7/28/2023

(Auburn, WA) Friday night racing had another solid card and decent wagering support. Emerald Downs has settled in now for some time on a 7 race card on Friday nights and has been consistently over 800k in total handle. Last night $807,624 was bet or an average of of a little more than $115,000 per race. There were a total of 44 horses that started averaging 6.3 starters per race with only 1 5-horse field on the night.

6 jockeys won with Alex Cruz the only one to double, 6 trainers were in the winners circle Friday night with only leading trainer Justin Evans doing it a 2nd time and trainer Edward Kereluk got his 1st win of the year in the 1st race. He also was the owner. Speaking of owners there were 7 different winners with 4 owner/trainer combinations and included Kereluk, Mike Pierce who owns under his Purple Rose Ranch name, Luciano Medina Gabriel and Justin Evans.

From a betting perspective it’s not often one of the straight $2 bets is the highlight but we had a new high $2 place return of $36.80 when 26-1 Single Merit with Carlos Montalvo nearly pulled off a stunning win losing by a nose. The pay-out smashed the previous season high of $25.20 set by LaFonda back on May 28th. The pay-out is far short of the Emerald Downs all-time record which was $63.20 by Making Fire on May 31, 2015, or the all-time state record of $187.20 set by Snow Poms on 8/28/1952 at Longacres.

Friday night also saw the extension of 2 streaks. Dirt Road Red and Alex Cruz combined to extend each others streaks more on that in our feature race re-cap below.

Let’s get to the race re-caps

6th Race Feature Race the Rosalie Lee Memorial Purse

A field of 6 went 6-furlongs in the Friday night Feature race with leading trainer and owner starting the top 2 favorites, Gold Crusher with Luis Negron at 9-5 and Dirt Road Red with Alex Cruz at 2-1. Just behind but also at 2-1 was Brady Boy and Kevin Radke. the 4th favorite was 8-1 Coastal Jazz with Rocco Bowen and the top 4 spots would be contested by these 4. Longshots Holiday Hustle and Hard to Deny did not threaten in this one.

When the gates popped they broke in a bunch except for Gold Crusher who was off a step or two slow. Brady Boy had just a head lead at the 1/4 in a time of 21.58 with Coastal Jazz right there with him, Dirt Road Red was along the rail with a head in front but would then settle and drop back to 4th as Gold Crusher got rolling on the outside. Brady Boy, Coastal Jazz and Gold Crusher went on to dispute the lead to the top of the stretch but to that point no one had ben able to push in front of Brady Boy.

Radke and Brady boy had shaken off both Coastal Jazz and Gold Crusher but Dirt Road Red had been taken off the rail by Cruz who had to wait momentarily for a hole to open and went it did Dirt was ready to roll and breezed right up to Brady Boy and extended to a length and half win in a final time of 1:09.65.

The win first snapped a dreadful night for Cruz who hadn’t even finished 4th in 4 rides on the night. The win also extended his Friday night win streak to 22 straight Friday nights. The win also gave Dirt Road Red his 5th straight win and a 5-1-0 record so far this season for owner-trainer Justin Evans. Dirt Road Red was the 1st horse to win 3 races this season, then the 1st to win 4 and now is the 1st and only horse to have won 5 races.

The win was bittersweet for Evans as he was of course excited to win but then lost Dirt Road Red when John Parker claimed him for $25,000, tying the highest claim of the season matching Starry Beach back on June 3rd. 

Dirt Road Red picked up $13,920 and runs his season earnings to a whopping $64, 680 which is 2nd in earnings only to double stakes winner Aloha Breeze. Dirt Road Red is now 11-14-8 from 48 career starts and with this win has broken the 200k mark in career earnings at $203,698. 

Dirt Road Red paid $6 on the $2 win and the 2-1 to 2-1 exacta was good for $8.70.

Dirt Road Red win his 5th Race of the season

1st Race
In this week’s opener the 3-2 favorite Spire came from just off the pace to get up and nail 5-1 Iron Rob on the wire for the neck win. Spire ridden by Kevin Radke ran the perfect stalking pace while Rocco Bowen just failed to last with Iron Rob. 5-2 Nationheart and Luis Negron had the early pace and held 3rd while 12-1 Manaaboutdamoney with Carlos Montalvo threatened at the top of the lane but weakened to take 4th. The winning time for the 6-furlongs was 1:10.67 and gave owner/trainer Edward Kereluk his first win of the season. 

