When the list of
entrants for the $100,000 Grade 3 San Francisco Mile was released last
Wednesday, race track observers noticed a few things about the nine
horses that would go to the post.
First,
it was a race laden with stakes winners as 5 of the hopefuls had stakes
wins on their resumes. There was defending SF Mile champ Bold
Chieftain, Grade 3 winner Blue Chagall, Inglewood Handicap winner
Gallant Son, La Puente Stakes winner Dream Netttie and 2010 Alcatraz
Stakes winner Hudson Landing.
Secondly,
a pair of southern California riders, Brice Blanc and Patrick
Valenzuela were listed to ride, something that has become pretty rare
these days. It’s not often a jockey misses a Saturday card at Hollywood
Park to come to Golden Gate Fields.
So
excitement was in the air, as all of this seemingly assured the race
would be a hotly contested turf mile. Or, at least we thought it would
lead to that. One person had something completely different in mind.
That person was jockey Kevin Krigger.
You
may remember last week, I told you how hot Krigger has been, when he
scored a win in the Work the Crowd Stakes, by riding Jerry
Hollendorfer’s U R All That I am to the win.
It
was Kriggers first stakes win of the meet and as the reporters left the
jockeys room following our interview with Krigger that day, the jockey
said, “We will see you guys next week.”
He was so right.
Krigger
took the lead out of the gate on Our Nautique, another Hollendorfer
horse, and settled into a nice pace to lead all the way around. When the
horses turned for home, and the real race riding began, the race was
essentially over.
Krigger
and Our Nautique maintained a safe lead down the stretch and won the SF Mile by 1 ¾
lengths over Gallant Son who was ¾ ahead of race favorite Sebastian
Flyte.
Just as Krigger predicted, we were once again at his locker, waiting for the winning jockey.
“It
was a perfect trip, just the way you would want it,” Krigger said as he
watched the replay on the television over his locker reliving the ride.
“Get up, get up, … no turning back…..get up. Can‘t say nothing else, we
were pulling away at the end.”
The
win was the third of the day for Krigger, who despite arriving at GGF a
month into the meet, is tied for fourth in the jockey standings and
only eight wins out of second place with 25 racing days left.
Russell
Baze, who was aboard the ever popular Bold Chieftain, finished fourth,
and with a little luck, could have had a better fate.
“He
ran good,” Baze said. “ We lacked a little racing room the second turn
there, we had to wait for the horse that ran second to go past us. When I
got him out he gave me a little bit of a punch then flattened out late.
He’ll get a lot out of that race, he’ll be tough next time.”
A couple other ones to watch next time could be Gallant Son and Baton Roo.
Gallant
Son, trained by Frank Lucarelli made a nice run to get second in he
race and the Andy Mathis trained Baton Roo, ran well behind early and
rallied to finish a good fifth.
Oh
and for you bettors out there. The winning combination of the top
trainer and hottest jockey on a horse that had been on the board in nine
straight races, netted $40.40 on a $2 win bet.