Gold Rush honors several great California-breds through naming stakes for them. While the Snow Chief and Melair Stakes are the Gold Rush showcase events for 3-year-olds, this year the Fran’s Valentine Stakes is particularly meaningful. Thirty years ago this month Fran’s Valentine became the frst—and to date the only—Cal-bred to win the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I). She traveled to Kentucky for owner Earl Scheib and trainer Joe Manzi and defeated eight others in the May 3, 1985, stakes. Fran’s Valentine came along in such a Golden Age of Cal-breds that she never earned a California Horse of the Year title. At 2, she lost to Silveyville, and for the next three years Snow Chief ruled. However, Fran’s Valentine earned four Cal-bred championships—2-year-old flly of 1984, 3-year-old flly of 1985, and older female in 1986-87. Scheib bred Fran’s Valentine, a daughter of Saros—Iza Valentine, by Bicker, and named her for his late wife, Fran. The flly made history as a 2-year-old by participating in the very frst Breeders’ Cup and becoming the frst horse to be disqualifed from a victory. In the 1984 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I), Fran’s Valentine won at 74-1, only to be taken down and placed 10th for interfering with Pirate’s Glow. The following year’s Kentucky Oaks attracted not one but two Cal-breds. Rascal Lass, owned by Motown’s Berry Gordy, won that year’s Fantasy Stakes (gr. I) at Oaklawn Park. When Fran’s Valentine lost her Oaks prep, fnishing ffth in Keeneland’s Ashland Stakes (gr. II), trainer Lin Wheeler sent Rascal Lass from Arkansas to Louisville. Neither Cal-bred went favored in the Kentucky Oaks, as bettors preferred William S. Farish III’s Folk Art at 3-2 over Fran’s Valentine at 3-1. The previous year Folk Art had defeated Fran’s Valentine when winning the Oak Leaf Stakes (gr. I). Rascal Lass set the pace in the 11⁄8-mile Kentucky Oaks, and jockey Pat Valenzuela tracked her in second with Fran’s Valentine. When they hit that long Churchill Downs stretch, Fran’s Valentine overhauled her fellow Cal-bred
ed by Yum! Brands (gr. I). Attention both locally and nationally is not surprisingly focused on that race. Now Gold Rush is slated after both the Derby and Preakness Stakes (gr. I), but two weeks before the Belmont Stakes (gr. I). “We hope that it will be benefcial not only from a feld-size standpoint, but also from an attendance standpoint,” said Burge. Te May 23 date also helps promote the entire calendar of Golden State Series races, especially with the change in Northern California. Two stakes at Golden Gate Fields, the $100,000 Campanile Stakes
THE BLOOD-HORSE LIBRARY
California’s Kentucky Oaks
Earl Scheib’s homebred Fran’s Valentine is the only California bred flly to win the Kentucky Oaks
and won in a stakes-record 1:50. Foxy Deen came on late from last to grab second from Rascal Lass, who fnished third. Folk Art, with Lafft Pincay Jr. aboard, fnished seventh. “She really powered down in the stretch for the fnish,” said Valenzuela. “She’s a terrifc flly, and she’s coming around really good.” Valenzuela proved correct, as Fran’s Valentine returned home and quickly added the Princess Stakes (gr. III) and Hollywood Oaks (gr. I) at Hollywood Park. She raced two more seasons, ultimately winning 13 of 34 starts for earnings of $1,375,465. That bankroll made Fran’s Valentine the all-time leading money earning Cal-bred female, and today she still ranks second, behind only Moscow Burning. Fran’s Valentine remains 28th on the all-time Cal-bred earner list. —Tracy Gantz
and the $100,000 Silky Sullivan Stakes, previously run in June, have been moved to April 26. Tey headlined the inaugural Cal-bred Turf Extravaganza. “Tat is two $100,000 stakes for 3-year-olds the same weekend that we used to have Gold Rush in Southern California,” said Burge. “Hopefully, those two races will be prep races for the Snow Chief and Melair.” Tough Gold Rush is now a part of the Santa Anita stakes schedule, the day began in 2000 at Hollywood Park. Burge and Hollywood’s Martin Panza came up with the idea.
“We wanted to create another big day for Cal-breds,” said Burge. “It also helped the Hollywood Park stakes program. By putting so many Cal-bred stakes on one day at the beginning of the meet, the top fnishers could come back and run in Hollywood’s open and graded stakes.” Now that Santa Anita has essentially combined its winter-spring meeting with much of Hollywood’s previous spring-summer dates, a late April position didn’t give that same advantage. When Gold Rush began in 2000, the Golden State Series didn’t exist. As that se-
www.ctba.com ❙ May 2015 ❙ CALIFORNIA THOROUGHBRED
19