2nd Race
7 lined up for the 1-mile run in race 2 and the 2nd straight 3-2 shot would not disappoint as Rocco Bowen took Playoff Bound to the lead and made every pole a winning one setting early fractions of 23.60 and 46.80 leaving plenty in the tank for the stretch run and drew off to win by 4 lengths. 6-1 Marksman on Target with Silvio Amador put out a great effort to run 2nd a 1/2 length in front of 2nd choice Dyf with Kevin Orozco. Poppy’s C Note with Welfin Orantes at 9-1 completed the superfecta. Playoff Bound went the mile in 1:37.38 and races for William Jensen and Gary Olson and is trained by Joe Toye. The $1 exacta paid well of 3-2 to 6-1 of $23.10 or 22-1 and the $1 super returned a decent $135.00.

3rd Race

Another mile race and another front running win. 9-2 Lute’s Diamond and Alex Anaya broke clean and took the lead into the 1st turn. The duo had extended their lead to a length and half 6-furlongs in a pedestrian 1:13.23. Anaya had slowed the pace way down and there was no chance he was going to be caught and had a 4-length lead at the 1/8th pole. Anaya geared down inside the 16th pole and a late run from Baby Martini and Luis Negron made it closer than the race was with a 1 1/2-length win margin. Malice Toward None and Alexis Valdes was a clear 3rd while rounding out the top 4 was Forever Amber and Carlos Montalvo. Lute’s Diamond is owned by the Purple Rose Stable and trained by Mike Pierce and the 3-year-old filly stopped the clock at 1:41.14.

4th Race
The 4th race also was 2 turns but backed up to 1-mile and 70 yards. This time it was complete opposite from the other mile frontrunning wins when Silvio Amador took 9-5 favorite Affirm Chief back to last at the start. Amador knew what he had because as he trailed by about 7 lengths down the backstretch on the far turn he unleashed the beast who gobbled up his foes and spit them out one by one roaring to the front and drawing off for a 4-length win in a time of 1:41.63 just a half second slower than the previous race that was at a mile. 2-1 Provost and Luis Negron was a clear 2nd in this boat race finish followed by A View From Above with Alexis Valdes and Jedi Knight with Rocco Bowen was 4th. Affirm Chief is owned and trained by Luciano Medina Gabriel and capped off the 1st 50-cent pick 4 of the night returning just $71.80.

5th Race

Back to 6-furlongs in the 5th for the 5-horse field and odds on favorite Peso with Luis Negron would be challenged mightily by 3-1 Harbor Outlaw with Silvio Amador as the 2 went head and head all the way down the stretch and in the final strides Peso had just enough left to stretch the win to a neck. They were well in front of the early pace of 11-1 Tig and Kevin Radke but Tig ran well to hold 3rd while 4-1 Smoken Shadow and Alexis Valdes ran an even 4th. Peso is owned and trained by Justin Evans. Evans who would lose Dirt Road Red by a claim in the feature race, 1st lost Peso in a $15,000 claim from new owner Remmah Racing Inc for new trainer Jorge Rosales.

7th Race
In the Friday night finale Carlos Montalvo on 26-1 Single Merit had their sights set on stealing the race and pulling a huge upset. Single Merit would set fractions of 21.92 and 44.61 and led by 2 clear lengths over 3-1 Sparks Flyin and Alex Cruz. Down the stretch Cruz got after Sparks Flyin but it looked in vain as Single Merit dug in but Cruz and Sparks would not give up and got there on the final head bob by a nose to squeak out the win. The pair were 6 lengths in front of 3rd place Treasure’s Reality with Silvio Amador, Foyt and Alex Anaya took 4th while 7-5 favorite Let George Do It with Rocco Bowen completed the 50-cent Super Hi-5. Sparks Flyin races for Remmah Racing and trained by Jorge Rosales and was the only Washington bred to win on Friday night. Sparks Flyin by Harbor the Gold out of Da Burn by Forestry and was bred by the Dunn Bar Ranch. 

The Super Hi-5 was not hit and $4,821 carries over to Saturday. The 20-cent Jackpot Pick 6 was hit by several winners and paid $292.72 with $781 carrying over. The 50-cent pick 5 returned $239.85 and the final pick 4 paid a measly $24.70. Again, there was a new high $2 place pay-out of $38.80 for Single Merit and also paid $13 on the $2 show. The $20 place ticket was good for $388. The 3-1 to 26-1 $1 exacta returned $102.80 or old-school Longacres $5 exacta wouold have been good for $514. The 50-cent trifecta gave back $228.40 and the dime superfecta paid $224.43 or for the $1 ticket $2,244.30. This was the race to make money on Friday night.

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