twelve older routers will travel the distance of eight furlongs in the feature race of the Golden Gate Fields Winter/Spring meet, the San Francisco Mile, a Grade 3 turf event with a $200,000 purse. The San Francisco Mile will go as Race 8 on the 9-race card this Saturday, March 31, with an approximate post time of 4:15 PM PDT. Here is the field in post-position order:
#1 EDITORE (6-1 on the morning line, Jockey Brice Blanc, Trainer Paulo Lobo) was a dominant winner of the Berkeley Handicap (G3) on November 25. Since then, the Brazilian-bred has finished third in both the San Gabriel Stakes (G2) and the San Marcos Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita. Both aforementioned races were on turf.
#2 FRANK CONVERSATION (3-1, Juan Hernandez, Doug O’Neill, 3-1) makes his first start of 2018. The son of Quality Road won the California Derby and the El Camino Real Derby in 2016 and was victorious in the Twilight Derby (G2) at Santa Anita that same year. His most recent afternoon appearance resulted in a third-place finish in the John Henry Turf Championship (G2) last October.
#3 SYNTAX (4-1, Geovanni Franco, Phil D’Amato) finished fourth in the Frank Kilroe Mile (G1) on March 10 and rounded out the superfecta, finishing ahead of Breeders’ Cup Mile winner World Approval in the process. This will be his second start off an eight-and-a-half month break.
#4 AQUA FRIO (20-1, Billy Antongeorgi III, Blaine Wright) is conditioned by Blaine Wright and owned by Peter Redekop; they teamed up to win the San Francisco Mile in 2016 and 2017 with Alert Bay. Aqua Frio most recently defeated Many Roses in an allowance race on February 16 and his most significant victory came in the Seattle Slew Stakes on dirt at Emerald Downs last summer.
#5 CAMINO DEL PARAISO (10-1, Catalino Martinez, O.J Jauregui) lost by a head in the $200,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic for California-breds at Santa Anita on January 27. His most recent start in the Bay Area was last fall when finishing third in the Berkeley Handicap (G3) on the Tapeta.
#6 NO MORE TALK (30-1, Ricky Gonzalez, George Papaprodromou) makes his first start for The George Papaprodromou stable. He ships in from Laurel Park after running against allowance company in recent starts at the Maryland racetrack.
#7 FLAMBOYANT (6-1, Julien Couton, Paddy Gallagher) is about $40,000 shy of $1,000,000 in career earnings. The seven-year-old gelding finished third in the Pattison Canadian International (G1) at Woodbine this fall and won a pair of Grade 2’s at Santa Anita earlier in his career.
#8 GRECIAN FIRE (15-1, Irving Orozco, Jerry Hollendorfer) is one of two runners to be saddled by Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. ‘Fire won the Alcatraz Stakes over this turf course last spring and most recently defeated 2015 San Francisco Mile winner G. G. Ryder in an allowance race on March 8.
#9 BIRD IS THE WORD (10-1, Frank Alvarado, G.F. Almeida) makes his graded stakes debut on turf. He was last seen in October, running second in the Obviously Mile to Blackjackcat, who came back to run third in The Breeders Cup Mile (G1).
#10 FULL OF LUCK (5-1, Flavien Prat, Jerry Hollendorfer) is a Chilean-bred making his first start in the United States. The son of Lookin At Lucky has run 14 career races (all in Chile) and has picked up victories in one Group 1 and a pair of Group 2’s. He is 2 for 3 when traveling this mile distance on the turf and is the second runner slated to compete from the Jerry Hollendorfer barn.
#11 MANY ROSES (15-1, Abel Cedillo, Ellen Jackson) dueled on the lead before getting tagged late by Aqua Frio in a February 16 allowance race on Tapeta. The five-year-old gelding ran third in the 2017 San Francisco Mile (G3) and is expected to set the pace in this year’s contest.
#12 MR. ROARY (20-1, Alonso Quinonez, George Papaprodromou) won the Eddie D. Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita in September and also hit the board in the Eddie Read Stakes (G2) at Del Mar last summer. Most recently, the son of Scat Daddy ran fifth in the San Marcos Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita.
The San Francisco Mile is the third leg in the 50-Cent Late Pick 4 sequence, which will have a guaranteed pool of $100,000 this Saturday. The late Pick 4 begins in Race 6. 37 horses have been entered in the Late Pick 4 sequence, which equates to over 9 horses per race. |
