Panther Mountain Tops Strong Field

Panther Mountain has one derby victory on his resume in 2002 and he’ll try to add another tonight at Los Alamitos when he takes on nine other 3-year-olds in the $207,800 Golden State Derby.

Runners in the Golden State, a Grade I at 400 yards, have won 46 races and earned more than $1.2 million.

Panther Mountain, owned by Guy Weimer and trained by Chuck Treece, has contributed seven of those victories and earned more than $137,000. He beat Mini Rock by three-quarters of a length in winning the Los Alamitos Winter Derby on Feb 23.

Sent to the sidelines after that victory, Panther Mountain, a Texas-bred, returned in the trials for the Golden State Derby and finished fourth, losing by a neck as the 3-5 favorite.

Treece, who has never won this race, believes his colt will be a different animal tonight.

“He’s a monster right now,” Treece said. “He got a lot out of his race and he’s looking really good. [Jockey] Eddie Aceves galloped him the other morning and he was struggling to hold him back. He came out of that last race so strong.”

The race, the ninth of 11 on the card, will have only eight betting interests. Sassy Smith, who won the 2001 Kindergarten Futurity, and Winner Wants Cash will race coupled as the Dutch Masters III-owned entry, and A Tac First, who was the fastest qualifier in winning his heat at 14-1, and Fly Home First are owned by Double Bar S Ranch and trained by Dan Francisco.

A gelded son of Strawfly Special, Fly Home First was third at 19-1 in his trial and he’ll be trying to provide jockey Carlos Bautista with his second consecutive victory in the Golden State. Bautista won the 2001 renewal with Royal Dip and no jockey has repeated since Kip Didericksen won with Apprehend in 1990 and Takin On The Cash in 1991.

The rest of the field, from the inside out, includes Chicks Rapidash; Check Him Out, who earned his biggest victory in the 2001 Ed Burke Memorial Futurity; Tiny Rocket Dash, Famous Cartel and Last Shall Be First, also trained by Francisco.