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Pharoah Colt MacKinnon Tops 11-Strong Field For El Camino Real Derby

Eleven 3-year-old colts and geldings are slated for a chance to earn 10 Kentucky Derby points and a free Preakness berth in the feature race at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday afternoon, the $100,000 El Camino Real Derby at 1 1/8 miles on Tapeta. The El Camino Real Derby goes as Race 8 on a nine-race program.

Last year, 2021 winner Rombauer took advantage of his free Preakness berth, which has been offered to the winner of the El Camino Real Derby the last four years, and went on to win the second leg of the Triple Crown.

A pair of Southern California shippers make the trip north. The headliner in the field is Doug O'Neill trainee MacKinnon, who won a pair of stakes on turf as a 2-year-old-the Juvenile Turf at Del Mar and the Zuma Beach at Santa Anita-before finishing third in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf last November. Most recently, the son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah finished fourth behind next-out Southwest Stakes victor Newgrange in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on dirt at Santa Anita. Southern California-based jockey Abel Cedillo, who has a total of four mounts on the day, is named to ride McKinnon.

O'Neill saddles a second entrant in Del Mo, who won a maiden special weight at Golden Gate on Jan. 9 and has trained in the Bay Area leading up to the El Camino Real Derby.

Trainer Bob Baffert won the El Camino Real Derby in 2019 with Azul Coast and sends out $620,000 yearling purchase Blackadder in the 2022 edition. In his most recent afternoon appearance, the son of Quality Road broke his maiden in a two-turn race at Santa Anita on Dec. 26. He faces winners for the first time and will be ridden by Edwin Maldonado for the first time. Blackadder is owned by the large partnership of SF Racing LLC, Madaket Stables LLC, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital LLC, Catherine Donovan, Golconda Stable and Siena Farm LLC.

Local contenders run deep in the El Camino Real Derby. Temple City colt Boise attempts to rebound after a poor performance in the Eddie Logan Stakes at Santa Anita on turf. Trained by leading Northern California conditioner Jonathan Wong, Boise broke his maiden at Golden Gate and won the Gold Rush Stakes in December over the Tapeta main track.

Dr. Pescado picked up a stakes victory in the Golden Nugget Stakes sprinting on Tapeta last fall and freshens up two months after finishing third behind Boise in the Gold Rush.

C'Mon Man, who rounded out the superfecta in the Gold Rush and was a non-factor in the Eddie Logan, is another 3-year-old from the local contingent entered.

Unraptured, who has always been well regarded by his connections and the Bay Area racing community, is a perfect two-for-two on the Golden Gate Tapeta. He enters fresh off a dominant allowance win. The Tim McCanna trainee possesses the pedigree to be a decent racehorse: he is a half sibling to Grade 3 winner and $500,000 earner Jalen Journey. Another sibling, Derek Adrian, was a Group 1 winner in South America and won 12 races from 16 lifetime starts.

Allowance winner Stormy Samurai stretches out in distance after beating a salty bunch of sprinters, two-turn maiden special weight victor Il Bellator sports an improving pattern leading up to this stakes debut, and maiden Meetmeattheclub is entered ambitiously in search of a massive upset. Nuestro Engriedo, who finished third behind Stormy Samurai in an allowance race two weeks ago, rounds out the field.

First post on Saturday afternoon is 12:45 PM PT. Fans who wish to attend the race card, or any future race programs, can purchase tickets online at Goldengatefields.com.

The El Camino Real Derby (Race 8 of 9. Approximate post time: 4:15 PM PT)

#1 Stormy Samurai (Jockey William Antongeorgi III…trainer Jack Steiner)

#2 McKinnon (Abel Cedillo…Doug O'Neill)

#3 Unraptured (Armando Ayuso…Tim McCanna)

#4 Blackadder (Edwin Maldonado…Bob Baffert)

#5 Nuestro Engriedo (Santos Rivera…Felix Rondan)

#6 Boise (Evin Roman…Jonathan Wong)

#7 Dr Pescado (Pedro Terrero…Felix Rondan)

#8 Meetmeattheclub (Silvio Amador…Dan Franko)

#9 C'Mon Man (Irving Orozco…Bill McLean)

#10 Il Bellator (Alejandro Gomez…Jose Bautista)

#11 Del Mo (Ruben Fuentes…Doug O'Neill)

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‘Blossoming Before Our Eyes’: Irish-Bred Going Global Crushes Honeymoon Rivals

In one of the most impressive performances of the entire 64-day meeting, trainer Phil D'Amato's Irish-bred Going Global split horses turning for home and rocketed to a 4 ¾-length win in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Honeymoon Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif. Ridden by Flavien Prat, Going Global got 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:46.37 and registered her fourth consecutive North American stakes win.

Taken in-hand out of the gate, Going Global had two horses beat while fifth, about eight lengths off pacesetter Pizzazz heading into the clubouse turn. Fifth in a field of seven sophomore fillies, about four lengths off the lead while under restraint mid-way around the far turn, Prat angled out turning for home, shooting a gap between Pizzazz and longshot Midnight Diva.

From there, Going Global ran like a wild horse to the wire in a performance that could well have national implications.

