7/14/2024

(Auburn, WA) It was Corgi day at Emerald Dowms and the dogs, owners and fans showed up with another huge crowd on hand. The $50,000 Kent Stakes was also contested with a field of 11 going 6 1/2 furlongs. The track was fast and 56 starters for an average of  7 starters per race. Nearly 10,000 people were on hand to cheer on both the horses and Corgi’s. They were also in a betting mood wagering the 2nd highest handle of the season of $1,555,586 just shy of the $1,565,104 on June 16. This was an average of $194,448 per race and led to some season high pay-outs.

We will be posting our Corgi coverage in a separate story with results, tons of pictures and video.

Let’s get to the races!

Feature Race The $50,000 Kent Stakes 7th Race

In the 1st 11 horse field of the season the $50,000 Kent Stakes was a wide open affair. Appeal Factor the early speed and winner of the Seattle Stakes back in June was just a touch under 5-2 at 2-1 to the longest shot on the board 47-1 Signora Vittoria and everything in between. And just like Olympics judging throw out the top and bottom as Appeal Factor tired and faded to 8th and Signora Vittoria ran an even 5th.

The distance of 6 1/2 furlongs seemed to hurt the front speed of Appeal Factor along with Victoria’s Change and Classic American setting fractions of 22.14 and 45.09 were too much and set up the closers on this day. 4-1 Paynt Ya Later with Javier Matias and 5-2 Chai would surge to the lead at the top of the stretch with 28-1 I’m Telling Mom with Alex Cruz. 11-1 Artic Breeze coming out of the 10 hole had dropped back 9th early and was gaining ground along the inside.

Chai took command while Paynt Ya Later flattened out a bit with I’m Telling Mom but Artic Breeze with a brilliant ride from Karlo Lopez found a hole and came running. Just outside the 16th pole Lopez dove to the inside of Chai and those 2 went to the line with Artic Breeze getting up by a neck over a very game effort form Chai. They were about 2 lengths clear of Paynt Ya Later and another big effort from I’m Telling Mom taking 4th.

Artic Breeze stopped the clock in 1:17.62 and races for Peter Redekop and trained by Blaine Wright. Arctic Breeze is now 3-2-2 from 11 career starts and picked up the $27,500 winners share of the purse to push his earnings to $79,910. The win gave Blaine Wright a sweep of the weekends Stakes races winning Saturday’s Irish Day Stakes with Tougherthantherest. Karlo Lopez ties Silvio Amador for most Stakes wins each winning this weekend and both with 2 wins.

Trainer Kay Cooper was a neck away from being 2-0 in Stakes races winning with Precise Timing in the Angie C last week and just missing on Sunday. David Martinez had 3 starters in the Kent Stakes including the top 2 favorites in Appeal Factor and Paynt Ya Later and outsider Classic American.

Artic Breeze returned $25.64, $9.78 and $5.66. The $1 exacta paid $54.15, the 50-cent trifecta $132.94 and the $1 superfecta $2,815.20. The pick 3 returned $311.81.

ESN talks with Trainer Blaine Wright

The Kent Stakes Replay

Sunday’s Undercard

1st Race
A field of 6 went a mile and Hickory Wind was bet down as the 1-1 with Isaias Enriquez aboard and they went straight to the lead and simply would not stop setting all the fractions of 23.64, 47.07, 1:11.81 and winning by a country mile in a final time of 1:37.15. The win was the 3rd straight win for trainer Frank Lucarelli having won the 7th and 8th on Saturday and owner Billy Speed Racing won the finale Saturday night with Sporty Nugget at 40-1 with Enriquez and the same team began Sunday back in the winner’s circle. Hickory Wind finished with a 15 length cushion which is the largest margin of victory of the season.

Fayruz Tribute at 6-1 with Kevin Orozco ran on well to be 2nd, 18-1 Subito Slew and Leslie Mawing was 3rd with 14-1 Outofquemado and Luis Reyes completed the superfecta. The 1st exacta of the day paid $14.01, the 50-cent trifecta with a 1-1 shot on top paid a nice $46.81 and the $1 superfecta returned $234.20.

Race Replay

2nd Race
The 2nd race was a field of 5 2 year-olds and 3 were 1st time starters. One of them Sapello La Fina ended up as the betting choice at 2-1. The betting public was split as the longshot was only 9-2. Sapello La Fina went straight to the lead for jockey Allyssa Morales and set fractions in the 5 furlong dash of 22.65 and 46.80 and built a 3 length lead turning for home. Morales had plenty left as the filly turned it on to win by 4 1/2 lengths in a winning time of 59.46. Sapello La Fina is owned by Miguel Gallegos and trained by Miguel Hernandez.

5-2 Rebel Gal with Kevin Krigger ran 2nd, Shesayshello and Karlo Lopez was 3rd and finishing 4th was Summer Reign with Leslie Mawing. Sapello La Fina paid $6.86, $3.68 and $2.98. The 50-cent trifecta returned $19.39.

