Longacres Mile 2012 - 77 Years and Going Strong

  A field of ten outstanding runners (with aggregate earnings of $5,641,505) took to the track for the 77th running of the Longacres Mile (G3). Among them were defending Mile champ and race highweight (123 pounds) Awesome Gem - who with just over $2.8-million in earnings was once again the richest runner ever to grace the Mile, a race in which he was competing for the third time - and 2009 winner Assessment, now eight, in his fourth Mile appearance. Gladding, who would have been among the favorites due to his 6 1/2-length score in the Alamedan Handicap, was scratched when he spiked a 104° fever after shipping up from Southern California.

Wayne Nagai Photos

  Glen Todd's North American Thoroughbred Company boasted a strong entry with Taylor Said - who was coming into the race after winning his last five races, including four stakes tallies at Hastings Racecourse - and fellow Hastings stakes winner St Liams Halo.
  Top Emerald trainer Frank Lucarelli had four entries in Washington's premier event, including Fleur de Lis Stables' Winning Machine, who had been having a banner year after taking home both the Governor's and Budweiser handicaps.

   West Point Thoroughbred's Awesome Gem started as the $2.20-to-one favorite, even though a horse of his advanced age had never won Washington's most noteworthy race.

   As the race unfolded, Emerald homeboy Winning Machine and rider Javier Matias led for the first six furlongs through fractions of :23.70, :46.38 and 1:09.30, but pressing his pace was Taylor Said - who broke from post position nine - and his popular partner, two-time 2012 classic winning rider Mario Gutierrez. The two geldings drew down the stretch in an exciting duel, with Taylor Said emerging a head victorious over a game Winning Machine. Awesome Gem, with David Flores in the irons, finished 1 1/2 lengths back in third and now sports a solid 1-2-3 record in his trio of Mile attempts. Final race time was 1:33.77, not far off the track record 1:33 set by Sky Jack in the 2003 Mile, and in a tie with Always Gallant (1979) and Simply Majestic (1988) as the fifth fastest Mile in history.

   "He broke really sharp today," said Gutierrez. "He was pulling pretty hard. I didn't want to choke the race out of him, so I let him go a little wide into the first turn. I was surprised to see so many horses going for the lead. The pace felt pretty fast, but I know this track pretty well. If this was my first time riding at Emerald Downs, I might have started panicking, but I know good horses can carry their speed on this track.

  "My horse hesitated once he got the lead. I think he was used to the shorter stretch at Hastings. When Winning Machine came back, my horse kept going. He's a fighter, too. This win is very special for me. Glen (Todd) is like my dad and Troy (Taylor) [Taylor Said and St Liams Halo's Hastings' trainer] is like my grandpa. I'm so happy I could win this race for them. They're my family."

  "This is the biggest race in the Pacific Northwest," said Todd, who hails from Surrey, British Columbia, and came down with a caravan of 16 buses in support of his entry. "I've run thousands of horses, but this is my first Mile. "It's an unbelievable feeling." Taylor Said's entrymate St Liams aHal

 

 

Halo finished fourth.

  Mike Puhich took over the pleasant Emerald saddling chores for the Taylor duo.

  The ultra-consistent Taylor Said, a four-year-old son of Stephanotis, has won seven of his nine starts and finished second in his other two races. With his $110,000 Mile payday, Taylor Said now has earned $277,991. His dam Fleet Amyanne, by Western Fame, is a half-sister to $149,868 stakes winners Andiotis, also sired by Stephanotis, and in addition to Taylor Said, she is also the dam of three-time stakes winner Taylors Deal, whose most recent tally came in the British Columbia Cup Stellar's Jay Handicap on August 6. A three-year-old son of Second in Command, Taylors Deal - who also races for North American Thoroughbred Horse Company - also flaunts an impressive record with a 5-2-0 scoreboard from eight races and earnings of $135,408.

