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The purse of the Sam J. Whiting Memorial Handicap was raised to $75,000 this year at the Alameda County Fair and as a result, the six-furlong sprint on Wednesday may be one of the best stakes the Fair has had in years.
The three favorites – Bailouttheminister, Excessive Passion and Ain’t No Other – are very hard to separate as all three could easily be hoisting the hardware in the Winner’s Circle following the race.
Even the other four horses in the race – Sanger Silver, Live Sundays, Shudacudawudya and Solar Rocket – bring some solid credentials to the party.
The race is set for the 8th race on the special holiday card at the Fair, with the first race scheduled to go off at 1:15 p.m.
Excessive Passion, out of the Jeff Bonde barn, is the defending champion of the race, winning by just over a length last year. Frank Alvarado was up in the win last year and will be back in the irons Wednesday.
Since winning the race last year, Excessive Passion has not found his way back to the winner’s circle in four starts. He did finish second in the Grade III Morvich last October at Santa Anita. His last start saw him finish fourth in a 5-furlong effort on the turf in early June at Golden Gate, finishing behind both
Bailouttheminister and Sanger Silver, but Excessive Passion will be back on the dirt of his home track where he is a perfect 2-for-2 in his career.
Steve Miyadi’s Ain’t No Other rolled home with the inaugural Livermore Valley Wines Stakes last year, and then won a stakes in Santa Rosa before being disqualified and placed third. Ain’t No Other was third in the Morvich last year.
Ain’t No Other has three starts this year, finishing second, fourth and seventh, but like Excessive Passion the speedy horse seems to be at his best on the quick Pleasanton track.
Bailouttheminister, a Keith Nations trained entry, has five starts this year and has hit the board all five times. Russell Baze has been up on the horse for all five starts and will be again Wednesday.
The horse has been running in allowance and optional claiming fields and has the stalking style that matches up perfectly with Baze. Bailouttheminister does have a solid work over the track, but in his lone start over the surface he was a badly beaten fourth last year.
BAZE AT HANDICAPPING SEMINAR
Hall of Fame and the all-time national leader in wins, jockey Russell Baze will be the guest at the Daily Handicapping Seminar on Wednesday at 11:45 a.m.
Baze is a yearly guest to one of the seminars and it is always one of the best attended as Baze offers insight into his great career as he takes questions from the audience.
Following the appearance from Baze, track announcer Frank Mirahmadi and Fair Racing Publicist Dennis Miller will go over the race card for the day.
Trainers will dominate the spotlight on Thursday and Friday at the seminar as Brian Pitnick will be the guest on Thursday and Steve Sherman will follow on Friday.
The seminars are held just outside of the paddock area each day or racing at 11:45 a.m. and are free of charge once inside the Fairgrounds.