Round two in the battle for the sophomore male title came in the $50,000 Coca-Cola Handicap on June 24, part of the first double-header stakes card of the season. In the round one Auburn Handicap, Makors Finale and D'honorable One had dead-heated in a rare stakes finish, and were followed to the line by Brady's Kat. Three weeks and 330 yards later the trio, along with five other challengers, met again with Makors Finale accorded as the $1.70-to-one race favorite.

  The Tom Wenzel-trained Makors Finale, carrying 121 pounds, including the track's leading stakes rider in Gallyn Mitchell, led at every call to hold on gamely to defeat 122 pound highweight D'honorable One by three-quarters of a length. Brady's Kat once again finished third, this time four lengths further back.

  "When he saw (D'honorable One), my horse gave me another half-length," recounted Mitchell. "When he runs with company, he's such a different horse. I was just trying to use my head and let him do the work. He's one of the top-five horses I've ever been on."

  Bred and raced by Karl and Darlyne Kreig of Oak Harbor, Makors Finale - the only stakes winner sired by pensioned state champion Makors Mark - has now won two stakes and placed in two others in nine starts and earned $90,852.

Irish Day Handicap

Reed Palmer Photo

  It turned out to be quite the day for Wenzel, as the Tacoma native would have three more winners (four-for-four), and top off the afternoon with another stakes win with Northwest Farms LLC's Exclusive Diva in the mile $50,000 Irish Day Handicap. Exclusive Diva would also award Wenzel with his fourth stakes winner at the current meet. Wenzel also became the first trainer, outside of Washington Cup Day, to have a stakes daily double in Emerald history.

  With Juan Gutierrez along to guide, Exclusive Diva stalked the early leaders for the first three-quarters before moving up to take charge nearing the five-sixteenths pole. She opened up by four in the stretch and then dug deep to repel the strong closing finish of Squatting Dog Stable and Rusty Warwick's Royal Moses. It was another 9 3/4 lengths back to Fleur de Lis Stables' first-time stakes starter Champagneandcaviar, a Van Nistelrooy-sired half-sister to 2012 handicap leader Winning Machine. Final race time was 1:35.88.

  I saw Royal Moses closing fast, but my filly tried hard," said Gutierrez, who has now won 41 Emerald stakes races. "She reminds me of Elusive Horizon (another Northwest Farms Emerald stakes winner). She's a filly with a big heart."

  It was also a good day for Washington Hall of Fame breeder Jerre Paxton and his Yakima and Kentucky-based Northwest Farms, as it marked his fourth victory (once in partnership with wife Debbie Paxton) in the Irish Day Handicap. Exclusive Diva, a daughter of champion Bernardini out of stakes winner Puxa Saco, by Dehere, improved her record to 4-0-1 from five starts and has earned $98,105.

Northwest Stallion Son of Briartic Stakes

The recently renamed Northwest Race Series Stallion Stakes were both part of the Sunday, July 1 card. The juvenile fillies got the first chance for stakes credentials in the $25,000 Northwest Stallion Son of Briartic Stakes, named to honor record eight-time leading state sire Son of Briartic. Only one member of the five-horse field had previously started, and Valid Vixen Queen used that experience to her advantage with a gate-to-wire four-length tally in the five-furlong stakes. Frank Lucarelli-owned and -trained Kathi's Road (Cahill Road-America's Girl) finished second, 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Oakcrest Farm homebred Supersymmetry (Matty G-Amocat). Final race time was :58.64.

The Washington-bred daughter of Harbor the Gold-Valid Princess, by Valid Expectations, was ridden by Debbie Hoonan and is trained by Neil Knapp - in his first Emerald stakes win - for owner-breeder Vixen Queen Sandy Corp. The filly was earned $28,871 with her one win and one third.

"Normally, I'd try to teach her a little bit, but you can't do that in a stakes race," said Hoonan, who was winning her 13th Emerald stakes. "I asked her for a little more in the lane and she gave it to me. I could hear (Kathi's Road) coming, but I wasn't looking back."

Northwest Stallion Slewdledo Stakes

Reed Palmer Photo

  Though none of the six runners testing the $25,000 Northwest Stallion Slewdledo Stakes, named to honor the four-time leading son of Seattle Slew, had won, half of the field had made a previous start. Of the trio, only Debra Larson and Shadley Reichert's Master's Bluff had placed, and as Valid Vixen Queen had in the filly stakes, he used that knowledge to eke out his first win, but in a tight finish.

