Emerald Downs: A legend retires, a new legend arrives? 32-1 stunner in the Gottstein & more on Closing Day

9/17/2024

(Auburn, WA) 2024 has now officially come and gone and the recent season was filled with met expectations but with plenty of surprises. The end of eras and the beginning of others and in the end the Pacific Northwest continues to be one of the best supported tracks in the country when it comes to fans and attendance.

This post is going to focused on the racing on closing day but several more stories will be added throughout the week. Here’s what else will be coming over the next couple of weeks:

*Local legend Jose Zunino retires with the perfect finish.
*Eli Sports talks with WHRC Commissioner Doug Moore about some off-season legislation to help boost racing.
*Emerald Downs’ Post season awards including the Horse of the Year, Jockey, Trainer and Owner Champions.
*Final Stats.
*ESN post season awards and final comments on 2024.

Before we can get to all that it was a rather epic final day in 2024 so let’s get to “Closing Day, 2024”.

Link to Equibase full charts and pay-outs

Jose Zunino Purse

The 1st race on the card was the Jose Zunino Retirement purse and Jose was on hand with all his fellow jockeys to take in the race named in his honor. In a field of 4 going over a sloppy track the 7-5 favorite The Lair with apprentice Manuel Americano would quickly take the lead in the 5 1/2 furlong dash and build a 2 1/2 length lead into the stretch and the duo just extended that lead to a 3 1/2 length victory in a final time of 1:04.00.

2nd choice Shadow on the Sun and Luis Reyes took 2nd, Nastika’s Secret and Alex Cruz were 3rd and Emery’s Rose with Leslie Maweing showed speed but faded late. The Lair gave owner John Parker and trainer Candi Cryderman their final win of 2024. In the Winner’s Circle it was packed with horse connections and the entire jockey’s room with Jose Zunino in the middle of it all. We’ll have a whole lot more on Jose Zunino in a feature story still coming out this week.

Manuel Americano

Apprentice Manuel Americano waited for the final day of racing to have his best day ever. Manuel had 6 rides and won 4 plces and showed for a 67% win rate and 100% top 3 finish. Americano had the privilege to win the 1st race which was the Jose Zunino Retirement purse and capped off his day with a stunning win in the Gottstein Futurity on a 32-1 shot.

That was his 1st career Stakes win as he finished with local legend Zunino stepping down. Americano, who is learning to speak english, was very humble in his accomplishments as a 1st year rider. Americano finished 10th in the final jockey standings with 16 wins. He began riding at Golden Gate before GG closed for good last Spring and has been at Emerald Downs since opening day. He finished with a 16-18-24 record from 107 rides for a 15% win clip and 54% top 3 finish and rang up $214,729 in earnings good for 14th overall.

While saying goodbye to a local favorite we’re just beginning to say hello to the new sensation in Manny Americano.

ESN talks with Manny Americano

The Gottstein Futurity

The field of 12 was reduced to 10 with 2 late scratches including He’s Not Talking who broke free in the loading process and ran off causing the late scratch. The 5-1 He’s Not Talking would have had his work cut out for him as a stunning result ended with a trainer Justin Evans exacta. Evans loaded 3 entries into the 84th running of the Gottstein and finished 1st, 2nd and 5th. More interestingly the lowest odds of the 3 were 10-1 and the high odds 32-1.

Evans’ 10-1 A Thousand Miles with Kevin Krigger broke to the lead with 3-1 2nd choice Candy Caballo and Leslie Mawing 2nd then Evans’ 32-1 Colonel Ludlow and apprentice Manny Americano sat 3rd. 3-5 odds on choice Si That Tiger and Silvio Amador was back in 7th. The leading trio all within a head of each other down the backstretch set reasonable fractions of 22.37 and 46.38 and the 3/4’s in 1:11.47.

This was not good news for the closers as the soft fractions left plenty in the tank for the front runners but surprisingly it was Colonel Ludlow gaining his best stride at the top of the stretch and pulled away to lead by a length. Stablemate A Thousand Miles would not give in and came back from the rail and the pair of Evans’ trained entries would go to the wire with 32-1 Colonel Ludlow pulling off the stunning win by a neck over A Thousand Miles in a final time for the 1 1/16 miles of 1:41.35.

