Twelve races comprise the 2021 Winter/Spring meet stakes schedule at Golden Gate Fields as released from the racing office by Director of Racing/Racing Secretary, Patrick Mackey.
The 40th running of the 9-furlong El Camino Real Derby is the first race on the list. Scheduled to run on Saturday, Feb. 13, the El Camino Real Derby offers a $100,000 purse and gives the winner 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points. For the third straight year, the victor of the El Camino Real Derby will also be granted a free berth into the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, at Pimlico Racecourse in Mid-May.
The second annual Gold Rush Weekend features the highest quality racing in Northern California. The two-day event is set to take place on Saturday, April 24, and Sunday, April 25, and is a precursor to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs just one week later.
Six stakes are stretched across the April 24 program, including the feature race of the Winter/Spring meet: the $250,000 Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at one mile on turf.
The $100,000 California Derby for 3-year-olds is also a well-respected race, along with the $75,000 California Oaks for 3-year-old fillies and the $75,000 Lost In The Fog Stakes for the fastest sprinters on the grounds. The Camilla Urso, a five-furlong turf dash for fillies and mares, and the Golden Poppy for female turf routers completes the half-dozen stakes in what is expected to be an epic afternoon of racing.
On April 25, Sunday festivities recognize those who support the California breeding industry. Both co-featured races are a part of the “Gold Rush Series,” a sequence of stakes races throughout the year for horses that were bred or sired in California.
The Silky Sullivan Stakes, a $75,000 one-mile turf race, is named after the “last to first” fan-favorite in the late 1950s. The Campanile Stakes, also a one-mile grass affair with a $75,000 purse, is restricted to fillies.
Three-year-olds who run well against stakes company in April are likely to eye the $75,000 Alcatraz Stakes on May 23 as their next possible target.
Sophomores are also eligible to compete against older horses in the prestigious $100,000 All American Stakes on Memorial Day Monday, May 31, while the traditional closing weekend Albany Stakes for turf sprinters will be run on Saturday, June 12.
2021 GOLDEN GATE FIELDS WINTER/SPRING MEET STAKES SCHEDULE*
Saturday, Feb. 13: $100,000 El Camino Real Derby (for 3 YO's at one mile and an eighth on Tapeta)
Saturday, April 24: $250,000 Grade 3 San Francisco Mile (for 3 YO's and up at one mile on turf)
Saturday, April 24: $100,000 California Derby (for 3 YO's at one mile and a sixteenth on Tapeta)
Saturday, April 24: $75,000 California Oaks (for 3 YO fillies at one mile and a sixteenth on Tapeta)
Saturday, April 24: $75,000 Lost In The Fog (3 YO's and up at six furlongs on Tapeta)
Saturday, April 24: $75,000 Camilla Urso (Fillies and Mares 3 YO's and up at five furlongs on turf)
Saturday, April 24: $75,000 Golden Poppy (Fillies and mares 3 YO's and up at one mile and a sixteenth on turf)
Sunday, April 25: $75,000 Silky Sullivan (California-bred 3 YO's at one mile on turf)
Sunday, April 25: $75,000 Campanile (California-bred 3 YO fillies at one mile on turf)
Sunday, May 23: $75,000 Alcatraz (3 YO's at one mile on turf)
Monday, May 31: $100,000 All American (3 YO'S and up at one mile on Tapeta)
Saturday, June 12: $50,000 Albany Stakes (3 YO's and up at five furlongs on turf)
*information is subject to change
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