The ninth Washington Cup produced a record six first-time stakes winners. Run on Sunday, September 18, the annual Emerald Downs celebration was held under gray and rainy skies as Washington-bred and -sired runners competed for $215,000 in purse monies.

  WTBOA sales alumni took home four of the six first-place finishes, which included the 10 1/4-length tally by Vic-Tory Stables IV's He's All Heart in the $40,000 Muckleshoot Tribal Classic.

  The three other triumphant sales grades were: Tige Too Racing Stables' E Z Kitty in the John and Kitty Fletcher Stakes, Vann Belvoir-owned and -trained Kit Cat Kitty in the Diane Kem Stakes and James and Zola Profitt's Sweet Nellie Brown in the Belle Roberts Stakes.

  West Coast Racing LLC's Brady's Kat, the first of three winners with a feline-themed moniker, won the initial stakes on the card, the Dennis Dodge Stakes. Triple L Stables' Our Eagle Boy finished the best of seven in the Chinook Pass Stakes.

  An additional five other WTBOA sales graduates ran second or third in the six Cup stakes: Dennis Dodge Stakes runner-up Gold Surge; Belle Roberts Stakes third Private Fortune; Chinook Pass Stakes second and third, Codys a Bobcat and Big Bad Brown; and Muckleshoot Tribal Classic third Newfound Man.

  More information on Washington Cup Day will appear in the next issue of "Gate-to-Wire."

Notice Regarding RNA Horses Sold Privately After the WTBOA Sale

Don't miss out on making your purchase(s) eligible for bonus money in 2012!

  Buyers take note and/or consignors, please make sure your buyers are aware of the Sales Incentive Program nomination fee that is necessary for yearling purchases of 2011 (and/or weanlings of 2010) to be eligible to compete for bonus money and/or in a specially designated Sales Incentive Program race as two-year-olds in 2012. If you are in doubt about whether or not the complete nomination fee has been paid, please contact the consignor or call our offices at (253) 288-7878.

Reed Palmer Photography

  Z Thoroughbred Racing Partners I's Harbor Wind proved the easiest of winners as the two-year-old colt drove to a nine-length victory in the first-ever WTBOA Sales Incentive Program allowance race. The $20,000 race, which was restricted to WTBOA sales graduates, was held on Monday, September 5, the day before the 45th WTBOA Summer Yearling and Mixed Sale.

  Bred and consigned by Prisco Vacca Farm to the 2010 WTBOA sale, the son of Harbor the Gold-Bon Jour Paris, by Eltish, was purchased by Steve Zerda for $10,000. The Frank Lucarelli trainee has earned $22,745, including $11,000 for his allowance triumph, in four starts.

  Frank Lucarelli-owned and -trained Eileen Is a Saint, a Montana-bred daughter of Private Gold, finished second and Elttaes Stable and Jeff Harwood's first-time starter, Memphis Beach, another son of Harbor the Gold, finished third.

  The WTBOA Sales Incentive Program, which was established earlier this year, gives nominated WTBOA sales graduates the opportunity to earn a $1,000 bonus for their owner if they attain winner's status after they take a maiden special weight race or earn their first victory in a stakes race at Emerald Downs as a two-year-old. In addition, eligible two-year-olds will be able to add to their winnings in a featured allowance race during the meet, just as Harbor Wind has done.

  William DeBurgh, Mark Dedomenico LLC and Jerry Hollendorfer's City to City took her second Grade 2 victory on the tough Southern California race circuit when the chestnut four-year-old came up with a rush to score a three-quarter length win over Medaglia d'Amour in the $150,000 Palomar Handicap at Del Mar on September 5. Garrett Gomez was aboard the winner for her 1:41.48 clocking in the 1 1/16-mile turf race.

  Last year the Kentucky-bred daughter of City Zip-Stormbow, by Storm Cat, had been victorious the Grade 2 Providencia Stakes at Santa Anita and won or placed in four other stakes. She was injured in the July 25, 2010, San Clemente Stakes (G2), a race in which she finished a close second to Evening Jewel. After surgery on her ankle, City to City spent several months recuperating at Dedomenico's Pegasus Training Center in Redmond.

