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Emerald Notes
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Reed Palmer Photography |
Awesome Gem Defeats Noosa Beach in Exciting Renewal of Longacres Mile
As the fans and many horsemen saw it, the August 21 Longacres Mile (G3) would come down to a contest between 2010 winner, and hometown favorite, Noosa Beach, and the classy eight-year-old Awesome Gem, who had run a close second to Assessment in the 2009 renewal of the Pacific Northwest's best race.
Race highweight Noosa Beach, who broke from the ten hole, scooted to the early lead and set a pressured pace through fractions of :23.95, :46.62, 1:10.37 and 1:22,53. Meanwhile, Awesome Gem, coming from the 11 and outside gate, was content to race mid-pack for the first six furlongs. Awesome Gem and rider David Flores then started to make a move from the outside in the second turn, passing Noosa Beach with a furlong to run and holding off his rival to score a 1 1/2-length victory in a time of 1:34.80. David P. Taylor Jr.'s four-year-old Posse Power (Posse-Stellarina) finished third, two lengths behind Noosa Beach, but 3 1/2 lengths the better of Hastings Racecourse invader Crew Leader.
2008 Mile winner Wasserman finished fifth. The now nine-year-old gelding continues to top all Emerald-based runners with earnings of $535,237. Assessment ran eighth.
Flores was confident about his mount's chances going into the race.
"I really didn't have any worries about the field," said Flores. "The only horse I was concerned with was Noosa Beach. Breaking out of the gate we had a huge advantage with the speed on the inside of us. He's such an easy horse to relax that if I let him relax too much, he'll fall asleep.
"When I asked him to go, he started cruising. My horse was making such a big run that when we went by, I saw (Noosa Beach) fight back, but by that time it was too late. I never gave them a chance. I give all the credit to the horse. He shows up every time," Flores added.
Awesome Gem, a gelding by Awesome Again out of Piano, by Pentelicus, races for Terry Finley's West Point Thoroughbreds and is trained by Craig Dollase.
"It was one of his best performances," said Dollase. "He obviously likes the track up there, and we got a much better trip than in 2009."
With his $110,000 winner's share of the $200,000 purse, the 2010 Hollywood Gold Cup (G1) winner has now earned $2,688,270 and has a record of 9-14-5 from 46 starts. Awesome Gem, who is the 20th Kentucky-bred to win the Mile in its 76 runnings, added his name, along with 1951 winner Little Rollo and 1959 victor Gigantic, as the oldest winners of the race.
Noosa Beach, who had a seven-race winning streak going into the Mile, has earned $461,555 of his $520,722 total earnings at the Auburn oval. The four-year-old Washington-bred gelded son of Harbor the Gold-Julia Rose races for his breeder Jeff Harwood and has been ridden throughout 2011 by Gallyn Mitchell.
"He just kept digging in the whole way," said Mitchell after the race. "This horse has never quit on me once this year. I'm really proud of him and I'm glad to be a part of him. I take nothing away from the winner. That's a nice horse."
Emerald set a new track record betting handle from all sources on the Sunday ten-race card of $3,250,016, of which $787,294 was wagering on the Mile. It was also the second best one-day handle in state history.
WTBOA Sales Notes: The 2011 September sale will feature a five-year-old daughter of Awesome Again, bred to 2011 leading Washington sire Parker's Storm Cat. Also scheduled to be sold are a full brother to three-time champion Noosa Beach and a half-sister to stakes winner Posse Power.
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Reed Palmer Photography |
Yes, Way
Six years after Herman Sarkowsky's homebred No Giveaway scored an upset victory (going off at 60-to-one) in the 70th Longacres Mile, the longtime Seattle businessman and horseman was back in the winner's circle after a stakes victory on Mile day. Sarkowsky's most recent Emerald tally came with another homebred longshot, as his four-year-old Hard Way Ten got up to score a 1 1/4-length win (at $11.10-to-one) in the $65,000 Emerald Distaff Handicap. Final race time was 1:50.09.
Ridden by Gallyn Mitchell and trained by Doris Harwood, Hard Way Ten raced just off the early leaders for most of the nine furlongs before edging clear in the final stages to defeat James and Zola Proffitt's Sweet Nellie Brown, a daughter of Cape Canaveral-Brown. Monogram Racing Stable and Patrick Hoonan's two-time stakes winner You Me and Ema B (You and I-Carrie Ann) just missed second by a neck. Race favorite U R All That I Am finished sixth, while 2010 Distaff winner Kimmyv fell in the final yards and was vanned off the track.
"The added distance plus taking the blinkers off really helped her today," said Mitchell, who has won six stakes at Emerald this season and ranks number one all-time at the track with 73 stakes firsts. "She stayed close and relaxed the whole time. I started to ask her at the three-eighth pole. I had a ton of horse..."
Both No Giveaway and his full sister Youcan'ttakeme, the dam of Hard Way Ten and 2008 Angie C. Stakes winner Super Dixie, were Washington and Emerald champions. No Giveaway was both horse of the year and horse of the meet in 2005, while his year-older full sister (both offspring of He's Tops) was Washington's champion filly at two and three and Emerald's horse of the meet and top three-year-old filly in 2003.
The Emerald Distaff was the first stakes win for Hard Way Ten, who has record of 2-3-4 from 17 starts and has earned $132,385. At three, the then Richard Mandella-trained filly ran second in the Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar.
WTBOA Sales Notes: Washington-breds Sweet Nellie Brown ($83,425) and You Me and Ema B ($82,515) were products of 2008 WTBOA sales.
Gemstones
Ron Crockett Inc.'s homebred Davos went over $100,000 in earnings after the six-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Langfuhr won a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race on the Mile under card on August 20. The half-brother to Grade 2 winner Harvard Avenue and three other stakes horses were all produced out of the stakes-placed Saratoga Six mare Carrie Can. The Junior Coffey-trained runner finished a neck the better of 2009 Washington champion Hollywood Harbor, who outfinished 2010 Seattle Slew Handicap winner Newfound Man by 1 1/4 lengths. | 