  First-time starter He's Not Bluffin (Raise the Bluff-Winning View), the even-money favorite, battled with Off Harbor Account for the first three-eighths before opening up a 1 1/2-length lead in the stretch. Just as Zola, James and Karen Proffitt's colorbearer looked like he would win, Master's Bluff -- with Rocco Bowen in the saddle for his first Emerald stakes victory - came up in a stiff drive to win in a "head bob." Finishing third, 7 3/4 lengths behind the paternal half-brothers, was Preston Boyd and Keith Davis's Willy B Gold (Harbor the Gold-Alpine Song). The two-year-old stakes was clocked at :57.91.

  "I was sitting in the garden spot," related Bowen. "He had plenty left. It was just a manner of getting him to go straight. He's still learning. He'll be a monster horse when the races get longer."

  Bred by Matt and Hally Moore and Tony Burlingame, Master's Bluff became the first stakes winner for 2011 Washington leading freshman sire Raise the Bluff, whose Orlando Express placed in a stallion stakes division last year. Master's Bluff, the second foal out of the winning Peterhof mare Last S A, who is a full or half-sister to stakes winners Northern Attack and Calling You, was a $2,700 WTBOA September sale graduate in 2011 and has now earned $28,786. With his win, Master's Bluff became the first 2012 winner of the $1,000 WTBOA Sales Incentive Program, which had been inaugurated last year.

Boeing Handicap

Reed Palmer Photo

  The superlatives freely flow when commenting on Michael and Amy Feuerborn's almost flawless race filly Class Included. After 13 starts over three seasons of racing the well-named daughter of Include-A Classic Life always gives her talented best, as shown by her latest victory in the mile Boeing Handicap on July 8. Facing a solid field of six stakes distaffers, Class Included, ably partnered by Juan Gutierrez, drew off to take the winner's share of the $50,000 stakes by 2 1/2 lengths. James and Zola Proffitt's Sweet Nellie Brown (Cape Canaveral-Brown) and Bar C Racing Stables Inc. and Desert Rose Racing LLC's Carrabelle Harbor (Harbor the Gold-Silver City Lilly) filled in the place and show spots. The race marked Gutierrez's 42nd stakes win at the Auburn track.

  "She's done everything her mother (2004 Emerald champion two-year-old filly) has done, and more," said Michael Feuerborn. "This is an emotional win for me. This is by far the best race we've ever won with this mare."

  Run at a flat mile for only the second time in 17 runnings, Class Included hit the wire in a quick 1:34.46. The Feuerborns' 2011 Emerald and British Columbia champion now sports a 7-6-0 record and has earned $256,823.

Gemstones

  On June 22, Emerald Downs vice president Jack Hodge Jr. announced that the amount of purse money available for overnight races will be raised five percent. The purse increase went into effect on July 3 and is retroactive to the April 13 opening card.

  "We would like to emphasize what a great job horsemen are doing at the entry booth," stated Hodge, "and commend our racing secretary Bret Anderson and his racing office staff for their hard work."

Hodge was also pleased that on-track attendance figures (up 1.4 percent) are also up again this year.

  "We're exceptionally pleased to be ahead of last year's 11 percent gain in attendance," added Hodge. "It's a very good sign, and obviously bodes well for the handle too."

  On June 30, Emerald Downs honored the track's all-time win leader (with 21 of his 26 victories coming around the Auburn oval) West Seattle Boy, following the sixth race, which was named "The West Seattle Boy Classic Purse" in his honor. Joining the Washington-bred son of Majesterian-Pancho's Girl, by Pancho Villa, in the winner's circle ceremony were owners Lisa Baze and Jerry Carmody, trainer Rigoberto Velazquez and regular rider Gallyn Mitchell. The $184,710 earner, who was bred by the late Al Benton, has begun a new career as a pony horse for Velasquez.

  Emerald Downs, which already celebrates our many Mexican industry members with Cinco de Mayo and those with Irish roots on "Irish Day," has added "Italian Day, on July 22. The day will celebrate Washington's longtime Italian racing heritage. Among the festivities planned at the track - which will wear a green-white-red motif - are Italian cuisine, tarantella dancers, bocci ball, performances by the Johnny Lewis Combo, specialty Italian wines and prize drawings.

