Mugaritz continued his winning ways in Race 6, as he went on to claim his 3rd straight victory. It was an Allowance Optional Claimer for 4yos and up going 1 1/16m on the main track. After being runner-up in last year’s California Derby, he made 2 starts on the Derby trail before being sidelined for 9 months. He’s had 2 prior starts since his return and he won both those races. Today he broke well and jockey Abel Cedillo got him into a perfect position sitting in 2nd. The son of Dialed In relaxed very well and made a nice easy move around the far turn. He responded strongly in the stretch and kicked on to score by 1 3/4 lengths for trainer Jonathan Wong. Rounding out the exacta and trifecta were Choo Choo and More Power to Him respectively. The final time for the race was a quick 1:43.75. The one thing that I think makes Mugaritz so dangerous, is that he has developed the ability to make his own trip. Early on in his career he was having success by going straight to the front and trying to run the others off their feet. He must have matured a lot since the layoff, because he is now showing the ability to sit patiently off the pace. He has been a cool horse to follow, as he always puts in a game effort. It will be interesting to see where connections go next with the 4yo gelding. The turf course opening up soon should give him some more options, as he has shown ability over both surfaces. Speaking of turf, I would imagine the 250k G3 San Francisco Mile on April 27th is a future spot that they could take a look at too.
The same connections of Jonathan Wong, Abel Cedillo, and owner Alejandro Mercado also took the 5th race with The Creep. The waters in the El Camino Real Derby were too deep for him, and it seems like he has found a home at Golden Gate Fields. His now 2 for 4 lifetime record at the track also includes a stakes placing. The 3yo son of Twirling Candy pressed the leader Our Silver Oak all the way around, and then showed a ton of grit in the stretch to kick on and win by 1 1/2 lengths. The Creep ran the 1 1/16m in 1:45.14.
Wong also took race 4 with the Irish-bred mare Snow Cloud. She snuck through on the rail to get up on the wire in a 3-way photo. And in the finale, he won with first time acquisition Kichiro– the 3yo son of Preakness champ Oxbow scored by an easy 4 lengths to break his maiden.
It was great to see Gettin Sideways come out on top in the 5th race today. It was a 1 1/16m first condition Allowance. She had a really rough trip getting blocked with no where to run last time out. Today, she got a clean run and held off a late surge from stakes-winner The Spiral Jetter. This 4yo daughter of Grazen has proven to be quite the claim for trainer Dan Markle. She was claimed for 12.5k in the debut and went off at odds of 16/1. After today’s win, she has now banked $84,204. The final time for the race was 1:44.90.
Jockeys: The top 2 jockeys in the standings Abel Cedillo and Juan Hernandez both had huge afternoons. They each won 3 races on the 8-race program.
- Cedillo *67* 2. Hernandez *52* 3. Martinez *33*
Trainers: Leading trainer Jonathan Wong had another big 4-win day at the winter/spring meet.
- Wong *48* 2. Hollendorfer *16* 3. Rivelli *15*
Live racing resumes tomorrow with a 10-race card. First post is at 12:45pm.
Todays full results/charts: http://www.equibase.com/static/chart/pdf/GG030819USA.pdf
NorCal Horse Racing News 