The seven-race Thursday card at Golden Gate Fields wasn’t all that interesting from a gambling standpoint but boy am I glad I went out there to see it.
The facility is way better than it looks on TV. On the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate is a big, old racing plant with great character and beauty. Built in 1941, the track experienced a few decades of success during a period when people actually went to go see horse races. That time is gone, of course. And soon this place will probably be gone too.
Unlike many similar-sized thoroughbred race tracks facing extinction however, Golden Gate seems to be at least making an effort to retain the few patrons bothering to show up. The place was clean and orderly. Staffers were friendly and helpful. Things worked. Drinks were served. Somewhat creative food was prepared. The paddock was well kept and accessible. There was no discernible surface bias. Track announcer Michael Wrona may be the best of any at his craft. I was impressed with everything about Golden Gate Fields. Except for the racing. Short fields of low-priced claimers made it a yawn to handicap.
The one exception was a specially created race for an old horse based in Southern California named Awesome Gem (pictured above). Since Gem’s connections have made it known they’d like to run in the April 28th San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate, the track’s racing secretary constructed a race to serve as a prep for Gem over the local surface.
Consistent rain over the last week or so forced the race’s removal from the grass but the synthetic main track surface is considered turf-like in its qualities which left Gem and the balance of his rivals in this field out of the scratch column. To make it all more intriguing, Awesome Gem was ridden by the legendary 53-year-jockey Russell Baze (pictured above). The far-and-away all-time leader in wins by a jockey, Baze had only ridden Awesome Gem in two of the gelding’s 47 lifetime races coming in. Gem’s go-to rider David Flores was down the coast at Santa Anita Thursday with more lucrative riding assignments.
To see Baze ride Awesome Gem to a half-length victory in such a beautiful setting felt special to me. Baze has racked up most of his 11-thousand plus wins against soft company but it doesn’t matter. He’s a towering figure in the sport. Awesome Gem is no slouch either. He’s won more than $2.7 million in a racing career spanning six years. Now 9-years-old, Gem made his debut as a three-year-old in July 2006. He’s run in four Breeder’s Cup races. He finished third in the BC Classic the year it was run at Monmouth. His preferred surface? It’s hard to say. He runs over all of them although has never won on grass.
Attendance was announced at 984. It was six bucks to get in. The track lists seating capacity at 14750 but it looked a lot bigger than that.
Just before the seventh and final race, I bumped into my pal Fairgrounds Jimmy (the brother of Steelers Fan Mike). It’s a small world isn’t it? We watched the finale together. I think my confidence in a first-time starter pushed Jimmy’s wager away from the eventual winner. Oops.
A complementary shuttle service took a dozen of us broken down horseplayers to the North Berkeley Bart station after it was over.
We had dinner Thursday night at Razan’s Organic Kitchen in downtown Berkeley. A “Free Bradley Manning” sticker was affixed prominently at the entrance. The Jordanian Wrap (falafel and cauliflower) was superb. We took a stroll through the beautiful Cal campus after dinner.
This afternoon, it’s the Giants home opener before returning to New York tomorrow.