3rd Race
Six 3 year-olds and up went 6 furlongs and Quagmire Magic ran down Delta Delta in the final 50 yards to get the neck win in a final time of 1:11.67. Delta Delta with Alex Cruz went straight to the lead and extended it to 2 lengths at the top of the stretch. Meantime, Quagmire Magic with Kevin Krigger stalked back in 3rd, split horses and came roaring down the middle of the track to get up just in time for the win. Both went off at 3-2. 5-1 Fed Grant with Juan Gutierrez was a clear 3rd and Connector with Karlo Lopez took 4th.

Quagmire Magic is owned by Weijland Holdings and trained by Justin Evans. The 1st pick 3 of the day didn’t surprise anyone paying $9.87. Quagmire Magic returned $5.02, $2.90 and $2.22.

Race Replay

4th Race
7 runners went 6 1/2 furlongs and 7-5 favorite Princess Hekawi rolled to a huge win by 7 lengths stopping the clock in 1:17.23. 6-1 Big Jolt with Karlo Lopez ran hard and engaged the Princess early but didn’t have a response in the stretch but was a clear 2nd. 42-1 Forest Acclamation with Kiaman McGregor ran a big 3rd while Aliceshouseofheart took 4th.

Princess Hekawi races for Jan McCanna and Royal Victory thoroughbreds and is trained by Tim McCanna. Princess Hekawi completed the 1st pick 4 which paid $26.87. The 50-cent trifecta paid a big $159.38 and the dime superfecta with a 7-5 favorite on top paid $97.04 or $970.40 for the $1 super.

5th Race
Trainer Tom Wenzel had a pair in this one including the 1-1 betting choice Silvery Orb with Jose Zunino and on the outside of the 6 horse field Lapush with Carlos Montalvo at 6-1. The public in this case got it backwards as Lapush sat just off the front speed of Ruby Ray with Kevin Krigger and pulled even with her at the quarter pole and surged through the stretch for a hard fought neck win. Ruby Ray would not back down and took 2nd, Silvery Orb threatened but flattened out for 3rd and 4th went to 7-2 Stay Sassy and Alex Cruz.

Lapush races for James Carlin and again trained by Tom Wenzel and paid $14.28, $4.82 and $3.08. The $1 exacta paid a solid 35-1 at $36.58. Carlin gets his 2nd win on the season and Wenzel #6.

6th Race
Coastal Jazz and Kevin Krigger as the moderate 2-1 favorite went to the lead and proved should have been an overwhelming favorite as the 6 year-old gelding put up quick fractions of 21.67 and 44.20 but still had gas in the tank to stretch the win to a 4 1/2 length victory in a final tie of 1:09.04. 2-1 Cool Papa G and Alex Cruz closed well to be 2nd, Welton with Luis Reyes also came from behind to finish 3rd at 6-1 with 8-1 A View from Above and Kevin Orozco taking 4th.

Coastal Jazz is owned by Rockingham Ranch and trained by Justin Evans, they also owned and trained 2nd place Cool Papa G. Coastal Jazz is a Washington bred by Coast Guard out of Jasmine’s Melody by Artax and was bred by Nina and Ron Hagen. The 2nd pick 4 paid $137.85.

8th Race
6 were ready for the finale going 6 furlongs and on Friday night the odds on choice took the final race on Saturday it was a 40-1 winner. In this one Cielo Diamonte with Luis Reyes was the odds on choice and Heat Seeking Leta with Carlos Montalvo was the longest shot on the board at 16-1. In deep stretch Cielo Diamonte had shaken off the other early challengers and looked to have the win but Heat Seeking Leta was closing with a rush and got up in the final 50 yards for a stunning upset victory by a 1/2 length. 14-1 Square Footage with Leslie Mawing ran 3rd, 4th went to Merino Wool and Manuel Americano and completing the Super High 5 was 5-1 Neissa with Javier Matias.

Heat Seeking Leta is owned by Carol Dronen and trained by Sam Dronen. The Dronen’s got their 2nd wins of the season. Heat Seeking Leta paid $34.84, $12.26 and $5.64. The daily double paid $185.74, the pick 3 $256.80, the pick 4 $2,696.03 and the pick 5 a new season high of $25,371.01. The Super High 5 also paid out also a new season high of $1,873.30.

Race Replay

News and Notes

Jockeys/Trainers/Owners

Kevin Krigger tripled for the 2nd time this season winning the 3rd, 4th and 6th races but did not fool anyone as he was on the betting favorite each time and his average win odds on those 3 was 8-5 odds. Krigger won 2 of those races for Justin Evans for the 11th and 12th wins together this season. They were within a neck of a 3rd win in the 5th race. Krigger has 18 wins this year and 67% are for Evans. Krigger went 4-6-0-1 from 13 starts for a 31% rate, a massive 77% exacta finish and 85% superfecta finish rate.

Krigger was the 2nd rider to triple this week with Luis Reyes getting his 1st triple on Saturday for his biggest number of wins at Emerald Downs but his biggest win remains his stakes win on Neiman in the Budweiser Stakes. We had a chance to catch up with Luis on Sunday to talk with him about his big day.