“I think that she's a filly that is just blossoming before our eyes right now,” said D'Amato, the meet's leading trainer with 41 wins and co-leader, along with Baffert in stakes wins with 14. “Each performance, I thought was better than the next and this one I thought, was many lengths better than the last. It's just exciting to have a filly like this going into Del Mar and hopefully, the sky's the limit.

“For a 3-year-old filly at this time of the year, she's probably the best filly I've ever had. I've had a lot of good Grade 1-winning mares, but this early on in their career, I'd say she's definitely the best 3-year-old filly.”

A winner of three turf stakes dating back to her U.S. debut, the Grade 3 Sweet Life Stakes on Feb. 14, Going Global came off a hard-fought neck win in the Grade 3 Providencia Stakes at the Honeymoon distance and was 4-5 favorite Saturday afternoon, returning $3.60, $2.40 and $2.20.

“We had a good pace and she relaxed very well,” said Prat, who's been aboard in all of her local starts. “We were able to save ground and when she found that hole, she was very impressive. She has a great turn of foot and yes, that was a pretty good race for her, her best race so far.”

Owned by CYBT, Michael Dubb, Saul Gevertz, Michael Nentwig and Ray Pagano, Going Global is now unbeaten in four stateside starts and has five wins from eight overall races. With today's winner's share of $60,000, she increased her earnings to $248,792.

Last to the quarter pole, Golden, who was ridden by Umberto Rispoli, rallied three-wide into the stretch and out-finished Midnight Diva by a half length for second. Off at 5-1, Golden paid $4.60 and $3.60.

Ridden by Abel Cedillo, Midnight Diva was an attentive third early and stayed in game fashion late to run third by 2 ¼ lengths over Quattroelle. Off at 29-1, Midnight Diva paid $7.20 to show.

Fractions on the race were 22.89, 45.66, 1:09.79 and 1:34.59.

Racing resumes on Sunday with first post time for a nine-race card at 1 p.m.

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Friday’s Stronach 5 Features Racing From Four Different Tracks

The Stronach 5 will have competitive fields from Laurel Park, Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields as well as an industry-low 12-percent takeout come Friday afternoon.

The Stronach 5, which continues to offer a strong return on investment, begins at 3:59 ET.

The sequence kicks off with Laurel's eighth race, a $42,000 allowance event for 4-year-olds and up with an 8-5 favorite in Gentleman Joe. The 5-year-old will be equipped with blinkers for trainer Hamilton Smith. Trainer Miguel Vera sends out two. Prince James, a 4-year-old son of Tiznow who sold for $150,000 as a 2-year-old, enters off a second-place finish Jan. 3 at Laurel after spending the fall at Gulfstream Park and Gulfstream Park West. Vera will also saddle The Revenger.

Gulfstream's seventh race will serve as the second leg in the Stronach 5. The allowance optional claimer at a mile on the turf appears to be wide open with Whatmakessammyrun a tepid 3-1 choice breaking from the far outside 12 post for trainer George Weaver and jockey Luis Saez. Repole Stable's Hyperfocus makes his turf debut after a fifth-place finish in June in the Bashford Manor (G3). Easy Time will also make his turf debut for trainer Mark Casse after an eighth-place finish Jan. 2 in the Mucho Macho Man.

The Stronach 5 returns to Laurel for the ninth race, a wide open seven furlong claiming event with Company Clown the 3-1 favorite for leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez. Fine N Dandy ships in from Penn National for trainer Tim Ritchey.

The fourth leg of the sequence will be Santa Anita's third race, a starter optional claimer for 3-year-old fillies at 6 ½ furlongs on the turf. Disko Fever, trained by Richard Baltas, broke his maiden last time out by 3 ½ lengths at Santa Anita.

The Stronach 5 concludes with Golden Gate's second race, an $8,000 maiden claimer for 3-year-old fillies. Wildly Dramatic is the 9-5 favorite off a second-place finish Jan. 29 against similar company. You're All Talk, trained by Peter Eurton, drops in from $35,000 maiden company while trainer Jonathan Wong will send out first-time starter Street Dancing.

Friday's races and sequence

Leg One – Laurel Park 8th Race: (10 entries, 1 mile) 3:59 ET, 12:59 PT
Leg Two – Gulfstream Park 7th Race: (12 entries, 1-mile turf) 4:12 ET, 1:12 PT
Leg Three – Laurel Park 9th Race: (13 entries, 7 furlongs) 4:29 ET, 1:29 PT
Leg Four – Santa Anita Park 3rd Race: (10 entries, 6 ½ furlongs turf) 4:35 ET, 1:35 PT
Leg Five – Golden Gate Fields 2nd Race: (8 entries, 5 furlongs) 4:53 ET, 1:53 PT

Fans can watch and wager on the action at 1/ST.COM/BET as well as stream all the action in English and Spanish at LaurelPark.com, SantaAnita.com, GulfstreamPark.com, and GoldenGateFields.com.

The Stronach 5 In the Money podcast, hosted by Jonathan Kinchen and Peter Thomas Fornatale, will be posted by 2 p.m. Thursday at InTheMoneyPodcast.com and will be available on iTunes and other major podcast distributors

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.

The post Friday’s Stronach 5 Features Racing From Four Different Tracks appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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