Up the Backstretch: Spotlight on Golden Gate field
Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – For horsemen and their thoroughbreds, getting to the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May usually doesn’t entail taking a detour to Northern California.
Most Kentucky Derby hopefuls do their preliminary work in New York, Florida, New Orleans, Arkansas and around Los Angeles. The only major thoroughbred track in the San Francisco area – Golden Gate Fields – is not the normal site of an important prep race.
However, Saturday’s $200,000 El Camino Real Derby has attracted a solid, evenly matched field of 10 3-year-olds with some of them taking the Pacific Coast Highway north and others coming from even farther away.
Conquest Typhoon, the 7-2 favorite, will be making his seventh start at a fourth track on Saturday. Leading Canadian trainer Mark Casse has taken the colt from Woodbine in Toronto to Santa Anita and Del Mar and to Berkeley. Conquest Typhoon has already faced some of last year’s best 2-year-olds and now starts the year with even bigger goals on the agenda.
The 4-1 second favorite Indianaughty is being sent all the way from Gulfstream Park in south Florida for the 1 1/8-mile stakes. Top flight trainer Dale Romans had the colt start and win an allowance race on the turf exactly one month prior to the El Camino Real. The 3-year-old overcame some problems during his American debut to get up in time for a head victory.
Coming north from Santa Anita will be 9-2 third pick Mischief Clem, fresh off a victory in the California Cup Derby, the same race California Chrome won to begin his championship 2014 season.
Currently, the best 3-year-old based at Golden Gate is Cross the Line, the 5-1 fourth choice in the program. One of three horses in the race from the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, Cross the Line has started only at Golden Gate and won last month’s prep event, the California Derby.
“We took our time with him, He’s a big horse and he wasn’t responding really well early on. He had some time off after we bought him at the sale,” Hollendorfer said following the Cal Derby.
Hollendorfer also will saddle Stand and Salute, third in the Cal Derby, and Harmonic fresh off his maiden win. Stand and Salute, 6-1 in the program, will be making his fourth straight start at Golden Gate in the El Camino Real with 20-1 longshot Harmonic going for a second straight win at the track after four starts in Southern California.
Soul Driver, the defeated California Derby favorite, has been sent back north from Santa Anita for another try on Golden Gate’s synthetic main track. Trained by Jeff Mullins, the chestnut colt is 6-1 in the morning line as he goes for his second career victory.
Others shipping north for the first time are 30-1 longshot Donji, who is still winless after seven starts; Metaboss, fresh off his initial win; and Ernest Shackleton, who makes his first start on the main track
This is an excellent field with a distinct chance of one of the 3-year-olds going far on the Triple Crown trail.
Categorized in: Horses