Lammas wins last-ever graded stakes at Golden Gate Fields

Lammas, a 7-year-old gelding who already had a graded-stakes victory to his name, added another Saturday in the last chance for anyone to do that at Golden Gate Fields.

Bred and raced in Great Britain before arriving in California two years ago, Lammas ran his victory streak to three with rally to win by a head in the Grade 3, $175,000 San Francisco Mile going two turns on firm East Bay turf.

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Owned by Ronald Charles and Samuel Gordon and trained by Manny Badilla, Lammas (9-1) raced in mid-pack before jockey Irving Orozco made a decisive move in the homestretch. He went to the crop going four wide at the eighth pole. The son of Ireland stallion Heeraat responded with an emphatic move to pass early pacesetter Air Force Red (5-1) in the last 10 strides to win.

Air Force Red held on by a half-length to place second. Last year’s San Francisco Mile winner Balnikhov (3-1) closed from last place in the field of 11 to finish third.

The winning time was 1:34.30 after early splits of 22.80, 46.26, 1:09.85 and 1:21.96. It was the fastest running of the race since Charmo’s 1:34.28 in 2006.

Lammas won Feb. 23 and April 5 in allowance miles on the Tapeta synthetic circuit at Golden Gate. That was the surface on which he also won the November 2022 Berkeley Handicap (G3).

It was the second graded-stakes victory and the first in seven years for Orozco, who 364 days earlier broke his ribs and suffered a punctured lung in a spill at Golden Gate.

Saying the track has been losing money for years, The Stronach Group is closing Golden Gate Fields after a final day of races June 9. The Northern California track that straddles the Albany-Berkeley city line opened in 1941.