Versatile Tres Borrachos Heads San Pasqual

Likely San Pasqual favorite Tres Borrachos, a 7-year-old gelding who has earned $884,257, hasn’t been big on winning during his 35-race career, as he’s won but four races. However, after joining the barn of Marty Jones last year Tres Borrachos became a more versatile racehorse.

Previously considered a stone front-runner, the son of Ecton Park led into the stretch of the Grade I Hollywood Gold Cup in 2009 before finishing second to Rail Trip at odds of 23-1. But until winning the San Diego Handicap from off the pace on July 30, Tres Borrachos had gone 13 races without a victory.

His half-length loss to Kettle Corn in the Native Diver on Dec. 3 after setting the pace followed a rallying third-place finish behind Caleb’s Posse and Shackleford in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 5. Joel Rosario, aboard for both those races, has a return engagement with Saturday’s 123-pound high weight for owners George Hicker and Button Stable.

Tres Borrachos will be opposed by only two graded stakes winners. Skipshot, who didn’t win in five starts last year after returning from over 13 months on the sidelines, defeated Sidney’s Candy in Hollywood Park’s Grade II Swaps Stakes in July of 2010. Uh Oh Bango was victorious in the Grade III Berkeley Stakes at Golden Gate Fields last May.

The complete field for the San Pasqual Handicap, with jockeys and weights in post position order: Skipshot, Joseph Talamo, 118; Thirtyfirststreet, Hector Berrios, 118; Java Man, Gomez, 118; Tweebster, Bejarano, 118; Utopian, Chantal Sutherland, 118; Tres Borrachos, Rosario, 123; Uh Oh Bango, Mike Smith, 118, and Massone, Martin Garcia, 118.