Top Emerald Downs rider Gallyn Mitchell was among the five finalists named for the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award for the second year in a row. Joe Bravo, Javier Castellano, Garrett Gomez and Corey Lanerie are the others who will appear on the 62nd award ballot.

  Mitchell has ridden 1,252 of his 2,515 winners at Emerald Downs. His mounts have earned over $19-million in purses.

  The $15,000 City of Roses Handicap, which had to be rescheduled from November 24 after a severe winter storm, was run at Portland Meadows on December 1. Dr. George Todaro and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer's Pretty Katherine won the mile event by six lengths. Final time for the race run over a sloppy track was 1:40.74. Ridden by Javier Matias, Pretty Katherine - the even-money favorite in the field of five older fillies and mares - raced off the pace of early leaders Perfect Finish and Tapit So Lightly before taking command at the quarter pole. Wendell McDaniel-owned and -trained Tapit So Lightly, a three-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Tapit-So Much Splendor who had finished second in the Washington Lottery Handicap at Emerald Downs last July, ran second, a head the better of Howard Belvoir-owned, -bred and -trained Perfect Finish, a four-year-old Washington-bred filly by Katowice out of multiple stakes producer Share the Knight.

  Pretty Katherine, who has raced mainly on the Southern California circuit, had most recently finished fifth to Clair Annette in the Boeing Handicap at Emerald. It was the fifth win in 21 starts for the four-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Vindication-Indigene, by Deputy Minister, who has now earned $170,616.

Mark Dedomenico and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer's two-year-old filly Cathy's Crunches, a Florida-bred daughter of West Acre out of stakes-placed Miss Atticus, by Atticus, added her fourth victory in six starts when she took the $50,000 Golden Nugget Stakes at Golden Gate by 2 1/4 lengths on November 20.  She has earned $108,520.

Jack and Teresa Hodge's Oak Crest Farm owns and bred four-year-old filly Victoria Cross, who took a 71/2-furlong turf maiden special weight race  by 1 1/4 lengths at Remington Park on November 19. The Washington-bred daughter of Woodstead Farm stalwart Delineator out of Valour Road, by Honour and Glory, is trained by Vann Belvoir.

Charles Fipke's Jersey Town, who had finished second to Noosa Beach in the 2010 Longacres Mile (G3), scored an upset win in the $250,000 Cigar Mile (G1) held at Aqueduct on November 27. The four-year-old son of Speightstown defeated Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) winner Haynesfield by a head in the late November stakes.

Karl C. Kreig III's homebred Absolutely Cool, a three-year-old son of Absolute Harmony-Coup de Foudre, by Basket Weave, won a 5 1/2-furlong allowance race at Turf Paradise on November 30. Trained by Valorie Lund and ridden by Vicky Baze, it was the second win in seven starts for the Washington-bred gelding who had impressively broken his maiden last August at Emerald Downs by 9 1/2 lengths.

Sue and Tim Spooner's Taif won an allowance/$50,000 optional claiming race by 1 1/2 lengths on December 2 at Golden Gate Fields. A two-time allowance winner at Emerald Downs last summer, the four-year-old Florida-bred son of Concorde's Tune-Town Secret, by Williamstown, who is trained by Dan Markle, improved his record to 4-3-2 from 11 starts and upped his earnings to $74,411. Finishing second in the six-panel race was William DeBurgh, Dr. George Todaro, Mark Dedomenico LLC and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer's three-year-old Court Mischief, a stakes-placed son of Empire Maker who has two wins and two seconds in four lifetime starts.

After taking the riding title at the fall Fresno fair meet, five-time leading Emerald Downs jockey champion Ricky Frazier is heading to Maryland and Pennsylvania to ride this winter.

Chaplain, a six-year-old son of Touch Gold, scored his 12th win in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race at Turf Paradise on November 22. The Ontario-bred gelding, who has earned $328,914, is out of Inspirational, a Washington-bred daughter of Lord At War (Arg). As a yearling Inspirational, a half-sister to stakes winner Cascade Corona, Grade 2-placed Son's Corona and stakes-placed Basin City Ben, was sold as a yearling by her breeders Rick and Debbie Pabst for $165,000 at the Keeneland yearling sale. Inspirational is also the dam of Grade 2, $579,172 stakes winner The Niagara Queen.

St. Hilaire Thoroughbreds' Polish Miner's five-year-old daughter Miners Punch, a Pennsylvania-bred mare out of Jerry's Punch, by Two Punch, won a six-furlong allowance race by 3 1/2 lengths at Parx Racing at Philadelphia Park on November 21. She has won three races and earned $66,280.

Four-year-old Ben's Cat kept his unbeaten streak in place when the son of Gibson Thoroughbred Farm's Parker's Storm Cat improved his record to eight-for eight after winning a mile allowance race at Laurel Park on November 24. The gelding out of Twofox, by Thirty Eight Paces, who has won three turf stakes races - all his other wins have been on dirt tracks - has earned $199,980. Another four-year-old son of Parker's Storm Cat, Sloane Ranger, who is a Pennsylvania-bred gelding out of the You and I mare Toppenish, won a 1 1/16-mile allowance race at Penn National by 5 3/4 lengths on November 26. He has earned $69,628..Little Shiney, a four-year-old daughter of Parker's Storm Cat  out of Oh Shiney, by Chimes Band, then took a seven-furlong allowance race at Charles Town Races on December 1. She has now earned $145,720.

The second annual XpressBet Jockey Challenge, scheduled to be held at Portland Meadows on November 29, was cancelled after the Southern California riders who been lined up to ride refused to make the trip up to the Portland oval.

On November 29, former Washington sire Snowbound's five-year-old Quarter Horse son Snowbound Tiger, won the Turf Paradise 870 Challenge Stakes. The 11-race winner bred in Washington by Robert F. Pulse is out of Walla Walla Sweet, a daughter of Maudlin.