Can Alvarado Duo Keep Baltas from S.F. Mile Three-Peat

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Can Alvarado Duo Keep Baltas from S.F. Mile Three-Peat
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Photo: Coady Photography
Get Her Number jogs at Oaklawn Park

The marquee race of the year at Golden Gate Fields, the April 30 $250,000 San Francisco Mile Stakes (G3T) for 3-year-olds and upward at one mile on turf, drew a full field of 14.

Grade 1 winner Get Her Number  is one of two contenders entered for Southern California conditioner Ruben Alvarado. Get Her Number, to be ridden by Evin Roman for the first time, won the American Pharoah Stakes (G1) as a 2-year-old at Santa Anita Park and most recently defeated a salty bunch of second-level allowance sprinters on turf. The other Alvarado trainee is Indian Peak , the stakes-winning, multiple graded-placed son of Comic Strip  who finished third in the Seabiscuit Handicap (G2T) at Del Mar last year. Earlier this winter, the California-bred placed second in the San Simeon Stakes (G3T).

Trainer Richard Baltas won last year's San Francisco Mile with Whisper Not  and the 2020 edition campaigning Neptune's Storm . Seeking a three-peat, Baltas sends up Vanzzy , a grade 3-placed 5-year-old who won the Jersey Derby at Monmouth Park in 2020. Most recently, the son of Verrazano  won a third-level Santa Anita allowance race on March 25 with jockey Joe Bravo, who retains the mount in the San Francisco Mile.

Ecrivain  finished third behind Vanzzy on March 25 and makes his second career start in North America for Hall of Famer Richard Mandella. Beginning his career in France in 2019, Ecrivain won a group 3 and competed in a trio of group 1 races overseas last year. Making his second start off a layoff, he is expected to be in peak condition. Ecrivain will be ridden for the first time by 2021 Eclipse champion apprentice jockey Jessica Pyfer.

Restrainedvengence  placed third in the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) last fall and makes his second start off a layoff for trainer Val Brinkerhoff. This is his third appearance in the San Francisco Mile, finishing fourth in 2020 and third in 2021. Regular pilot Edwin Maldonado is slated to ride once again.

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Other Southern California shippers include Evening Sun  and Tiz Plus , and Delaware , a group 3 winner in France and a minor stakes victor in America. Delaware began his North American campaign with East Coast-based trainer Chad Brown and currently resides on the West Coast with Paddy Gallagher.

A quintet of local contenders will race, and the one with the strongest résumé is undoubtedly Camino Del Paraiso , a four-time stakes winner at Golden Gate for trainer O.J Jauregui. The 9-year-old veteran finished as the runner-up in the Unusual Heat Turf Classic Stakes Presented by City National Bank for California-breds at Santa Anita earlier this year and finished third in the 2020 San Francisco Mile.

Freeport Joe  won the Berkeley Handicap (G3) in November and a pair of open allowance races afterward. He seeks to rebound for local trainer Gloria Haley, who employs Ruben Fuentes to ride for the first time.

Nolde  may have the most peculiar storyline out of any horse in the race. Owned by Jerry Moss and conditioned by local trainer Steve Sherman, the son of Pioneerof the Nile  has not been seen since an off-the-board finish in the 2019 Twilight Derby (G1T) at Del Mar. Nolde has posted several fast workouts leading up to his 2022 debut and will be guided by Northern California mainstay jockey Pedro Terrero.

California-bred stakes winner Jimmy Blue Jeans , stakes-placed Tom's Surprise , and stakes-placed Harmon  round out the list of locals.


Entries: San Francisco Mile S. (G3T)

Golden Gate Fields, Saturday, April 30, 2022, Race 9

  • Grade IIIT
  • 1m
  • Turf
  • $250,000
  • 3 yo's & up
  • 5:20 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Freeport Joe (CA) Ruben Fuentes 123 Gloria Haley 20/1
2 2Indian Peak (CA) Irving Orozco 123 Ruben D. Alvarado 10/1
3 3Harmon (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Julien Couton 123 Monty R. Meier 12/1
4 4Vanzzy (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Joe Bravo 123 Richard Baltas 4/1
5 5Jimmy Blue Jeans (CA) Assael Espinoza 123 Andy Mathis 15/1
6 6Evening Sun (GB) Brice Blanc 123 Jeff Mullins 6/1
7 7Tiz Plus (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jose Valdivia, Jr. 123 Mike Puype 6/1
8 8Delaware (GB)Keeneland Sales Graduate William Antongeorgi III 123 Patrick Gallagher 20/1
9 9Camino Del Paraiso (CA) Catalino Martinez 123 O. J. Jauregui 15/1
10 10Nolde (KY) Pedro M. Terrero 123 Steve M. Sherman 20/1
11 11Restrainedvengence (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Edwin A. Maldonado 123 Val Brinkerhoff 5/1
12 12Tom's Surprise (CA) Armando Ayuso 123 Jack Steiner 12/1
13 13Get Her Number (KY) Evin A. Roman 123 Ruben D. Alvarado 10/1
14 14Ecrivain (FR) Jessica Pyfer 123 Richard E. Mandella 9/2