Candy Caballo held well to be 3rd by a neck with race favorite Si That Tiger making a big move to 3rd at the top of the stretch with about 3 lengths to make up but flattened out to finish 4th. Evans’ 3rd entry 15-1 Border Vigil ran an even 5th. Rounding out the order of finish was Big Bowie, Checkered Flag, Shesayshello, Thirsty Vision and Nijinsky Halo.

Colonel Ludlow is owned by Jeff Plotkin and Evans, A Thousand Miles is owned by Bryon Seymore. Candy Caballo is owned by George Todaro and trained by Tom Wenzel with Si That Tiger owned by John and Janene Maryanski and Gerald and Gail Schneider and trained by Blaine Wright.

Colonel Ludlow ran dead last in his debut in a maiden special weight on Longacres Mile day and then broke his maiden 2 weeks later in a $15,000 maiden claiming. Someone could have made the claim of the year had they picked him up for 15k but Plotkin and Evans got him through with the win. Evans had Americano work him and he thought he would like 2 turns and he was training brilliantly so he took a shot at the Gottstein.

Evans gave Americano only his 2nd Stakes mount. In his 1st he finished last in a field of 5 at 27-1. Now aboard a 32-1 in a field of 10 didn’t seem like his chances of pulling off a big win were very high but Manny gave the Colonel a perfect ride stalking and then letting him go at the right time for his biggest win in both of their young careers.

Colonel Ludlow is now 2-0-0 from 3 lifetime starts and picked up the $27,500 of the winner’s share to push his career earnings to $35,395. Americano’s Stakes purse earnings this year jumped from $2,300 to $29,800.

Believers in Colonel Ludlow were also rewarded with a $66.86, $27.96 and $12.84. A Thousand Miles paid $11.94 and $7.56 while Candy Caballo returned $3.34 to show. The $1 Evans exacta paid $479.38, the $1 trifecta $1,176.56 and the $1 superfecta $2,514.30. The exacta pay blew apart the former top pay of the season by $200 paying $479.38.

The win by team Evans snapped the team of George Todaro and Tom Wenzel’s incredible 3 year run winning the last 3 Gottstein’s and nearly pulling it off again with Candy Caballo just a length behind at the wire.

Colonel Ludlow’s Stunning Gottstein Win

Colonel Ludlow holds on for the stunning win in the Gottstein

The Winner’s Circle Ceremonies with Colonel Ludlow

Gottstein Photo Gallery

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The Muckleshoot Tribal Classic

A mishap at the gate reduced the final field from 6 to 5. Earlier in the day fan favorite and morning line betting choice Slew’s Tiz Whiz was scratched due to the track condition. Trainer Tom Wenzel told ESN that Slew has never really liked the off track so they felt it was in his best interest not to run. Slew’s scratch dropped the field to 6. Had Slew not scratched he was the definding Champ of the Tribal Classic and in fact the last 3 winners would have all started with Papa’s Golden Boy winning it in 2022 and Coastal Kid winning in 2021.

Chuckanut Bay was the 5 horse and loaded into the gate just fine and was ready to run with Allyssa Morales in the saddle. But when the gates popped open only 1 side of the gate opened for Chuckanut and he had to break through to get started. Chuckanut did run the race and engaged front runner Papa’s Golden Boy down the backstretch but tired and finished last.

However, the stewards ruled that what happened after the gates opened didn’t matter it wasn’t a fair start so they declared Chuckanut a non-starter and all bets were refunded on Chuckanut Bay. This reduced the official field to 5.

Papa’s Golden Boy at 3-1 did go to the lead and set some blistering fractions for the 1 1/16 miles run of 22.53, 44.94 and 1:08.51. These times left nothing for the stretch and despite a 3 length lead midway around the turn the closers were winding up especially Naval Escort who had been watching them all from last place.

Karlo Lopez was aboard the 5-2 2nd choice and waited patiently sensing the pace was way too fast for this race and began unwinding Naval Escort at the 3/4’s pole moving into 4th place. Lopez was closing from along the inside and making up tons of ground and by the time they turned for home and hit the 1/8th pole Naval Escort had a length lead and went on to destroy the field by nearly 9 lengths.