  Ron Crockett's top stakes winner and broodmare Carrie Can produced her eighth winner when her four-year-old daughter Ever Ready Carrie, by More Than Ready, won a maiden special weight race on July 3. The Tom Wenzel trainee is a half-sister to Crockett's Grade 2 stakes winner Harvard Avenue, $115,586 stakes winner Carry On John and to stakes-placed Cody to Reggie and Carrie Cat.

  Also on the Wednesday holiday card, apprentice rider Eliska Kubinova won her 100th victory aboard breeder-owner-trainer James Garrett's Memo to Mya. The Czech native has had 37 winning rides at the current meet to currently rank fourth overall.

  Through July 5, longtime breeder, owner, trainer Don Munger and his wife Wanda, lead all owners at Emerald Downs with 11 wins. All of their winners were bred by the Enumclaw couple and were sired by their stallion Nacheezmo.

  Swag Stables and Northwest Farms LLC's both had homebred first-time juvenile starters win maiden special weight races over the first weekend in July. On Saturday, Washington-bred Mike Man's Gold, a Liberty Gold-sired half-brother to Keith and Jan Swagerty's four-time Emerald stakes winner and $184,526 earner No Flies On Doodle won a five-panel race by one-length (over Northwest Farm runner Finallygotabentley) after a slow start. The new winner, who is out of the Slewdledo matron Chedoodle, is trained by David Martinez.

  Sunday's race was won impressively by Going to the Window, a daughter of Tapit and the first foal out of $82,727 earner Queens Full, by Indian Charlie. The Tom Wenzel trainee outscored her rivals by 5 3/4 lengths in a time of :57.30.

  After flipping in the gate while his stablemate Aaron the Baron refused to load in the June 17 Budweiser Handicap, Jeff Harwood's multiple champion Noosa Beach and rider Leslie Mawing were lucky not to sustain any serious injuries. But after the six-year-old gelding just didn't seem 100 percent, his trainer and co-breeder Doris Harwood has sent him home to the Harwoods' farm in Auburn for some "R & R."

  "It was an easy decision to send him home," said Doris. Asked about future plans for the 2010 Longacres Mile (G3) winner, she replied, "We haven't decided what our next move will be. We're going to let him tell us what he wants to do. There's a chance he could come back and run, we just don't know yet. He's been running from one end of the pasture to the other. He's pretty happy right now."

  Mario Gutierrez, who rode into the hearts and minds of racing fans all over the world with his wins aboard I'll Have Another in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1), will be returning to his former homebase at Hastings Racecourse for the rest of the summer. The two-time Hastings riding champion has plans to compete at Emerald Downs as well.

  The June 30, 2012, edition of The Blood-Horse featured the results of an online survey, titled "Mid-Market Meddle," which drew 1,555 responses. The magazine staff was trying to find which middle-market racetracks "were having the most success offering quality racing, building fan loyalty and attracting new fans to Thoroughbred racing,." Though Emerald Downs, along with Canterbury Park, did not have high enough median purses to be included in the survey, they still "prompted more than a dozen supportive comments," and were given a "shout out" by the Kentucky publication.

Stats through July 8 (41 days of racing) 

Through July 8, rider Juan Gutierrez continues to lead the jockey standings in both wins (55) and earnings ($507,963). Leslie Mawing ranks second in both categories with 45 victories and $397,025n mount winnings.

Rounding out the top five are: William Antongeorgi III with 42 wins and $378,638; Eliska Kubinova with 37 trips to the winner's circle and $273,403; and Leonel Camacho-Flores with 36 tallies and $270,561 in earnings. Gutierrez is winning at a 25 percent clip.

  Four-time leading conditioner Frank Lucarelli sports a three-win lead in the trainer rankings with 27 wins from 105 starters and a 26 win percentage. He is also leading in the earnings category with $270,268. Tim McCanna, who has ten leading trainer titles at the Auburn track, ranks second in wins with 24, followed by Howard Belvoir at 20. Chris Stenslie is fourth with 18 wins and Tom Wenzel, who ranks fifth in wins with 15, leads in win percentage with 34 percent.

Total number of horses entered: 2,539

Total number of WA-breds entered: 1,488 (59%)

Total number of races: 359

Total number of WA-bred or WA-bred option races: 43

Total number of WA-bred winners: 201 (56%)