7/26/2024

(Auburn, WA) Friday night a card of 7 races was capped with the 6th and featured race a starter allowance with a field of 6. This weekend is the annual celebration of the hispanic heritage that is so prominent in the horse racing industry. The Premio Esmeralda Weekend features great food, traditional dance and the spectacle of the Dancing Horses will perform both on Saturday and Sunday.

Also this weekend on Sunday will be 3 quarter horse races that are qualifiers for the annual quarter horse Stakes at Emerald Downs. The Bank of America Challenge and the John Deere Juvenile Stakes will both be contested on August 18. This weekend thanks to the additional 3 Quarter horse races will feature the most races in a week with 7 on Friday, 9 on Saturday and 10 running Sunday.

Let’s get to the Friday night racing!

6th Race Feature Race

No surprises in the 6th and feature race as odds-on choice Meant For Me went straight ot the lead in this 6 1/2 furlong run for 3 year-olds and up. Meant For Me quickly separated from the other 5 competitiors with Kevin Krigger taking charge of the pace. The duo set fractions of 22.93 and 45.38 which were pretty soft fractions and left plenty in the tank of Meant For Me.

Turning for home they had a 2 length lead and Moonlightnwine at 5-1 with Carlos Montalvo ran on well for a clear 2nd but could not get closer than 1 3/4 lengths to Meant For Me. Meant to Me stopped the clock in 1:15.35. 9-1 Club Mesquite and Kiaman McGregor ran on for 3rd with 11-1 Awesome Move and Javier Matias runing 4th.

Meant For Me is owned by Don Heim and trained by leading trainer Justin Evans. Meant For Me picked up $9,405 for the victory and pushes his career earnings to $113,499 and is now 6-6-2 from 22 career starts. This is a 27% win rate for the 6 year-old gelding. The odds-on choice paid $3.12, $2.16 and $2.10.

Feature Race Replay

The rest of Friday’s Races:

1st Race
A field of 6 went 6 furlongs and the 6-5 favorite Lady Cruiser with Kevin Krigger stalked in this one from 4th place while 5-1 Lotsa Steel with Karlo Lopez went to the lead. Turning for home Krigger and Cruiser angled out 5 wide to get room and rolled over the top for an easy 4 length win in a final time of 1:11.60. Lotsa Steel held on well for 2nd and then a 3 horse blanket finish for 3rd went to Dancing in Cabo with Kevin Orozco while Deux Meres and Alex Cruz was 4th. But after an inquiry Dancing in Cabo was DQ’d and placed 4th moving Deux Meres to 3rd.

Lady Cruiser is owned by Rakoczy Racing and Justin Evans and ran the 6 furlongs in 1:11.60. Lady Cruiser paid $4.76, $3.18 and $2.34.

Race Replay

2nd Race

6 went 1 mile in the 2nd race and odds-on choice Soldatna with Luis Reyes broke 2nd but quickly took command and drew off for a big lead down the backstretch of 4 1/2 lengths and never gave that lead up winning easily in a time of 1:38.70. Soldatna is owned by Bryan Smith and trained by Blaine Wright and paid $3.28, $2.38 and $2.10.

13-1 Earthly Tiger closed well to be 2nd with Kevin Orozco, 12-1 Prince of Memphis and Allyssa Morales was 3rd while capping the superfecta was Calonese with Alex Cruz.

3rd Race
The only upset of the night went to Jazzy Love and Alex Cruz in the 5 horse 3rd race going 6 furlongs for fillies and mares. Jazzy Love broke 4th and allowed the front speed of Big Mama Thornton roll out to a 3 length lead setting fractions of 22.53 and 45.24. Cruz moved to the outside at the quarter pole and ran down Big Mama in the stretch pulling away for a 1 3/4 lengths win in a final time of 1:10.73. Jazzy Love comes from the Vince Gibson barn and is owned by Roger Hoff and Jack Arnold.

Big Mama Thornton held well for 2nd with Luis Reyes in the saddle, La Popis and Carlos Montalvo tried to close from last and did grab 3rd with Blowing Bayou and Kiaman McGregor running 4th. Jazzy Love paid $15.44, $6.46 and $4.30.

Race Replay

4th Race
There were 6 starters in the 4th with 3 year-olds and up going a mile. The place to be on Friday night early seemed to be sitting just off the pace as 3-1 Made the Team broke 4th with Carlos Montalvo. They would nev er get further back than about 4 lengths and turning for home had swung 3 wide and engaged the leader at that time Kaline and Alex Cruz. The pair would battle the length of the stretch but Made the Team edged away to a 1/2 length win for owner Kum Hon Cheung and trainer Jose Gutierrez in a final time of 1:37.69.

Kaline was a clear 2nd while Its Five Somewhere with Isaias Enriquez got the neck down for 3rd over 4th place finisher Sproston and Leslie Mawing. Made the Team paid $8.36, $4.04 and $3.24.

Race Replay

5th Race
The public’s 2nd odds-on choice was again spot on with Pirate Red and Isaias Enriquez sat just off the early speed of Conrad Meadows and surged to the lead at the 1/8th pole to win going away in a final time of 1:09.63. Pirate Red races for Gary and Sharon Hendricks, Rick Root and Frank Enterante and is trained by Frank Lucarelli. Pirate Red is a Washington bred by Dynamic Impact out of Caliente Gold by Harbor the Gold and was bred by Bar C Racing Stables.

