STRADARI HIGHLIGHTS WINNING WEEK FOR JAUREGUI
2-year-old filly Stradari highlighted a strong weekend for trainer O.J Jauregui, who saddled 3 winners from 4 starters on Saturday and Sunday. Stradari was victorious on Saturday while Earnest and Pampers n’ Boots earned winners circle appearances for the Jauregui barn on Sunday.
Stradari, a daughter of well-respected California sire Square Eddie, faced open company in a 2-year-old maiden special weight last Saturday. The $30,000 2-year-old sale purchase went to the front out of the gates and set swift fractions of 22.04, 45.77 and 57.79 before completing the five and a half furlong contest in 1:04.15 seconds. She finished four lengths ahead of second place finisher Midnight Sunrise. William Antongeorgi III rode the chestnut filly to victory.
“We’ve always thought she had talent,” said Jauregui. “She was breezing really well coming into the race. She was working fast times and doing it easily, so we knew we had a quick filly. She came out of the race well. We’ll look at running in an allowance race going one turn after Fresno.”
Stradari is owned by a large group that includes Daniel Preiss, Glen Road Racing LLC and Horseshare LLC. The sizeable bunch watched the race near the winners circle and were celebrating with great cheer and glee as they watched their filly streak to victory on debut.
One day later, Jauregui picked up a 2-bagger with geldings Earnest and Pampers n’ Boots. Earnest, a 3-year-old by Quality Road, defeated maiden 16k claimers in Race 4. Pampers n’ Boots, a 5-year-old making his 27th career start on Sunday, was moved up to first via disqualification after unofficially running second in Race 5. But hey…a win’s a win.
“We had a good couple of days,” said Jauregui, when asked to reflect on his weekend. “We just have to keep working hard every day and hope things keep going well.”
GUARANTEED LATE PICK 4, MANDATORY PAYOUTS WRAP UP THE SUMMER MEETING FOR HORSEPLAYERS
Last weekend, Golden Gate Fields management announced the bayside track will guarantee $100,000 in its closing day Late Pick 4 pool this Sunday, September 29. With the 2019 Summer Meeting at Golden Gate drawing to a close, mandatory payouts in all exotic wagers, including the 20 cent Golden Pick Six Jackpot, the Rolling Super High Five, and both the Early and Late Pick 5 wagers, will be the order of the day.
The popular Late Pick 4 is comprised of a 50-cent minimum wager which requires players to correctly tab the winners of the final four races on the program.
“We are delighted to offer our horseplayers this $100,000 guarantee in our Late Pick 4 this Sunday,” said David Duggan, Golden Gate Fields Vice President and General Manager. “Our fields on closing week are projected to be large and competitive, which will make the betting sequences very enticing. We sincerely thank our horseplayers for their continued support of our product.”
First post time on Sunday is slated for 1:15 p.m. PT.
STRONACH 5 CARRYOVER OF $107,353 ON FRIDAY
The growingly popular Stronach 5 wager features a large carryover of $107,353 heading into Friday afternoon. Below is the sequence of races for this week’s wager:
Leg A: Laurel Park 8th race (12 entries, five and a half furlongs on turf) Post time: 5:09 ET; 2:09 PT
Leg B: Gulfstream Park 7th race (12 entries, one mile on turf) Post time: 5:26 ET; 2:26 PT
Leg C: Santa Anita 4th race (8 entries, one mile on turf) Post time: 5:54 ET; 2;54 PT
Leg D: Golden Gate 4th race (10 entries, one mile on Tapeta) Post time: 5:54 ET; 2:54 PT
Leg E: Laurel Park 9th race (11 entries, six furlongs on dirt) Post time: 6:16 ET; 3:16 PT
Leg D at Golden Gate, Race 4, is an allowance for fillies and mares. 7-2 morning line favorite #9 Ruby Bradley headlines the field; she makes her first start for the Steve Miyadi barn in this spot. The last time she raced two turns, she won the $188,000 Melair Stakes for California-breds at Santa Anita. #2 Swing Thoughts enters this run after two straight wins against high level claimers at Del Mar while #4 Please Do returns to the races fresh off a victory over this track on September 12. #5 It’s Alexus, reclaimed by leading trainer Jonathan Wong, and stakes winner #6 The Spiral Jetter also figure to get wagering support in what looks like a wide open affair.
The Stronach 5 is a $1 minimum bet and an industry low, 12% takeout wager which takes place every Friday. All 5 races in the Stronach “Pick” 5 sequence are from Stronach Group owned tracks.
KRIGGER, MARTINEZ AND OROZCO THREE RIDERS JOINING THE JOCKEY COLONY IN THE FALL
Jockeys Kevin Krigger, Heribert “Eddie” Martinez and Kevin Orozco will be back in the Bay Area after completing six months of riding at Emerald Downs Racetrack in Washington State.
Kevin Krigger, well known for guiding Goldencents to victory in the 2013 Santa Anita Derby, journeys to Golden Gate Fields after winning 33 races at Emerald. Just last Sunday, Krigger won the prestigious Gottstein Futurity aboard promising youngster Race Home. The native of St. Croix will be represented by agent Tom “Bomber” Doutrich during the upcoming fall meet.
“Eddie” Martinez rode at Emerald Downs for the first time this summer and won 52 races there. Martinez has ridden at racetracks all over the country, with success in almost all jurisdictions. In fact, Martinez is named on one mount this Saturday. Jay Robinson is set to take Martinez’s book during his tenure at Golden Gate this fall.
Robinson will also represent Kevin Orozco, who had a very successful Emerald Downs meeting. The 23-year-old finished second in the standings with 66 wins and led all Emerald Downs jockeys in stakes wins with six. Kevin is the younger brother of current Golden Gate summer meet leading rider Irving Orozco. Last year, the younger Orozco won 8 races at the fall meeting.
The fall meet is a 36-day meeting which begins on Thursday, October 17 and runs through Sunday, December 15.
FINISH LINES: Jockey Irving Orozco and trainer Jonathan Wong have good-sized leads in the rider and trainer standings with 4 racing days left to go. Orozco has 36 wins at the current meeting, 11 more than Frank Alvarado and 12 in front of William Antongeorgi III. Wong has 19 wins, 7 ahead of Victor Trujillo and 9 clear of Isidro Tamayo…Congratulations to Wong and his wife, Megan Davenport, on the birth of their second child last week, named Everett Conrad…Foreign Protocol won his first career race on Sunday, a maiden special weight with a large field of 11. The Kentucky bred son of Raison d’Etat is out of the mare Winning Image, who won 10 stakes races as a sprinter from 2012-2014. Quinn Howey trains for owners Allen Aldrich and Jean and Keith Hembree, who purchased the colt for $32,000 at the June 2-year-old in training sale at Santa Anita…Grade I Del Mar Oaks fourth place finisher Keeper Ofthe Stars won an allowance race on turf last Sunday and is likely to make her next start at Santa Anita for trainer Jonathan Wong…Happy birthday to Golden Gate stall manager Carrie Fawcett and trainer Andreas Psarras, both whom celebrate another birthday on Saturday…Good luck to everyone who participates at Fresno beginning week. We’ll see you back at Golden Gate for live racing on October 17!!!