By DRF.com
PLEASANTON, Calif. (July 2, 2022) – Longshot Cool Mountain Lad ($21.80) held off fellow California-bred Ultimate Bango to win his first stakes in Saturday’s $75,900 Oak Tree Sprint Stakes at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton after 3-5 favorite Howbeit stumbled at the start and unseated jockey Evin Roman.
Cool Mountain Lad, ridden by Pedro Terrero, avoided trouble and raced on the inside in the stretch, edging 9-2 Ultimate Bango, who was carried wide on the turn by a loose Howbeit. Carolina Mia (15-1) led in the stretch, but could not maintain the advantage and faded to finish third.
Cool Mountain Lad is by Unionize, out of the Stormin Fever mare Honeysuckle Rose, was bred by Timothy Francis O’Leary, is owned by Lordan, O’Leary or Powers and is trained by Victor Trujillo. A 4-year-old gelding by Unionize, Cool Mountain Lad has six wins in 16 starts and earnings of $181,154.
Aside from Howbeit, the unluckiest runners were War Games and Ultimate Bango, who was carried into the middle of the track entering the stretch by the loose horse. War Games set the pace, but was forced out by Howbeit, who ran on the inside on the backstretch and through the turn.
Ultimate Bango was outside of those two, but recovered to close ground through the stretch under jockey Catalino Martinez.
Cool Mountain Lad was last in the field with a quarter-mile remaining and closed steadily to win by a head. Carolina Mia finished 1 1/2 lengths behind Ultimate Bango.
Earlier this year in six-furlong races at Golden Gate Fields, Cool Mountain Lad finished fourth in the El Dorado Shooter Stakes for statebreds in February, and fifth in the Lost in the Fog Stakes in May.