An overflow group of 13 horses are entered in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 San Francisco Mile Stakes on the turf at Golden Gate Fields, with 12 likely to run. Four horses in the field are going for the tenth wins in their careers.
Lammas, who won the Grade 3 Berkeley Handicap in the fall of 2022 and who has won two races in a row, is one of those four. Another going for win No. 10 is Freeport Joe, who won the All American Stakes in May of 2022 but hasn’t won since January of last year. I’m A Gambler is another nine-time winner, with all of those victories coming in Europe. He is winless in eight races since importing to North America. I’mgonnabesomebody won the Bull Dog Stakes last fall and is another pretty consistent runner. Then there’s the 2023 San Francisco Mile Stakes winner, Balnikhov, most recently finished fifth in the Thunder Road Stakes in February, his eighth straight loss since his victory in this race one year ago. Il Bellator was only beaten a half-length in last year’s edition of this race but is another who is winless since then (in five races). Air Force Red has won five of 16 career races, all on grass, including the 2022 Joe Hernandez Stakes. Similar to many of these, he hasn’t won in 2023, nor in 2024 to date. Astronomer nearly won the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile Stakes last September, before much poorer 12th- and fifth-place efforts and a five month layoff. Clovisconnection likes to win races, with seven victories from 11 starts including in the non-graded Robert Rupret Derby on the grass last August. Sumter ran the best race of his career earlier this month when third in the Grade 3 American Stakes and may run even better in this race. Similarly, Cathkin Peak, who was stakes placed earlier in his career when second in the 2022 City of Hope Mile Stakes, enters the race off a strong win in lower-level company and may be capable of another top effort. Coalinga Road won the Turf Classic Stakes in January 2023, but is winless in six races since then. Prince Abu Dhabi rounds out the field as the also-eligible who can run if another horse scratches. He’s won six of eight career starts including his most recent race, a sprint, in preparation for this longer race.
Win contenders:
Sumter ships up from Southern California for Hall-of-Fame trainer Richard Mandella, off a fine third of 10 finish in the similar All American Stakes just a bit over three weeks ago. That effort earned Sumter a career-best 112 Equibase Speed Figure. Sumter finished fourth in the higher-level Seabiscuit Handicap last fall with a 110 figure, and those efforts are his two most recent tries in two-turn turf races like the San Francisco Mile. When wanting to know how trainers based on one circuit perform on another, Race Lens comes in very handy, and in this case an easy query regarding how Mandella fares with horses he runs on the Golden Gate turf who made their most recent start in Southern California reveals very strong record of winning five of his last 10 starts. Jockey Tiago Pereira, who has won four of eight races for Mandella going back to the beginning of 2023, takes the mount, and since his last race Equibase Speed Figure one of the best in the field, it appears Sumter has a big shot to win this race.
Lammas earned the highest last-race figure in the field, 116, in his most recent start. That was when he won his second race in a row on the all-weather main track at Golden Gate, as the turf course wasn’t ready for racing until this week. Lammas has also won on turf at Golden Gate last September in the Sam Spear Memorial Stakes. Moving back to the turf is not an issue for a horse who puts “A” races together, evidenced by a strong career record of 9-6-4 in 29 races. Jockey Irving Orozco rode Lammas for the first time in his win two starts ago, and then was aboard again last out, and with the advantages of a ground saving-inside post and a big late kick, Lammas could win this third in a row.
Honorable mentions go to Cathkin Peak and Prince Abu Dhabi, the latter being the only also-eligible in the field who will need of the 12 horses in the main body of the race to scratch. Cathkin Peak won his most recent race on March 24 with a strong rally from last of eight, earning a competitive 105 figure. Cathkin Peak was claimed out of that race for a hefty price tag of $80,000 and can earn his new connections more than that with the $105,000 winner’s share of the purse. Cathkin Peak has earned more than $400,000 in his career, winning or placing in eight of 17 previous races on the grass, some of those also stakes races including the City of Hope Mile Stakes in the fall of 2022. He’s in good current form and should be competitive. Prince Abu Dhabi is a lightly raced 4-year-old with six wins in just eight races. Only one of those starts has come on turf, when he finished third in the Alcatraz Stakes on the Golden Gate turf course last May. He had been away from the races from August until returning in March, and he won off that seven-month layoff as if he had never been away at all, earning a career-best 107 figure in the process. He is likely to improve in his second start off the layoff, so Prince Abu Dhabi is another who could have a say in the outcome in this year’s San Francisco Mile.
The rest of the field, with their best representative Equibase Speed Figures, is Air Force Red (109), Astronomer (109), Balnikhov (108), Coalinga Road (105), Clovisconnection (103), Freeport Joe (113), Il Bellator (111), I’m A Gambler ( 108) and I’mgonnabesomebody (112).
Win Contenders:
Sumter
Lammas
Also contenders:
Cathkin Peak
Prince Abu Dhabi
Superfecta
2-6-4-7
2-6-4-7
$176
Super High Five
2-6-4-7-1
2-6-4-7-1
$0
Trifecta
2-6-4
2-6-4
$158
Superfecta
2-6-4-7
2-6-4-7
$176
Super High Five
2-6-4-7-1
2-6-4-7-1
$0
Trifecta
2-6-4
2-6-4
$158