  "This filly came off a long layoff and to win a Grade 2 race like this - I'm very proud of her," stated Hollendorfer, whose victory gave 2011 National Hall of Fame inductee and trainer his 6,005th career win. "(Pegasus Training Center) did all the rehab on her and just did a fabulous job. We took our time with her and she has paid us back."

  City to City had returned to the races in May with a fourth place finish in a Golden Gate allowance race, and since then has earned black-type in each of her following three outings.

  Consigned by Nina and Ron Hagen's El Dorado Farms LLC to the 2008 WTBOA September yearling sale where she was purchased by Dedomenico for $50,000, the talented miss has earned $371,491 for her owners with a

6-4-5 record from 19 starts.

  On Sunday, September 11, Hastings Racecourse held the biggest day of the their 2011 meet, as the Vancouver, British Columbia, track showcased six stakes on their ten-race card and over $550,000 (Canadian) in purses. Tops among the offerings were the $100,330-guaranteed British Columbia Oaks and the $200,661-guaranteed British Columbia Derby (Can-G3), both at nine furlongs.

  A field of nine sophomore fillies entered the starting gate, all carrying 121 pounds, for the Oaks. Canmor Farms' Overvalued held a 2 1/2-length lead going into the first turn, but Embellished caught up to take a narrow lead over that rival at the half-mile marker. Meanwhile, Michael and Amy Feuerborn's Washington Oaks winner Class Included, the $1.80-to-one race favorite, was content to stalk the early pacesetters. As the field drew into the stretch, Class Included, ridden by Russell Baze, became the clear leader, and her lead steadily grew to four lengths by the time they passed the wire in 1:50.50 over a fast track.

Class Included (Four Footed Fotos)

  Glen Todd and Patrick Kinsella's Castinette Dancer, a Washington-bred daughter of Ministers Wild Cat-Premo Copy, finished second, 1 1/4 lengths the better of Overvalued, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Forest Grove-Undervalued.

  In her first start away from her Emerald Downs base, Class Included improved her record to four wins, including a trio of stakes wins, and four seconds in eight starts. The Kentucky-bred filly by Include was also bred by the Feuerborns, who raced her $201,285 stakes-winning dam, A Classic Life, a daughter of Sky Classic. Trained by Jim Penney, Class Included has earned $160,948. Class Included is the second Washington-based filly in two years to win both the Washington and BC Oaks, as Riverbend Farm and Dana Claxton's Zenovit had scored the same hat trick in 2010 en route to Washington champion three-year-old honors.

Northern Causeway (Four Footed Fotos)

  Penney and Baze nearly had both major victories on the card, as Emerald Downs Derby winner Jebrica (Liberty Gold-Peaceful Wings), who races for longtime Penney clients Ron and Rosalie Warren's R and R Warren LLC, just missed taking the 66th running of the BC Derby after a hard-fought battle. Nevertheless, the winner's spoils still came home to Washington as Rozamund Barclay's Northern Causeway defeated Jebrica by a neck. Victoria and Robert Gilker's Arraignment, a Kentucky-bred son of Include-Flowerette, finished another 1 1/2 lengths back in third place in the field of twelve. Northern Causeway, who had taken the Richmond Derby Trial in August, finished his race around the "bullring" in 1:50.22.

  Trained by Len Kasmerski, Northern Causeway, who was ridden by William Antongeorgi III, improved his record to 4-3-0 from 11 starts and has earned $211,871. A son of Giant's Causeway, Northern Causeway is out of a Silver Deputy-sired half-sister to Horse of the Year Ghostzapper and stakes winner and major sire City Zip.

  Both Jebrica and Castinette Dancer, a three-time stakes winner, are products of the 2009 WTBOA Summer Yearling Sale.

