Saturday, September 27, 2008

CLASSY AWESOME GEM 8-TO-5 FAVORITE IN $200,000 ALL AMERICAN STAKES AT GGF

ALBANY -- The classy Awesome Gem, a 5-year-old gelding who has earned $1,179,882 in 19 career starts, has been made an 8-to-5 morning line favorite in the $200,000 All American Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.

The All American, a 1 1/8-mile contest for 3-year-olds and up, is the featured third race on a 10-race program that begins at 12:45 p.m. Fans attending the track Saturday will receive a free Golden Gate Fields sweatshirt.

Awesome Gem has competed in Grade 1 stakes in five of his last seven races and holds a tremendous class advantage over his six rivals in the Grade 3 All American. Although seventh in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic in his most recent outing, he was beaten less than five lengths by winner Go Between.


Craig Dollase trains Awesome Gem for West Point Thoroughbreds. Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze will ride Awesome Gem, who came within a nose of winning the Grade 1 Goodwood Handicap at Santa Anita last year.

The field for the All American, in post position order, is as follows: Saratoga's Magic, Roberto Gonzalez rides, 7-to-2 on the morning line; Delightful Kiss, Calvin Borel, 3-to-1; Our Partner, William Antongeorgi III, 4-to-1; Asperity, Julio Garcia, 15-to-1; Victorian Prince, Frank Alvarado, 12-to-1; Assessment, Kyle Kaenel, 15-to-1; and Awesome Gem, Baze, 8-to-5.

Delightful Kiss, with $577,087 in earnings, is easily the second-leading money winner in the All American field. Delightful Kiss won the 1 1/2-mile Turfway Park Fall Championship on Sept. 6 and that victory qualified the 4-year-old gelding for a start in the $500,000 Breeders' Cup Marathon on Oct. 25 at Santa Anita.

Delightful Kiss is trained by former jockey Pete Anderson, who is using the All American as a steppingstone to the 1 1/2-mile Marathon. Jockey Borel, a talented Cajun who captured the 2007 Kentucky Derby aboard Street Sense, will make his Golden Gate Fields debut Saturday when he pilots Delightful Kiss.

Saratoga's Magic and Our Partner, both trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, ran one-two in the Governor's Handicap at Sacramento on Aug. 23. Saratoga's Magic defeated his stablemate by a head in the 1 1/8-mile race.

Post time for the All American is 1:45 p.m.

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