  Taylor Said joins Eddie's Boy (1952), Quality Quest (1955) Travelling Victor (1984) and Kid Katabatic (1997) as the fifth BC-bred to earn the Mile title.

  This year's Mile trophy, "Take Flight," had earned honorable mention in the Pegasus Thoroughbred Training and Rehabilitation Center Award for Sculpture at Equine Art 2012. The stunning piece was the product of appropriately Vancouver, BC, artist Dana Michaels.

 

Mile Consolation

  The Mile consolation, a 6 1/2-furlong allowance carded as the seventh race, turned out to be a highly competitive battle between former Washington champion sons of Harbor the Gold - Couldabenthewhisky and Hollywood Harbor - and up and comer Rocky's Quest. In fact, the field was so strongly peppered with solid stakes winners, it looked more like a black-type outing than a $30,000 allowance.

  Hollywood Harbor went off as the .60-to-one favorite, but came up just short as Couldabenthewhisky, ridden by Russell Baze, prevailed in a stiff drive to defeat Rocky's Quest by a neck with Hollywood Harbor only a head back in third place.

  It marked the sixth win in 16 starts for WTBOA sale graduate. The four-year-old Bonnie Jenne trainee has earned $175,520 for the partnership of Friendship Stable, Frank McDonald, and Stan and Craig Fredrickson.

 

Oaks Toast

   What do Champagneandcaviar and Winning Machine have in common? Besides the same owners, breeders and dam, each has now won the top three-year-old race in their division at Emerald Downs. Winning Machine, now six, took the 2009 Emerald Downs Derby and has since become a top handicap runner with two stakes victories at the 2012 Emerald meet.  

  Meanwhile, his younger half-sister Champagneandcaviar has made her own significant contributions to their catalog page and to the coffers of Raymond Kwik and Paul Goldberg's Fleur de Lis Stables LLC. After taking the Kent Handicap at nearly 30-to-one odds, Champagneandcaviar scored her second close victory over heavy favorite Exclusive Diva in the August 11, Washington Oaks

  Eight sophomore distaffers gathered for the nine-furlong Oaks, which boasted a $73,250 purse this year after Emerald Downs generously added $10,000 to the pot for any Northwest Race Series eligible runner of 2011. Northwest Farms LLC and Debbie Paxton's Exclusive Diva took the early lead and nearly went gate-to-wire, only losing out in the final closing strides to a determined Champagneandcaviar Peter Redekop BC's Canadian ship-in Our Eleanor (Successful Appeal-Pretty Jane) ran the best of the rest, finishing three-quarters of a length in front of Royal Moses. Final race time over a fast track was 1:48.75.

  "I had a tight hold on my horse the whole way," said Matias. "I wanted to keep the front of her body in between (Exclusive Diva) and the rail so that's I'd have room in the stretch. I looked back at the quarter pole and saw (Our Eleanor) was the only one closing. I was pretty confident we were going to win. She's got a big heart."

  A daughter of Van Nistelrooy - a Group 2 winning son of Storm Cat -- Champagneandcaviar is the fourth foal and winner out of Dance With Carson, a winning daughter of prominent broodmare sire Carson City and Washington champion racemare Ladies Excuse Me. Champagneandcaviar, hails from Howard Belvoir's barn and has earned $87,865 with a record of 3-2-2 from 11 starts.

 

The Grand Finale

  One of the most anticipated races of the meet is the Emerald Downs Derby, which had its 75th renewal on August 12. In many seasons the Derby winner is crowned top sophomore male of the meet (and if a Washington-bred, the state as well) and the 2012 victor should be in the running for those honors as well.

  A field of six sophomore males entered the gate for the nine-furlong stakes, which was boosted to $74,750 after Emerald Downs added another $10,000 Northwest Race Series bonus.

  Little separated Luigi DiPietro and Diana DiPietro's Italian Boy and Nelson Family Racing's D'honorable One in the mutual pools, with both stakes winners going off at $1.40-to-one and D'honorable One having just a few more dollars bet.