  R.E.V. Racing's well-traveled Atta Boy Roy added a victory in the $35,000 Shot of Gold Stakes at Canterbury Park to his already impressive résumé on September 11. The six-year-old Washington-bred ridgeling vied for the lead with Humble Smarty for the first five panels of the six-furlong race before holding off Just Jebicah by a half-length to win for the 12th time in 29 starts. Rusty Shaw was aboard Atta Boy Roy for the 1:11.06 finish over a fast track.

  A three-time Washington champion and Grade 2 stakes winner at Churchill Downs, Atta Boy Roy, who finished second in the Grade 3 Aristides Stakes earlier this year, pushed his earnings total to $546,580. He currently ranks sixth on the all-time leading Washington-bred money list, right between champions and 2011 runners Wasserman ($564,808) and Noosa Beach ($520,722).

  Bred by Patricia Murphy and Rick and Debbie Pabst and sold through the Pabsts' Blue Ribbon Farm at the 2006 WTBOA September sale to Roy and Ellie Schaefer, Atta Boy Roy, by Tribunal, is a half-brother to Longacres Mile (G3) winner The Great Face. Both champion runners were produced out of 2009 Washington broodmare of the year Irish Toast.

  2011 WTBOA sale catalog cover horse Smiling Tiger, the three-time Grade 1 winning Kentucky-bred son of Hold That Tiger who was a graduate of the 2008 sale, finished fourth, only a head behind third place finisher Crown of Thorns in Del Mar's Pat O'Brien Stakes (G1), run on August 28. With the $15,000 Smiling Tiger earned in the seven-furlong stakes, the colt upped his total to $1,214,353

  Miro Vos, the three-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Afleet Alex who won a 1,400-meter maiden race at Hipodromo Argentino in Argentina on August 20, is out of 1999 WTBOA summer sale topper Dame d'Loc, a daughter of Mr. Livermore who was bred by Northwest Farms LLC and earned $108,040 during her racing career. It was the second lifetime start for the Miro Vos, who scored her two-length win over a wet-fast track.

  Ben's Cat "closed relentlessly" to defeat Perfect Officer in the five-furlong $356,000 Turf Monster Handicap run at PARX Racing on Labor Day. The Grade 3 stakes - the first graded stakes win for the multiple stakes winner - is one of the Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" series of stakes and earned Ben's Cat a guaranteed spot in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G2) to be held later this year at Churchill Downs. Unfortunately, the gelding is currently not Breeders' Cup eligible.

  A Maryland-bred son of 2011 Washington leading sire Parker's Storm Cat, Ben's Cat has competed exclusively in stakes races this year, winning four of five starts and earning $464,250 of his $676,230 total.

  Unraced at two and three, the now five-year-old Ben's Cat has been the epitome of racing class during his two-year racing career while running for breeder, trainer, owner King Leatherbury's The Jim Stable. Ben's Cat, who is out of the stakes-placed Thirty Eight Paces mare Twofox, has won 12 (seven stakes) of his 17 lifetime starts and also has two second place finishes, both in stakes.

  The son of Storm Cat had his 27th winner of the year on September 3 when his three-year-old first-time starter Captain Daddy, a New Jersey-bred colt out of Sweet Willy, by Williamstown, won a five-furlong maiden race at PARX Racing by two lengths.

  No Brakes, a six-year-old Maryland-bred son of Parker's Storm Cat out of All Apologies, by Mahogany Hall, earned his ninth career victory in a ten-furlong allowance race at Laurel Park on September 10 and has now earned $122,915.

   Parker's Storm Cat's half-sister Mutually Benefit, a four-year-old daughter of Dynaformer, earned her first stakes-placement after she ran third in the CTT and Thoroughbred Owners of California Handicap at Del Mar on August 26. Both are out of French classic winner Macomba, a daughter of Mr. Prospector.