8-1 Lucky Code with Leslie Mawing closed from further back while Conrad Meadows and Carlos Montalvo ran 3rd and completing the superfecta was Rhodesia with Silvio Amador. Pirate Red paid $3.42, $2.64 and $2.10. 

Race Replay

7th Race

The field of 9 maidens didn’t fool the public here either with the bettors favoring Diversiful and Alex Cruz at 6-5. Diversiful sat 2nd early and took control at the top of the stretch in this 5 furlong dash. Cruz popped the question then and pulled out to a 3 length clear win in a final time of 58.11. Diversiful runs for Wayne Williams and Terra Firma Farm and trained by Joe Toye. Diversiful paid $4.62, $3.08 and $2.60.

3-1 Hatagasal was 2nd with Kiaman McGregor up, Jacob Yen with Javier Matias was 3rd at 17-1, 3-1 The Golden Egg and Karlo Lopez ran 4th and finishing off the Super High 5 was 34-1 Poco Diablo Rojo and Luis Reyes.

News and Notes

Jockeys and Trainers

Jockey Kevin Krigger who had a season 7 wins for week last week and is winning at 35% kept at it with 2 wins both for trainer Justin Evans.

The Krigger/Evans combo have 21 wins from 47 starts a c rushing 45% win clip. The pair have combined for at least 2 wins for 5 straight days. That is believed to be an Emerald Downs record or at least no one can remember this accomplishment ever happening in Emerald Downs history.

Krigger also passed Karlo Lopez for 2nd in the standings with 27 as Lopez is stuck on 26 after winning his 1st Stakes race at Emerald Downs back on July 14. Lopez has been winless now for 4 straight days. Krigger did not gain any ground on 4-time defending jockey Champion Alex Cruz who also won twice on Friday night and leads with 42 wins.

Carlos Montalvo got a win and is in 4th in the standings just 2 behind Lopez and 3 behind Krigger. Isaias Enriquez and Luis Reyes also found the winner’s circle, Ruiz is in 5th place with his 20th win of the season. Enriquez now has 14 wins but firing at a 19% win rate.

Trainer Jose Gutierrez began his training career on July 19 with his 1st start with Made the Team finishing 4th, He then got a 2nd with Ko Samui on July 21 then Friday night he got a 3rd place with La Popis in the 3rd. Gutierrez then had his 2nd start with Made the Team in the 4th race and Carlos Montalvo got him his first career win and completed a training superfecta in his first 4 starts.

Two other trainers made their 2024 debuts at Emerald downs on Friday and were Eliana Thompson who has only 9 lifetime starts beginning with 6 last year 2 at Emerald and 4 at Grants Pass. Thompson started 3 Friday night and got a 2nd, she continues to search for her 1st win.

Debi Jahns is not new as a trainer coming in with a career 49-58-75 from 655 starts but she hasn’t trained since 2020. She sent out The Golden Egg in the finale Friday night and took 4th. The other trainers with wins Friday night included many familiar names as the veterans dig in to the 2nd half of the season. Blaine Wright, Frank Lucarelli, Vince Gibson and Joe Toye all got to the winner’s circle.

The Betting Window

It was a favorite night at Emerald on Friday night with the biggest upset at 6-1 with Jazzy Love and Alex Cruz in the 3rd race. The 4th went to 3-1 Made the Team and carlos Montalvo. Other than that the favorite won 5 races and there odds-on bets were 3 for 3.

The impact could be seen in the pay-offs after the last race with th 50-cent pick 6 paying $242 for 6 correct, the pick 5 returned $137.34 the pick 4 a pittance of $15.51 and the pick 3 was a bad $2 win return of just $3.59. In fact the daily double paid a bit more of $3.94. The Super High 5 paid $335.97.

The high win-place-show pay of the was of course Jazzy Love paying $15.44, $6.46 and $4.30 in the 3rd race. The top exacta was in the 3rd returning $23.26, the best trifecta came in the 2nd with the odds on choice followed by a 13-1 and 12-1 to pay $36.11. That was also the best $1 superfecta pay of the day with a 14-1 running 4th to return $205.70.

There was a DQ on the night when in the 1st race Dancing in Cabo with Kevin Orozco finished 3rd when she ducked out inside the 16th pole causing interference with Deux Meres and Alex Cruz. The Stewards disqualified Dancing in Cabo from 3rd and placed her 4th.

The total handle was $767,474 for an averager per race handle of $109,639. This is pretty much spot on the Friday night average coming into the night with a season friday average of $764,484.

Claims

2nd Race
Soldatna goes to new owner John Parker for trainer Candi Cryderman for $10,000.
3rd Race
Classic Leah was taken by John Parker and trainer Candi Cryderman for $3,500.
4th Race
All the King’s Men goes to Carol Dronen and new trainer Sam Dronen for $3,500.
Kaline was red tagged by Paul Miller and goes to the powerful Justin Evans barn for $3,500.
7th Race
Diversiful was claimed by Austin Evans and heads to Justin Evans as the conditioner for $5,000.

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