El Camino Real Derby Begins Golden Gate Stakes Schedule

Twelve races comprise the winter/spring meet stakes schedule at Golden Gate Fields released Feb. 3 from the Northern California track.

Up first on the schedule organized by director of racing and racing secretary Patrick Mackey is the 1 1/8-mile El Camino Real Derby, a qualifier on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Set for Feb. 13, the race 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 (G1), May 15 at Pimlico Race Course.

Most of the other stakes action occurs during the second annual Gold Rush weekend April 24-25. Six stakes are part of the first day, headed by the $250,000 San Francisco Mile Stakes (G3T) at one mile on turf. Other races on April 24 include the $100,000 California Derby for 3-year-olds, the $75,000 California Oaks for 3-year-old fillies, the $75,000 Lost in the Fog Stakes for sprinters, the $75,000 Camilla Urso Stakes, a five-furlong turf dash for fillies and mares, and the $75,000 Golden Poppy Stakes for female turf routers.

On April 25, two stakes are co-featured that are a part of the Gold Rush Series, a sequence of stakes races throughout the year for horses that are California-bred or -sired. Those races are the $75,000 Silky Sullivan Stakes and the $75,000 Campanile Stakes.

Sophomores who run well against stakes company in April are likely to eye the $75,000 Alcatraz Stakes May 23 as their next possible target.

The winter/spring stakes season then wraps up with the $100,000 All American Stakes May 31 followed by the traditional closing weekend $50,000 Albany Stakes for turf sprinters June 12.

Last year Golden Gate ran eight stakes during a winter/spring meet that was disrupted by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.