TRAINER ANDY MATHIS WINS FOUR ON SATURDAY
Trainer Andy Mathis had a banner day on Saturday, September 16, winning with all four of his starters at Golden Gate Fields. Mathis, a longtime Northern California horseman, has been stabled at Golden Gate for over 15 years.
Mathis began his four-win day with a $12,500 claiming victory from Cylinders, a filly who had competed at Del Mar twice this summer. Two races later, Mathis had Vutzak perfectly spotted for the same claiming tag, where the California-bred went straight to the front and never looked back for his second lifetime victory. In Race 8, Cool Hunter posted a strong performance to give Mathis a hat trick on the day, and Aztec Warrior put the icing on the cake for the Mathis barn with a midpack burst to the lead in deep stretch to win the Saturday nightcap, a starter allowance on turf.
“I’ve never won four races in a day before,” reflected Mathis. “I knew all of my horses entered on Saturday had chances and everything just worked out right. Sometimes you go into those days with four good chances and don’t win anything. The riders did a great job on the horses and put up good, smart rides.”
Mathis also won a race on Friday with Chatterman, who was facing winners for the first time after a dominant maiden-claiming victory two and a half weeks earlier. With two weeks remaining at the summer meet, Mathis has 7 wins from 20 starters.
“The grooms, the riders and the owners deserve a lot of the credit,” said Mathis. “The grooms are working hard and taking great care of the horses and the jockeys put up great rides on the horses. The owners allowed me to put the horses in good spots. There are a lot of people and a lot of luck-a lot of moving parts-involved with winning a race.”
Mathis spent his summer at Del Mar and had three winners on closing week: Mike’s Tiznow, Silky Slew and The Spiral Jetter. Mathis reported that all three equines will be ready to race again at the Golden Gate fall meet. The fall meet runs from October 18 to December 9.
“I’m looking forward to the fall meet,” relayed Mathis. “We have a barn of 36 horses ready to go.”
HORSE POWER CAR SHOW THIS SATURDAY: HILTON PUTTING THE PEDAL TO THE MEDAL WITH MARKETING EFFORTS
This Saturday, September 22, the first ever Horse Power Car Show will be on display for the on-track crowd at Golden Gate Fields. Free for all fans with paid admission, the Horse Power Car Show begins at 12 PM and runs until the final race, which is set to go off at approximately 5:15 PM. Featuring an impressive collection of classic automobiles, on-track patrons can gaze at over a dozen vintage rides while chatting and meeting with owners of each car. Fans can also listen to live music by rock band Night Train during the car show.
“We’re very excited to be holding the Horse Power Car Show,” said Golden Gate Fields Marketing Manager Ryan Hilton. “We anticipate a strong showing and a fun atmosphere.”
“We’ve held two events at the summer meet so far-the Summer Brew Fest and the Rose Wine Festival-and both have been successful,” continued Hilton. “Hopefully, this is the just the beginning. We want to put on many more special events in the future and we’d like to see these events grow bigger and better over time. We are starting to amp up our marketing efforts to attract more fans out here.”
FINISH LINES: With two weeks remaining at the current meeting, Irving Orozco has a 1-win lead over Juan Hernandez in the jockey standings…Jonathan Wong has surged ahead in the trainer standings with 2 wins more than Victor Trujillo…Trainer Frank Lucarelli is scheduled to have one of the favorites in Sunday’s Gottstein Futurity at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Washington. Fuzzy Dolphin, owned by Jacob and Karla Pollowitz and conditioned by Lucarelli, comes off a dominant stakes win three weeks ago and is slated to run in the Gottstein’, the most prestigious two-year-old race in Washington State…Congratulations to trainer Blaine Wright, who won all five filly and mare stakes races at Emerald Downs. Coincidentally, three of the four winning fillies (Alliford Bay, Reginella and Top Quality) raced at Golden Gate Fields last winter…Ferndale Marathon winner Engram ran sixth in the Los Alamitos Special at Los Alamitos for trainer Quentin Miller last Sunday…Trainer Anthony Stabile will be back at Golden Gate Fields in early October. The Brooklyn native spent his first season at Golden Gate last fall and winter but raced at Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pennsylvania this summer…The Golden Pick Six Jackpot was hit last Friday for a whopping $24,599. Don’t worry: we still have a 2-day carryover of $6,013 heading into Thursday’s card…Happy early birthday to Richard “Richey” Rond in the jockey’s room. Richey turns 50 this Friday.