ESN talks with Luis Reyes

Evans had a pretty good day with 4 starters and coming away with 2 wins and 2 places. Evans finished 3-4-0 from 8 starts for a 38% win rate and 88% exacta finish.

Carlos Monatalvo doubled on the day and paid his supporters well winning the 5th aboard Lapush at 6-1 and the finale aboard Heat Seeking Leta at 16-1. Alyssa got a win on Saturday for 2nd win of the week, Karlo Lopez got 1 win on Sunday but it was the big one the Stakes race on 11-1 Artic Breeze and finished with 3 wins on the week and continues to place at a high rate with 5 more this week. Isaias Enriquez began the day with an easy win and setting the new mark for the largest margin of victory on the year at 15 lengths. Enriquez was just a stride or two from winning 2 placing a close 2nd in the Stakes race. 

Trainer Frank Lucarelli, owner Billy Speed Racing and jockey Isaias Enriquez turned in the day-to-day daily double by winning Saturday night’s finale with 40-1 Sporty Nugget by a length and followed that up with 1-1 Hickory Wind’s 15 length victory in the opener on Sunday. Lucarelli added a 3 in a row as he won the 7th race on Saturday as well so he won the 7th and 8th on Saturday and 1st race on Sunday for the 3 wins in a row feat.

Owners Rockingham Ranch pulled off the difficult exact finish in the 6th race with Coastal Jazz and Cool Papa G but both went off at 2-1 so the exacta didn’t surprise many paying 10-bucks.

The Betting Window

There were 3 new season high pay-outs this week beginning on Saturday with the last race on the card when 40-1 Sporty Nugget stunned the bettors but did not stun Emerald Downs’ Joe Withee who picked him during his pre-race run-down. The $83.80 $2 win pay-off blew out the previous high of $54.98 by Northern Blend back on May 12th.

The other 2 new season highs were the 50-cent pick 5 and 50-cent Super High 5 which you would have assumed would have been tied to a 40-1 winner. You would be wrong both of those came on Sunday and we’ll get to them in a moment. 

The 40-1 pay was high but the $2 place and show on Sporty Nugget wasn’t even close to the high season pays of $30.24 for the place and $13.74 for the show. Sporty paid just $19.66 and $7.60. In fact all the pays were a bit surprising on the low side. The exacta paid $119.25 and yes the 7-5 favorite ran 2nd but still seems low to me. The 50-cent trifecta returned $475, the 10-cent super $375 all far off the high pays of the season. The daily double of the 7-2 3rd favorite to the 80-1 shot only paid $130, the 50-cent pick 3 $193, the pick 4 $1,033 and the pick 5 just $4,746. Two winning tickets had all 5 winners.

The average win odds of the 5 winners on Saturday were 10-1. Yet the average win odds on Sunday for the pick 5 was 7.5-1 and yet 2 winning tickets in that pool paid $25,371. The daily double paid $185, the pick 3 $256 and pick 4 $2,696. How can there be such a huge difference with the average odds on Saturday over those 5 races at 10-1 and the final 5 races 7.5-1 on Sunday?

Several answers, first on Saturday Sporty Nugget was not a true 40-1 shot as the place and show returns showed many people thought he had a shot at hitting the board. Many people betting the “pick” races likely covered more horses on in that final race and Sporty was only 12-1 morning line. So when those pick 3, 4 and 5’s are bet they are bet not knowing he’s going to go up to 40-1 and either many hit the “all” button in the 8th race or included him when stretching out their bets. 

On Sunday, it wasn’t a massive longshot that led to this being a very difficult pick 5 to get but rather 3 double digit win pays. Lapush was 6-1, Artic Breeze was 11-1 and Heat Seeking Leta 16-1. Coastal Jazz was the favorite but was nearly 5-2 so a moderate favorite in an 8 horse field. Only Princess Hekawi was a big favorite at 7-5 to lead off that pick 5. 

The differences mean more bettors had Sporty Nugget involved in other bets and it was the one race with a big upset while on Sunday there was a mild upset and 2 clear upsets. The $2 win odds on Sporty were likely added because there were many that already had him in a pick 3 or 4 or daily double and did not put down a “cover” bet. All the pay-offs for Sporty Nugget other than the $2 win were closer to a 15-1 shot and not 40-1. 

It’s these type of scenarios and mathmatics that make this sport such a hard game at times but sooo fun! I hope you were able to cash in on either day for some of the big pays being handed out. I thought I’d be gracious and let others collect this week. Congrats to all of you who fifured this puzzle out on Sunday! 

Claims

3rd Race
Delta Delta goes to new owners White Diamond Syndicate, Gary Crandall and Tom Breyer for trainer Vince Gibson for $5,000.
6th Race
Welton was red tagged by Nike Hill and goes to trainer Frank Lucarelli for the claiing price of $25,000.
8th Race
Cielo Diamonte was taken by owner/trainer Miguel Hernandez for $2,500.
Merino Wool has a new barn with Homer thoroughbreds and trainer Jason Homer for $2,500.
Neissa makes half the field leaving with a red tag as she heads to the barn of Robbie Baze for new owner Mort Robbins at $2,500.

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