6/7/2024
(Auburn, WA) Friday night #2 of the 2024 season and a gorgeous PNW evening with blues skies warm temperatures and a fast track. 7 race were on the card with a total of 47 starters. The feature race was a field of 7 3-year-olds and up going 5 1/2 furlongs. It would turn into quite a race that would also get a review by the stewards.
Meantime there was a lot of favorites hitting the board but then the tote board blew up in the 7th and final race setting 4 new pay-out season highs. Check it out in the betting window below. Let’s get to the races from Friday night #2!
Friday Night Races
6th Race Feature Race
The feature race was the most exciting race of the night with thr 8-5 favorite Executive Chef holding off 26-1 longshot Ko Samui with Jose Zunino and 3rd place 7-2 Smiling Goodbye with Karlo Lopez battling between horses to finish in a tight neck win for Executive Chef and a brilliant ride from Juan Gutierrez. Itsallaboouttheride and Javier Matias was a distant 4th at 5-1.
There was controversy in the stretch run as Smiling Goodbye ended up dipping out as it got tight at the 16th pole. The Stewards called an Inquiry and there was an objection called on both Exec Chef and Ko Samui. Looking at the head on Executive Chef never veered off his course from the top of the stretch but Ko Samui did come off the rail a bit which is when Smiling Goodbye backed out but the Stewards determined it was not enough to make a change and made a great call of leaving the order of finish.
Juan Gutierrez has now swept the 1st two Friday night feature races this week winning for John and Janene Maryanski and Gerald and Gail Schneider, trained by Blaine Wright. Executive Chef stopped the clock in 1:02.84 and earned $13,965 for his effort to push his career earnings to $123,515 and a career record now of 5-4-1 from 16 starts for a career 31% win rate and in the top 3 63% of the time.
The 2nd place longshot led to some good pays including a $19.56 $2 place pay and $8.62 to show just missing both season highs. The $1 exacta paid $62.09, the $1 trifecta was $192.34 and the $1 superfecta $664.00.
Friday Night Feature Race
The rest of Friday’s races
1st Race
6 fillies and marers 3 years old and up went a flat and odds on choice Lucy L with Luis Reyes broke well and sat just behind 19-1 Laker Jet with Silvio Amador who set the early fractions of 23.49 and 46.59 still could not resist the favorite and then 1:10.57 for the 3/4’s. But Lucy L was ready to pounce and took the lead at the top of the stretch and eased away to a 1 1/2 length win in a final time of 1:41.58. It was a great run by the longshot Laker Jet who never threw in the towel and was a clear 2nd. 4-1 Merino Wood with Brayan Pena got up for 3rd and 5-1 Oat Milk Latte with Alex Cruz completed the superfecta.
Lucy L races for Justin Evans and SDW Racing and trained by Evans. Lucy L paid just $3.36 to win but combined with 19-1 Laker Jet there were some decent pays. The $1 exacta returned $16.78, the 50-cent trifecta paid a nice $31.25 or $62.50 on the $1 bet and the $1 superfecta returned $185.30. Not bad with a 1-2 shot winning a 6 horse field.
2nd Race
Front speed was the order of the day so far and Classic Leah with Kevin Krigger went straight to the front in this 6 horse field going 6 furlongs. 2nd choice Red Panty Night with Kevin Orozco refused to let Leah and Krigger get away and shadowed the front speed from the half mile pole to the finish line where the pair of bettors choices put on a show and Classic Leah holding for the nose win, just the 3rd win by a nose finish of the season. They were well clear of the longest shot on the board 30-1 Mischief Mama and Manuel Americano aboard who was 3 clear of 4th place Heat Seeking Leta with Brayan Pena.
The final time for Classic Leah was 1:09.76 and the 8-year-old mare races for Ty Leatherman and Justin Evans and trained by Evans. Classic Leah paid $2.74 for the win as the odds on choice and $2.12 to place but with thre 30-1 show horse actually paid $2.24 to show. Mischief Mama paid a nice $4.96 on the show. The 1st $1 daily double paid just $2.94.
Only the 3rd win by a nose for the year so far
3rd Race
The 6 that lined up to kick off the 50-cent Pick 5 with a 15k carry-over from Sunday were 3-year-olds and up maidens going 6 1/2 furlongs. 2nd choice Gunnin for Gold with Carlos Montalvo at 3-2 broke quickly and drew off to a 2 1/2 length lead and extended it to 5 lengths while setting times of 23.49 and 46.59. Montalvo and Gold were allowed to slow it down and on the turn Montalvo opened up with a big lead heading into the stretch. Betting favorite Uncle Pete and Silvio Amador began their close and came flying. But Montalvo had this one rated perfectly holding off ol’ Pete by just a next, literally 1 stride from a win in a final time of a quick 1:15.89. 3-1 Pure Cane Sugar and Leslie Mawing were a distant 3rd and a 1/2 length in front of early speed Im Gunna with Karlo Lopez at 18-1.
Gunnin for Gold extends owners Lusk Racing win streak to 2 days in a row after winning last Sunday with Papa’s Golden Boy in similar fashion and with Montalvo. Vince Gibson is the trainer. Gunnin for Gold is a 4-year-old Washington bred by Harbor the Gold out of Clever Bird by Awesome Again and was bred by Bret Christopherson.
