Mana Strike Tops California Derby Field

David Taylor Jr.'s Mana Strike will seek his second consecutive Golden Gate Fields stakes in the $100,000 California Derby Jan. 16 at the Bay Area racetrack.



A commanding winner—by 2 1/4 lengths—in the mile Gold Rush Stakes over Golden Gate's synthetic main track Dec. 5, the Washington-bred, gelded son of Papa Clem   also won his six-furlong debut by an impressive four lengths at Golden Gate in October, with a sixth-place run in the Golden State Juvenile Stakes on the Del Mar dirt sandwiched in between.



The Frank Lucarelli trainee will stretch out to 1 1/16 miles for the first time in the California Derby and will face three return Gold Rush runners, including Algenon (second), Marqula (third), and Allaboutaction (fourth).



A contingent of Southern California invaders will also try for their first stakes wins, headed by Reddam Racing's graded stakes-placed Frank Conversation. The Quality Road   colt trained by Doug O'Neill finished fifth last time out in the Los Alamitos Futurity (gr. I) and came in third in the Cecil B. DeMille (gr. IIIT) on the Del Mar turf in November. Go Long and Canada will also make the trip up Interstate 5.



He's a Tiger is the only entrant with an unblemished record, 2-for-2 on the Golden Gate main track. The Sky Mesa   colt trained by Jeff Bonde won his debut at 4 1/2 furlongs in May, then was on the sideline until Dec. 5, when he took a six-furlong allowance with ease by 3 1/4 lengths.