A Lil' Alimony, a 2-year-old filly owned by five divorced women that race their horses under the ownership name of First Wives Club, scored a wire-to-wire win in the first race of the 59-day season.
The California-bred daughter of Mr. Procrastinator made her career debut in the five-furlong dash for maiden claiming fillies and she won the race by two lengths. The even-money favorite, A Lil' Alimony was timed in 57.99 seconds on a muddy racetrack and paid $4.20.
A Lil' Alimony is trained by Greg Gilchrist and was ridden by Macario Rodriguez. The filly earned $9,075 for her owners, who were not in attendance. The divorcees, perhaps spending some of their alimony, are enjoying a vacation in Cancun.
Golden Gate Fields' fall/winter season runs through Jan. 30. The season will be highlighted by a trio of $100,000 events - the Work The Crowd Handicap, a one mile turf test for California-bred fillies and mares that will be run Dec. 26; the Golden Gate Derby (gr. III), a 1 1/16 mile race for 3-year-olds on Jan. 15; and the Brown Bess Handicap (gr. IIIT), a 1 1/16 mile turf event for fillies and mares on Jan. 30.
The Golden Gate Derby is the West Coast's first major race for 2005 Kentucky Derby hopefuls.
(Chart, Equibase)