4th Race
7 3-year-olds and up went 6 furlongs in the midway race of the card. The bettors remained locked in with the top 2 choices finishing 1st and 2nd for the 3rd straight race. 8-5 Chuckanut Bay with Alex Cruz took the lead drew off to lead by 2 lengths at the top of the stretch and had plenty left to pull away for a 4 1/2 length lead easily denying 3-2 favorite Ever a Rebel with Kevin Krigger. Pirate Red with Javier Matias got up to cash the show tickets by a head over 4th place finisher Lucky Code and Leslie Mawing at 9-1.
Chuckanut Bay is a 4-year-old Washington bred gelding by Anraaj out of Zenovit by Private Gold and was bred by Nina and Ronald Hagan. Chuck is owned by Remmah Racing Inc and trained by Jorge Rosales. Chuckanut Bay ran the 6 furlongs in 1:08.22 the fastest 6 furlongs of the meet so far. The 1st pick 4 paid just $11.58. Once again having some odds hit in the 3rd and 4th positions actually saw the trifecta and super pay decently. The 50-cent trifecta returned $27.56 and the dime super $33.84 or $338.40 for the $1 wager.
The Fastest 6 furlongs of the season Chuckanut Bay
5th Race
A field of 6 fillies and mares 3 years old and up went 6 1/2 furlongs and the string of the top 2 favorites taking the top 2 spots was halted but the 2nd and 3rd choices shined. 2-1 Creme de Menthe and Karlo Lopez broke well and sat just off the front speed of She’s So Shiny with Alex Cruz as both cleared the field and quickly made it a 2 horse race. Creme de Menthe would pull away in deep stretch to win by 3 in a final time of 1:15.56. 22-1 Just Classy with Leslie Mawing got up for 3rd and completing the superfecta was race favorite Our Lyla Grace with Jose Zunino who flattened out in mid-stretch.
Creme de Menthe races for Mike Hill and trained by Frank Lucarelli. The 4-yesr-old filly is a Washington bred by Curlin to Mischief out of Creme by Somersham and was bred by Nina and Ronald Hagan their 2nd breeding win of the night. The 2nd pick 4 returned $119.94.
7th Race
The longshots finally broke through in the nightcap and 12-1 Nomi Lackee with Jose Rodriguez went wire-to-wire in a 5-furlong sprint. Rodriguez and Nomi led by 3 at the top of the stretch and no one got closer winning in a time of 57.49. 24-1 Candied Joule with Silvio Amador ran a very credible 2nd. Lady of the River and Brayan Pena ran 3rd at 16-1, 5-1 Capo Sorella and Karlo Lopez was 4th and capping off the Super High 5 was 31-1 Chedoodle Rylee with Leslie Mawing.
Nomi Lackee was Rodriguez’s 1st win of the season and races for Serjio Garcia and trained by Elodio Madrigal. The string of longshots resulted in several season high pay-outs which is below in the Betting Window.
Jose Rodriguez gets his 1st win of the season
The Betting Window
Friday night drew the interest of many as the betting handle was $867,048 or a nice $123,864 per race average. The big draw was a 15k carry-over in the Pick 5 and ended with more than 108k in the final pot. It looked like despite the big pot that the pay-off was going to be rather miniscule. Bettors had to string a 3-2 shot in the 3rd to an 8-5 in the 4th, a 2-1 won the 5th and the 8-5 favorite took the 6th. This left the pay-outs for the Pick 5 pretty low for the top 3 favorites and were returning $160, $314 and $396. The rest were paying a more espectable $880 to more than 3k.
12-1 Nomi Lackee saved the day for those looking for at least a thousand dollar pay day returning $1,084.99 on the 50-cent ticket. There were around 80 winning tickets taking home a nice chunk of change.
But this was more of a consolation prize in the finale on Friday night as there were 4 new season high pay-outs in the last race of the night. Let’s start with the traditional pays, Nomi Lackee paid a nice $27.16, $9.76 and $5.90 or $42.82 on the $2 combo ticket. None of these were new season high pays but the $2 place for 2nd place runner Candied Joule topped the season high with a pay-off of $20.84 beating the old mark of $20.50. Candied’s $2 show of $8.62 was not a new high.
Other new highs on the tote board were the $1 exacta of $193.61 topping the former $148.12. The 50-cent trifecta high pay coming into Friday was $373.77 and that was smashed Friday with a new high of $781.99. And the 10-cent superfecta blew up as well returning $779.08 far more than the previous high of $246.57.
In the end there were chances to cash some good tickets despite all the favorites and 2nd favorites that were on the board tonight.
Horseshoe Toss
Friday night’s the Emerald Promotions crew gives 3 lucky winners a chance to throw a horse shoe to win $1,000. Prior to the contestants making their tosses host Joe Withee has a “celebrity” thrower show them how it’s done and Friday night Track Bugler Dan Harrington took his turn to show how it’s done and boy did he!
Harrington tossed a ringer! Of course he didn’t win the $1,000 prize but at least broke the string of no-ringers now reaching over the past several years. We say give Harrington the $1,000 and the next Happy Birthday’s he has to blow are all on the house! Congrats Dan strong work.
Claims
1st Race
Lucy L was taken by Rancho Viejo and Jerry Carmody and heads to the Rigoberto Velasquez barn claiming price $5,000
Oat Milk Latte was claimed by Emil Abrahamson and will be trained by Hilario Perez claiming price $5,000
2nd Race
Classic Leah goes to trainer Billy Christian for new owner Brad Boyce claiming price $3,500
5th Race
Our Lyla Grace was tagged by new owner John Parker and will be trained by Candi Cryderman claiming price was $25,000
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