Reed Palmer Photography

Sweet Taste of Victory

  A year ago last August, Riverbend Farm and Dana Claxton's Zenovit won the Washington Oaks en route to Washington sophomore filly honors. Fast forward a year and the Riverbend Farm of Gerry and Gail Schneider secured another pivotal August stakes victory with another homebred distaffer - each has been under the tutelage of the Schneiders' longtime trainer Larry Ross - as their two-year-old Sweet Saga won the $50,000 Barbara Shinpoch Stakes on August 28. Not only did the daughter of Slew's Saga become the inaugural stakes winner for her freshman sire, but just like last year when Lady Golightly went from maiden to stakes winner in the Shinpoch, Sweet Saga earned her first lifetime victory in the mile stakes. In another interesting coincidence, both Sweet Saga (Cielo Dulce) and Zenovit are out of daughters of former Washington leading sire Cahill Road (as is Grade 1 stakes winner and millionaire Smiling Tiger).

  Jerre Paxton, dba Northwest Farms LLC, was going for his record fourth victory in the Shinpoch with unbeaten Exclusive Diva, who, at even money, got the most fan support of the six fillies that went postward in the race named to honor late South King County leader.

  Will This One Do Stable's (a partnership of Jody Peetz, Mary Lou and Terry Griffin, Will Brewer and Marcie Healey) Talk to My Lawyer dueled with Exclusive Diva for the lead until late stretch when Sweet Saga responded to rider Gallyn Mitchell's urging and wore down Talk to My Lawyer, a Washington-bred daughter of champions Lawyer Ron-Infernal McGoon, to win the race by a half-length in a time of 1:36.97, nearly 1 1/2 seconds faster than the colts ran in the WTBOA Lads. Exclusive Diva, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Bernardini-Puxa Saco finished another 2 1/4 lengths back in third place.

  "After galloping this horse, I knew that she could handle the distance, said Mitchell of the winner of his record 74th stakes victory at the Emerald oval. "At the three-eighths pole, I gave her a tap on the shoulder and she started to kick it into gear. By the eighth pole, I knew I'd run by the leaders. She switched leads perfectly and then just motored past the field."

  Including two third place finishes in her two other outings, Sweet Saga has earned $31,020 for her Auburn-based owners.

  Twelve-year-old West Seattle Boy earned his record 20th victory at Emerald Downs on August 28. No other horse in track history has won more than 16 races at the Auburn oval. Bred by the late Al Benton, the Washington-bred son of Majesterian-Pancho's Girl, by Pancho Villa, races for Lisa Baze and Jerry Carmody and is trained by Rigoberto Velasquez. The victory in the 6 1/2-furlong $3,500 claiming race came in the gelding's 101st lifetime start and West Seattle Boy has now earned $174,474 from an overall record of 24-13-19.

  Longshots Devon Dat Cash and Vodka With Ice finished one-two in the $63,810 Bank of American Emerald Downs Challenge Championship for older Quarter Horse runners on September 4. Trained by John R. Harris and ridden by Luis Torres, Devon Dat Cash finished the 440-yard race in :21.82 in his first start since January for owners and breeders Donald and Beverly Conway of Rainier. The handle for the Sunday card was $1,554,655.

  Eliska Kubinova, 22, a native of Jesenik, Czech Republic, made her North American riding debut on September 5 and finished sixth aboard Ryan Kenney-trained Sassy Britches in the fifth race on the Emerald card.

  "I'm happy with how the filly ran, and I'm excited for the rest of my races this weekend," commented Kubinova, who had moved to Bellevue last year.

  The petite blonde rider, who had attended a Czech jockey's school and ridden in about two-dozen previously races, finished seventh on both her mounts on Labor Day, both for trainer Dayson Lavanway.

  On September 10, Kubinova brought Arturo Arboleda-owned and -trained Get Going (by Makors Mark) back to the winner's circle in her fifth American ride.

  The rider has plans to go south for the Portland Meadows meet once Emerald Downs closes for the season.

  Jockey Joey Steiner, who returned to race riding in California earlier this year, notched his first Emerald win since 2003 when he won aboard William J. Craig's Foolish Miss (by Nacheezmo) and Sim Racing Stables Ltd. and Tom MacDonald's Shenandoah Run (by Vision and Verse) on September 11.