Category: EMERALD DOWNS

EMERALD DOWNS RACING THIS WEEK

Wednesday, October 28 (37/38)
2:15 p.m. (11 races)

Thursday, October 29 (38/38)
5 p.m. (11 races)

WEEK 19: 22 RACES

Total entries for Week 19 are 183 horses in 22 races or 8.3 per race. Through 36 days (June 24-Oct. 22) average starters per race is 7.4 horses (2711 starters, 366 races).

WEEK 19 FEATURE RACES

Stay in Grace

Wednesday, Oct. 28, Race 1, purse $17,000, $15,000 claiming/$10,000 starter, fillies & mares 3-year-olds & up, 6 Furlongs: Oregon-bred win machine Stay in Grace goes for her third win in 38 days, seventh in 14 starts at Emerald Downs, and 10th in 23 starts overall. She beat virtually the same field two weeks ago, and another W gives her a shot  as the meet’s Top Claimer. The lone new face is E Z Star Maker, a 4 for 8 speed ball returning from a 14-month layoff. In Race 10, Pure Pursuit guns for his fourth win this season against a solid field of $3,500 starter/$7,500 claimers at 6 1/2 panels. Pure Pursuit is 3-2-0 in six starts and comes off a strong effort against open $10,000 claimers, finishing second after dueling through splits of :21 2/5, :43 4/5.

Papa’s Golden Boy

Thursday, Oct. 29, Race 1, purse $23,100 ALW/$40,000 claiming, 3-year-olds & up, 6 Furlongs:  There are 97 horses entered in 11 races on closing day, including 48 in the final $0.50 Pick 5 of the season. So bring the big voucher. The card begins with a bang as Papa’s Golden Boy guns for his fourth sprint victory of the meet. This one, however, is a tougher test than the one Papa aced two weeks ago. Blaine Wright entered the tough duo of Windribbon and Oh Marvelous Me, while Catfish Hunter and Makah Lane have run sprints this season good enough to threaten here. Hollywood Heat rounds out the field and has a pair of interesting stats this season, producing the biggest $2 win mutuel of the meet ($105.60) on Aug. 13, and going off at the biggest odds (129.80 to 1) in the 85-year-history of the Longacres Mile while finishing eighth to Anothertwistafate on Sept. 10.

Final Entries

Thursday, October 29

Early Entries

Wednesday, October 28

Stand To (No. 3 with white blinkers) prevails in Thursday feature race

STAND TO PREVAILS IN THURSDAY FEATURE RACE

AUBURN, Wash. (Oct. 22, 2020) – Stand To finally shook off Spittin Image in the final strides for a half-length victory Thursday in the $20,900 Muckleshoot Casino Purse for 3-year-olds at Emerald Downs.

Ridden by Alex Anaya, Stand To ran 6 ½ furlongs in 1:16.13 and paid $9.20 as third choice in the wagering. Rigoberto Velasquez is the winning trainer for owner/breeder John Sneesby.

An improving son of Harbor the Gold, Stand To has two wins and three thirds in five starts this season with earnings of $29,620. He most recently had finished third against the extremely quick 4-year-old Papa’s Golden Boy on Oct. 15.

Stand To and Spittin Image raced virtually head and head from gate to wire, dueling through fractions of :22.39, :44.61 and 1:09.33, with Stand To edging clear late for the victory.

Spittin Image, the 9 to 5 betting favorite, dueled outside the winner and notched his third consecutive runner-up finish. A full brother to 2016 Horse of the Meeting O B Harbor, Spittin Image has finished in the money five of seven starts this season.

Muncey was a neck back in third place, while Aero Street, Lolo Paniolo, Harbors Rule and Haveulostyourmind completed the order of finish. Lolo Paniolo, bidding for his third allowance win of the season, broke in the air and rallied late for fifth.

Total mutuel handle on the 10-race card was $1,331,082.

NOTES: Alex Cruz rode three more winners and extended his lead to 65-48 on Juan Gutierrez in the jockeys’ standings, while defending champion Gary Wales is third with 47. . .Cruz also had four seconds and extended his consecutive days winning streak to 23. . .Kevin Radke owns the track record with 30 straight winning days in 2003. . .Harbor the Gold was the winning stallion of three winners Thursday including a one-two finish by Stand To and Spittin Image in the feature. . .Plenty of 2-year-old action Thursday, including Forever Gold ($5.80) winning a $20,900 allowance in 1:11.37 for six furlongs and Ethan’s Animal ($7.20) prevailing in a $20,350 maiden special weight in 1:10.59 for six furlongs. By Animal Kingdom, Ethan’s Animal is the first foal out of multiple Emerald Downs’ stakes winner Ethan’s Baby. . .Hard-hitting 6-year-old Buckley Bay ($5.20) became a triple winner at the meet with a victory vs. $15,000 claimers in race two, running six furlongs in 1:09.43. . .Live racing continues Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 2:15 p.m.
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Results

Race#	Race Type	Purse
Race 1	Allowance	$20,900
Race 2	Starter Optional Claiming – $15,000	$17,000
Race 3	Claiming – $2,500	$6,710
Race 4	Claiming – $15,000	$12,650
Race 5	Maiden Claiming – $8,000	$8,580
Race 6	Claiming – $2,500	$6,710
Race 7	Maiden Special Weight	$20,350
Race 8	Claiming – $2,500	$7,040
Race 9	Allowance Optional Claiming – $30,000	$20,900
Race 10	Maiden Claiming – $5,000	$7,040

Dontkissntell draws away for a 4 3/4-length victory

DONTKISSNTELL BLITZES TOUGH FIELD WEDNESDAY

AUBURN, Wash. (Oct. 21, 2020) – Dontkissntell and jockey Alex Cruz rallied for a 4 ¾-length victory in Wednesday’s $23,100 Crux Commercial Partners Purse for older fillies and mares at Emerald Downs.

