GOLDEN GATE FIELDS OPENS
SPRING SEASON WEDNESDAY
Golden Gate Fields will open its 2008 spring season Wednesday and the 30-day meeting will feature plenty of stakes action and bargain prices for fans.
The season runs through Sunday, June 22, and racing will be conducted Wednesday through Sunday each week. Post time is 1:05 p.m. and there will be a special Memorial Day racing program on Monday, May 26.
Nine stakes races, including four during the first 11 days of the meeting, will be presented at the spring session. The main events on the stakes schedule are the Grade 3 $150,000 Berkeley Stakes and the Grade 3 $100,000 Golden Gate Fields Turf Stakes.
Every Sunday during the season will be “Dollar Day,” a promotion in which Golden Gate Fields offers fans $1 general admission, $1 general parking, $1 programs, $1 beers and $1 hot dogs. Two “Dollar Day” programs will feature live entertainment as Super Diamond will perform on May 25 and Tainted Love on June 22.
The promotion schedule also features the following giveaways: digital alarm clocks on Saturday, May 17 (Preakness Stakes Day); beach towels on Monday, May 26; and T-shirts on Saturday, June 14. Also, Golden Gate Fields will host a wine festival on Saturday, June 7 (Belmont Stakes Day).
Fans will also enjoy the new Wizard’s Sports Bar, which is located in the club house. A full-service bar, Wizard’s has 20 flat-screen televisions for the serious sports fan.
Opening weekend will feature a stakes double-header, with 3-year-olds competing over six furlongs on the Tapeta racing surface in the $50,000 Golden Bear on Saturday, and 3-year-old fillies matching strides over 1 1/16 miles on the turf in the $75,000 Golden Poppy on Sunday.
Memorial Day weekend will feature the $75,000 Alcatraz, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-olds that will be run Saturday, May 24, and the Berkeley, which will feature 3-year-olds and up competing on the Tapeta track at 1 1/16 miles on Memorial Day.
The Golden Gate Fields Turf, an 11-furlong contest for 3-year-olds and up, will be run on Saturday, May 31. Fillies and mares will have their chance to try 11 furlongs on the turf in the $75,000 Yerba Buena on Sunday, June 8.
The stakes schedule is rounded out by the following races: $75,000 Oakland, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up on Tapeta on Saturday, June 14; $75,000 Work The Crowd, a one-mile turf race for California-bred fillies and mares on Saturday, June 21; and the $75,000 Lost In The Fog, a five-furlong dash on Tapeta on Sunday, June 22.
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