8-1 Coastal Kid and Alex Cruz was sitting in 4th and was the clear next best by 3 lengths in front of 3rd place Its Kraken Time and Luis Reyes at 10-1 while odds-on choice Coastal Jazz and Kevin Krigger never got a hold of the wet-fast track and ran an even 4th with Papa fading to 5th.

Naval Escort is owned by the Oak Crest Farms and trained by David Martinez and ran the 1 1/16 in 1:42.57. Naval Escort is a Washington bred by Coast Guard out of Cape Grace by Abraaj and was bred by Oak Crest farm. Naval Escort is now 4-6-7 from 27 career starts. Naval Escort earned $27,500 and pushes his career earnings to $129,398.

Naval Escort paid $7.46, $3.76 and $2.78. Coastal Kid returned $7.06 and $3.68 with Its Kraken Time returning $4.24 to show. The $1 exacta paid $20.33, the $1 trifecta $64.94 and the $1 superfecta $129.60.

Naval Escort is the 8th straight new Muckleshoot Tribal Classic winner. You have to go back to 2015 and 2016 for back-to-back wins with Stryker Phd. This was trainer David Martinez’s 2nd Classic win also winning in 2014 with Mike Man’s Gold. This was the 1st ever Tribal Classic win for Oak Crest Farms.

Naval Escort explodes down the stretch

Naval Escort pulls away to win easy from the Winner’s Circle

Naval Escort’s Winner’s Circle Ceremonies

Muckleshoot Tribal Classic Photo Gallery

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Washington Cup for fillies and mares

A well matched field of 7 lined up for the 1 1/16 mile journey in the Washington Cup for Fillies and Mares. There would be a new Champion this year as the 2 time defending Champ Blazingbellablu was not in the race although trainer of Bella Charles Essex was shooting for his 3rd straight win with 9-2 Stay Sassy and Luis Reyes. The favorite I’m Telling Mom at 9-5 didn’t get ahold of the off surface and ran well back taking 6th. The 2 18-1 longshots also were short finishing 5th and 7th.

This opened the door for the 4 entries between 3-1 and 5-1. All 4 sat off the lead with 9-2 Zippin Sevenz and Kevin Orozco the closest in 2nd and 3rd down the backstretch while the leaders ran a quick 22.26 and 45.76. 3-1 Chai with Isaias Enriquez sat back in 5th in a patient ride. 5-1 Emerald Sea and Leslie Mawing was further back in last and 9-2 Stay Sassy was 4th.

As they hit the 6 furlong mark the closers began to rev up with Chai and Stay Sassy 1st and 2nd at the 1/8th pole, Emerald Sea was 4th and Zippin Sevenz was rallying 5th. There was some traffic issues for Zippin Sevenz who was trying to weave through traffic while Chai was on a straight course and Emerald Sea right there and as they hit the wire Chai held on for the head win over Zippin Sevenz with a neck in front of a fast closing Emerald Sea who was a length in front of Stay Sassy who evened out a touch late.

Chai stopped the clock in 1:43.35 and races for Jill Fabulich and Lori Heist and is trained by Kay Cooper. Chai is a 3 year-old Washington bred filly by Race Day out of Find Your Spot by Nationhood and was bred by Mr and Mrs Frederick Pabst. Chai is now 3-2-1 from 7 lifetime starts and earned $27,500 for the win. Chai has now banked $75,448 in career earnings. This is Kay Cooper’s 2nd Wa Cup Filly and Mare win also taking it in 2021 with Bayakoas Image. Cooper won this race many times as assistant trainer to her Dad, Hall of Fame trainer Jim Penney. The duo won it 3 times at Emerald Downs with Madame Pele in 2014 and 2015 and in 2011 with Sweet Nellie Brown. Penney also won it back in 1974 with Screven at Longacres, we didn’t ask if Kay was the assistant in 1974.

Chai paid $8.32, $4.82 and $3.80, Zippin Sevenz returned $5.94 and $3.86 and Emerald Sea paid $3.436 to show. The $1 exacta paid $22.11, the $1 trifecta $59.82 and the $1 superfecta $218.40.

Chai holds on for the win