With Cruz extending his consecutive winning days streak to 22, Dontkissntell ran 6 ½ furlongs in 1:15.81 on a fast track and paid $6.20 as the betting favorite. Tom Wenzel is the winning trainer for owner Darlyne Krieg of Oak Harbor Wash.

For You Only, longest shot on the board at 12 to 1, finished second under Jennifer Whitaker while Paddy’s Secret, Windy Point, Diamonds R and Fortune’s Freude rounded out the order of finish.

Dontkissntell sat behind a three-horse pace duel, circled four-wide into the lane and collared the leaders past mid-stretch and drew off powerfully. It was her first victory in five starts this year and ended a string of eight straight losses since an eight-length allowance victory in April 2019.

A 5-year-old British Columbia-bred by Rosberg, Dontkissntell has an overall mark of 4-5-5 in 19 starts with earnings of $120,688. In 2018, she won the $50,000 Washington Cup Sophomore Filly Stakes and finished second in the $50,000 Washington Cup Filly & Mare Stakes.

For You Only, a 3-year-old filly, continued a strong 2020 campaign that includes a second to Daffodil Sweet in the Coca-Cola Stakes and three runner-up finishes in allowance races.

Zanab

NOTES: Total mutuel handle was $1,446,242 on the 10-race card. . .The meet’s leading rider with 62 victories, Cruz began his streak August 6 and leads Juan Gutierrez 62-48 with three days remaining in the 2020 season. . .Wenzel now has 400 wins at Emerald Downs, only the eighth trainer to reach that milestone. . .Zanab ($7.60) went out a winner with a victory in race eight, collaring Classic Leah in the final yards for a neck victory. A 9-year-old Montana-bred, Zanab finished the season with two straight wins and was 7 for 16 the last three seasons for trainer Sharon Ross. . .Remembertobreathe, also 9 years old, became a triple winner at the meet with a $41 upset in race nine. Alex Anaya was aboard for owner Dawn Spillman and trainer Robbie Baze. . .Owner/trainer Roger Hamshar notched his first win of the meet, scoring with Amanda’s Beach Boy ($17.80) in the Wednesday opener. . .Veteran trainer Bill Tollett also scored his first win of the season when Mitch and John E ($6) romped in race two. For Tollett, it was his 311th career win at Emerald Downs. . .Hey Sequoia ($7.40) edged West Coast Indy in Tuesday’s $11,900 Chuck Potter Marathon Stakes at Grants Pass. Ridden by Nakia Ramirez, Hey Sequoia ran 1 11/16 miles in a track record 2:59.53. . .Live racing continues Thursday at 5 p.m.

Results

Race#	Race Type	Purse
Race 1	Maiden Claiming – $5,000	$7,040
Race 2	Claiming – $2,500	$7,700
Race 3	Claiming – $5,000	$9,680
Race 4	Claiming – $8,000	$9,900
Race 5	Allowance Optional Claiming – $40,000	$23,100
Race 6	Claiming – $8,000	$9,460
Race 7	Claiming – $25,000	$17,160
Race 8	Starter Optional Claiming – $7,500	$13,000
Race 9	Starter Optional Claiming – $7,500	$13,000
Race 10	Claiming – $2,500	$7,040

EMERALD DOWNS RACING THIS WEEK

Wednesday, October 21 (35/38)
2:15 p.m. (10 races)

Thursday, October 22 (36/38)
5 p.m. (10 races)

WEEK 18: 20 RACES
Total entries for Week 18 are 143 horses in 20 races or 7.2 a race. Through 34 days (June 24-Oct. 15) average starters per race is 7.43 horses (2571 starters, 346 races).

WEEK 18 FEATURE RACES

Fortune’s Freude

Wednesday, Oct. 21, Race 5, purse $23,100, ALW/$40,000 claiming, fillies & mares 3-year-olds & up, 6 ½ Furlongs: After missing by a head vs. Alittlelesstalk in the Washington Cup, razor-sharp Fortune’s Freude drew a good post and should rebound against a good field of older fillies and mares. Dontkissntell has lost all four starts this year, three against Alitttlelesstalk and one against Killarney Lass. She faces neither of those fillies here and cuts back to perhaps her most effective distance. Paddy’s Secret ate up ground late to grab second in the WA Cup, and she did win a sprint stakes in Phoenix two years ago. Diamonds R is better than her seventh in the Washington Cup and worked a bullet half-mile last week. Neither Windy Point nor For You Only wanted any part of two turns, but the speedy 3-year-olds have both run well at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Lolo Paniolo

Thursday, Oct. 22, Race 9: purse $20,900 ALW/$30,000 claiming, 3-year-olds, 6 ½ furlongs: Four of the seven horses exit the same Oct. 8 race in which Lolo Paniolo took advantage of a favorable pace scenario to win going away in 1:36 for a flat mile. Lolo has won sprinting and routing this year and has run three good races for this rider. Spittin Image was bound to be compared to O B Harbor, his talented older brother who was the best horse at this track four years ago. Spittin Image isn’t quite there yet, but he’s improving every out and a big threat to take this field gate to wire. Muncey has earned $23,000 this season the hard way, piling up seconds and thirds in stakes and allowances short and long vs. the likes of Unmachable and Papa’s Golden Boy. He finished third as the 3 to 5 favorite two weeks ago, but might have lost his punch while laying closer to the pace than normal. Stand To is improving with every race and held his own in his first against winners. Aero Street has a good stretch kick but is facing tougher rivals.