By Dennis Miller
The Alameda County Fair horse racing stakes program gets underway Saturday with the second running of the Mary Clare Schmitt Pleasanton Oaks.
The race is the sixth on the Saturday of opening weekend and is set for a 4:15 p.m. post.
The race is named for the late Mary Clare Schmitt, who along with husband George Schmitt, were horse racing royalty in Northern California in terms of ownership and breeding.
Tom’s Regret, who won last year’s inaugural running is back to defend her title.
We will look closely at each horse in the race in post-position order.
1) Chancery Way (Jamey Thomas, Assael Espinoza, 9/5): Has been a stakes running machine. The last two have been turf sprints at Santa Anita where she ran second. The two before that were at Del Mar, then Golden Gate last winter with both being wins. Overall, she has run five times on the dirt and won four of them. The horse has one start over the Pleasanton surface back in 2022 and she won that race. Is she the speed of the speed here?
2) Tom’s Regret (Stevem Myadi, Luis Manuel Jimenez Aburto, 3/1): The defending of this race won easily last year as the prohibitive favorite. But after the win she went to the shelf until May of this year when she was second in an optional claimer on the turf at Santa Anita. Next up was the Desert Stormer at Golden Gate Fields where she locked up in a speed duel before holding on for third. There has been 10 career starts, with three wins, five seconds, and a pair of thirds. Is going to be a load to handle here.
3) Scary Fast Ride (Sean McCarthy, William Antongeorgi III, 7/2): Had a nice run from October of last year to this past February between Del Mar, GGF, and Santa Anita where she was either first or second in five straight starts. The latest start was a third in an optional claimer at Santa Anita on May 5. The second place finisher came back to win her next start. Might be a notch below the champ but does have some mad skills. Loves to run from off the pace and will have plenty of pace to run at.
4) Pushiness (Michael McCarthy, Catalino Martinez, 9/2): There is no doubt he will be flying out the gate but he has been on the shelf since September of last year after setting the pace in the Grade I Del Mar Debutante before weakening and finishing seventh, 16-lengths off the pace. The first two were easy wire-to-wire wins at Santa Anita and Del Mar. The works have been consistent and solid for the return but have to look to others.
5) Smiling Molly (D Wayne Baker, Epifanio Garcia, 8/1): One of the two Northern California runners in the field. The last five races and 10 of her 15 starts have been on the turf. Has three starts on the dirt and has yet to hit the board. Has not been a bad year and has hit the board in her last three starts but the barn does not have a high percentage of turf to dirt moves. Has only one stakes race on her resume, and it was fourth place finish on the turf at GGF.
My play: I think Chancery Way is the horse to beat from her rail post. I don’t think the defending champ is the same horse he was here last year. Chancery Way has been banging out the stakes races and running strong. Would I be shocked if Tom’s Regret repeated? No, but I don’t think it will happen. The interesting horse to see will be Pushiness with the former Grade I runner in a stake at the Alameda County Fair.