MCLEAN HOPING FOR A SWEET BIRTHDAY PRESENT WITH C’MON MAN IN THE GOLDEN NUGGET
Youngsters shine this Saturday in the marquee race of the week at Golden Gate Fields, the $50,000 Golden Nugget Stakes at six furlongs on Tapeta. The Golden Nugget is the first of two stakes races for 2-year-olds on the main track this fall and preludes the $75,000 Gold Rush Stakes on December 4.
The morning line favorite in the Golden Nugget, 2-year-old gelding C’Mon Man, is a perfect 2 for 2 over Tapeta and seeks to extend his win streak to three for trainer Bill McLean. There will be multiple reasons to celebrate after the races if C’Mon Man were to win Saturday’s feature. Not only will C’Mon Man have stamped himself as a top 2-year-old in Northern California, but a win would be a sweet birthday present for McLean, who turns one year older on Saturday.
“Last year, I had a bunch of live horses entered on the week of my birthday,” said McLean. “Then, we stopped racing that week [due to the COVID-19 pandemic]. This year, we’re going to try again. We’re going for a stakes win this time.”
C’Mon Man sat off a wicked fast pace in his most recent start, a first level allowance race on September 24, and powered to the lead in the final furlong. Two starts back, C’Mon Man broke his maiden by two and a half lengths, sitting off a moderate pace before finding his best stride late. His only career loss came in August, when he finished off-the-board in a maiden race at Del Mar on dirt.
Since his last afternoon appearance, C’Mon Man has recorded three workouts. His most recent drill, a six-furlong work in 1:15 and 1/5 seconds, indicated to McLean that his top 2-year-old is ready to roll.
“I was very pleased with the way he worked the other morning,” said McLean. “He dragged [exercise rider] Mario around there pretty good. He’s got lots of energy. He’s ready. Mario says he’s gotten stronger since we first got him, so he’s maturing.”
C’Mon Man appears to have been a bargain buy. As a yearling, he was purchased at Keeneland for a mere $8,000 by McLean and co-owners Sharon Broetzman, Chris Carpenter, Cheryl Hauk and Doug Planchon. A son of 2016 Breeders Cup Turf Mile winner Tourist, C’Mon Man is out of the stakes-placed Jump Start mare Table Jumper. McLean believes C’Mon Man will enjoy going a route of ground once the time comes to stretch out in distance.
“I think he’ll be better going longer,” said McLean. “[On Saturday] he will sit off and make a run. Hopefully there’s a pace for him to run at.”
Among the contenders set to tackle C’Mon Man in this year’s Golden Nugget is Stanford Bay, a dominating winner of a starter allowance race on October 22 for Tommy Town Thoroughbreds. He is expected to be part of the pace as is Dr. Pescado, who won a maiden special weight in his career debut by 7 lengths before running fourth in the September 24th allowance race that C’Mon Man won. Highland Ghost wheels back in just one week after a third-place finish routing against tough allowance company off a layoff while Northvale Road, who has not raced since a 15-length loss in the Graduation Stakes for California-breds in August at Del Mar, makes his 3-year-old debut as a first-time gelding.
The Golden Nugget goes as Race 7 on a 9-race card at Golden Gate. First post each live race day this week-and moving forward, is 12:45 PM PT.
$50,000 Golden Nugget Stakes (Race 7 for 2-year-olds at 6 furlongs)
#1 Northvale Road (Jockey Ruben Fuentes…Trainer Ed Moger Jr…12-1)
#2 C’Mon Man (Evin Roman…Bill McLean…1-1)
#3 Dr Pescado (Pedro Terrero…Felix Rondan…5-1)
#4 Highland Ghost (Santos Rivera…O.J. Jauregui…6-1)
#5 Stanford Bay (Brayan Pena…Jonathan Wong…2-1)
I AM YOURS LOOKS TO BUILD ON MAIDEN WIN
The Jonathan Wong trained I Am Yours leads a list of maiden winners in the third race on Saturday, a first level allowance for 2-year-old fillies. Three of the five entrants in the field are local contenders while the last pair, Gianna’s Wild Cat and Rock the Belles, ship north from Southern California.
I Am Yours went off at 8-5 in her career debut at Fresno, a 6-furlong maiden special weight on dirt, and won the race by three-quarters of a length. She was challenged throughout the length of the stretch by runner up finisher Delia Mo, but never wavered when challenged.
“She has always been a one-paced filly in the mornings,” said Wong. “I was actually a little surprised she showed as much tactical speed as she did [in her first start]. There doesn’t appear to be an abundance of pace on Saturday [in Race 3], so she’s either going to be up on the pace or just off it.”
I Am Yours was sold for $100,000 at the September Keeneland Yearling Sale of 2020. She is by top stallion Quality Road and out of Grade 3 placed Mineshaft mare Dad’s Princess. The third dam (great-grandmother) of I Am Yours is none other than Princess Rooney, a champion older mare who won the very first Breeders Cup Distaff in 1984. She earned $1.3 million as a racehorse and won five Grade I’s throughout an illustrious career. Her list of Grade I wins includes the Distaff, the Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park, the Spinster at Keeneland, the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, and the Frizette at Belmont Park.
