Bear Fan Stakes winner and undefeated Cal-bred filly Chancery Way is possible for next Saturday’s Moscow Burning Stakes at Golden Gate Fields. (Vassar Photography)
Matt Dinnerman/Golden Gate Fields
BERKELEY, Calif.—Golden Gate Fields officials, the CTBA (California Thoroughbred Breeders Association), and the TOC (Thoroughbred Owners of California) have joined forces to add three stakes races to the 2023 Golden Gate Winter/Spring meet schedule. The trio of stakes are a part of the Golden State Series, a stakes schedule throughout the year designed specifically for California-bred or sired horses. Del Mar, Golden Gate, Los Alamitos, and Santa Anita all conduct numerous Golden State Series races throughout the calendar year.
Nominations close on Thursday for the inaugural running of the Moscow Burning, for California-bred or sired fillies and mares 4-years-old and upward at one mile on the Tapeta main track. The race is slated for next Saturday, January 19. On Saturday, March 18, Golden Gate presents the first edition of the McCann’s Mojave, for state-bred 4-year-olds and upward at one mile and an eighth on the Tapeta. The final stake of the Winter/Spring meet is also the last of the three newly added California-bred stakes: the $75,000 Dream of Summer for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up at five furlongs on turf. The race will be run on Closing Day Sunday, June 11. All three stakes will have a guaranteed purse of $75,000 each.
“We’re thrilled to add these races to our stakes schedule,” said Golden Gate Director of Racing and Racing Secretary Steve Martinelli. “We have a couple of Golden State Series races in April, but we wanted to give opportunities to other divisions here in Northern California. Southern California has an awful lot of them, and we wanted to add a few more up here.
We felt like we could offer them and be successful,” continued Martinelli. “There are a lot of people here who have horses that are eligible that would jump at the chance to run for a good purse. We expect all three of the [new stakes] to fill pretty well.”
Golden Gate offers sixteen stakes races throughout the Winter/Spring meet. The most notable events are the El Camino Real Derby on Saturday, February 11, and a series of eight stakes races on Gold Rush Weekend, which runs on Saturday, April 29 and Sunday, April 30 this year.