Also in Friday’s third race is the Steve Specht trained Ellamira, who broke her maiden by two and a half lengths against California-bred maiden special weight company on October 23 and did so handily. The third-place finisher in that race, stablemate Tam’s Little Angel, came back to defeat maiden special weight foes in her next start. Gold Rush Gal, returning to the races in 15 days for trainer Isidro Tamayo, is a California-bred who defeated open company at the maiden special weight level and also faces winners for the first time.
California-bred Gianna’s Wild Cat defeated California-bred maiden special weight rivals at Del Mar over the summer before losing by double-digit lengths in the Graduation Stakes for state-breds. She has been given three months off since the “no-show” and makes her first start for the Tim Yakteen barn. Rock the Belles, conditioned by Luis Mendez, won a maiden race at Del Mar in August but has since finished off the board in two consecutive tries against stakes competition. She drops in class significantly for this assignment.
Saturday Allowance (Race 3 for 2-year-old fillies at five and-one-half furlongs)
#1 Gold Rush Gal (Jockey Francisco Monroy…Trainer Isidro Tamayo…Morning Line Odds of 8-1)
#2 Ellamira (Catalino Martinez…Steve Specht…4-1)
#3 I Am Yours (William Antongeorgi III…Jonathan Wong…7-2)
#4 Gianna’s Wild Cat (Irving Orozco…Tim Yakteen…5-2)
#5 Rock the Belles (Evin Roman…Luis Mendez…8-5)
CAMINO DEL PARAISO POSSIBLE FOR BERKELEY HANDICAP NEXT
This past Saturday, 8-year-old gelding Camino Del Paraiso displayed class and grit to win the $50,000 Joseph T. Grace Stakes. With the Joseph T. Grace Stakes victory, Camino Del Paraiso has now won four consecutive Golden Gate Fields stakes races. Among them: the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Joseph T. Grace and the 2020 and 2021 Rolling Green on turf.
Sent off at odds of even money last Saturday, Camino Del Paraiso sat behind the pace in the first part of the race and had to check off heels early in the clubhouse turn. After settling towards the back of the field, he began to gather momentum on the far turn, waited for racing room turning for home and kicked on when a clear path presented itself. Camino Del Paraiso passed early pacesetter Mecklenburg in midstretch and went on to pick up the gold prize by a length and three-quarters over Southern California shipper Big Fish, who charged from the back of the pack to finish second.
Although nothing is set and stone at this point, it appears that trainer O.J. Jauregui and owner Herb Moniz of Paradise Road Ranch LLC are strongly considering wheeling back Camino Del Paraiso in three weeks for the Berkeley Handicap, a Grade 3 race on Tapeta with a $100,000 purse. Per a text from Moniz, “Hopefully Camino can keep it going in the Berkeley in 3 weeks.”
Camino Del Paraiso has won 9 races, with 12 second and 4 thirds, from 44 lifetime starts. His career earnings sit at $559,392.
CLAIMS REPORT
Below is a list of claims from last week:
FRIDAY
Race 7: Ted (New trainer Victor Trujillo…new owner Eric D. Burton)
Race 7: Tom’s Surprise (Jack Steiner…Remmah Racing Inc.)
Race 9: Tiz Vicious (Owner/trainer Leobardo Rivera)
SATURDAY
Race 11: Toni Two Pocket (Guillermo Preciado…Linda Lou Lonnberg)
SUNDAY
Race 2: Tick Tock (Jonathan Wong…MJVET Stables)
Race 5: Concur (Isidro Tamayo…John Tipton)
Race 5: Unbridled’s Skye (Jonathan Wong…MJVET Stables)
Race 7: Purr Cat (Isidro Tamayo…Leon Scott)
Race 7: Star a Runnin (Jonathan Wong…MJVET Stables)
Race 10: Miss Ski (Jonathan Wong…MJVET Stables and Sergio Salguero)
Race 11: Cameo Shores (Jonathan Wong…Madden Racing)
FINISH LINES: $8,966 is carried over into the Golden Pick 6 jackpot wager while the Super High Five has a carryover of $8,614 heading into the second race on Friday…Happy birthday to trainers Gloria Haley and Bill McLean, who turn one year older this week…2019 All American Stakes winner Restrainedvengence rounded out the trifecta in last Saturday’s $1,000,000 Breeders Cup Dirt Mile, finishing behind top class racers Life Is Good and Ginobili…Also on Saturday, trainer Ed Moger Jr. saddled Stilleto Boy to a fifth place finish in the $6,000,000 Breeders Cup Classic. He picked up $180,000 for his connections…Last Friday, Golden Gate maiden winner Astronomer shocked the world with a 30-1 upset in the $150,000 Qatar Golden Mile for 2-year-olds at Del Mar. In the same race, the Jonathan Wong trained Boise ran fourth, only losing by a half-length in a four-way driving finish…Leg D of the Stronach 5 wager goes as Race 2 at Golden Gate on Friday.