  Karl Krieg's homebred Makors Finale, at $5.70-to-one took the early lead and never gave up that advantage, scoring his third stakes win by a half-length over a game Italian Boy (Tizbud-Cordial Russian). D'honorable One (D'wildcat-Silver Shannon) rounded out the top three by finishing two lengths further back in third and four lengths the better of fourth place Faster Than Duke in that runner's first stakes attempt.

  Ridden by Rocco Bowen for trainer Tom Wenzel, Makors Finale earned the Derby title in 1:48.48. Bowen had picked up the mount due to a hand injury suffered by the chestnut's regular rider Gallyn Mitchell.

  "When I was a bug boy at Hastings I won a $100,000 stakes up there, but I still think this is the best race of my career," said Bowen.

  "Tom told me to put the horse in front and lead every step of the way. I just made sure that we stayed in front and never let anyone get ahead of us. He fought the whole way. It was a great race," added Bowen, who was winning his second Emerald stakes.

  Makors Finale, a son of Washington and Emerald champion Makors Mark out of the multiple stakes-producing Basket Weave mare Coup de Foudre, improved his record to 5-4-0 from 11 outings and has earned $135,852.

  Wenzel also saddled Northwest Farms LLC's well-bred juvenile first-time starter Stopshoppingdebbie to a seven-length tally in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race on the Sunday card. From the first crop of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, the filly is out of Emerald champion Taste the Passion, who also produced Emerald champions Smarty Deb and Shampoo for Jerre Paxton's Yakima-based farm.

 

Golden Lad

  In 2009-10 Keith and Jan Swagerty's homebred filly No Flies On Doodle had the Auburn couple flying high after winning four stakes at Emerald Downs. The Washington-bred daughter of Storm Blast would go on to win eight of her 23 starts and earn $184,526 in the colors of the Swagertys' Swag Stables.

  Fast forward two years and the Swagertys once again have a homebred stable star in two-year-old Mike Man's Gold - a Liberty Gold-sired half-brother to No Flies On Doodle - who remained unbeaten in three starts after he held on to defeat Elttaes Stable's Music of My Soul (Harbor the Gold-Julia Rose) and Debbie Paxton and Northwest Farms LLC's Finallygotabentley (Bernardini--Smarty Deb) in a blanket finish in the 31st running of the WTBOA Lads Stakes run on August 18.

  With regular rider Javier Matias in the saddle, Mike Man's Gold began his trip by running just off the pace set by the early leaders for the first quarter of the 6 1/2-furlong $50,000 stakes. By the half-mile post and through the stretch, he and leader Country Rules were in a duel for first place. Meanwhile Music of My Soul, a full brother to two-time Washington horse of the year Noosa Beach, was "gaining with every stride," and Finallygotabentley was right at his heels. At the wire, only a head separated Mike Man's Gold from a game Music of My Soul with a tenacious Finallygotabentley only another head back, and a half-length the better of Country Rules. Final race time was 1:16.72.

  "He didn't break that sharp today," recounted Matias. "My horse wanted to move early and was pulling pretty hard. The early move made us go wide around the turn. It got really wide in the stretch. I couldn't use my whip because I was going to bump the other horse. I knew we won at the wire, but it was close," said the rider, who was taking his sixth stakes win of the season. Matias leads all 2012 Emerald riders in that category.

  Trained by David Martinez, Mike Man's Gold has earned $59,318 in his trio of wins.

 

Abundant Class

  If you were to ask horsemen and fans who was the best filly on the Emerald Downs' backstretch, a big majority would name Michael and Amy Feuerborn's four-year-old talent Class Included. The Kentucky-bred runner is the epitome of her name.  

  In her 13 races going into the $64,000 Emerald Distaff Stakes, the daughter of Include-A Classic Life, by Sky Classic, had won seven (including five stakes tallies) and finished second in all of her other races, four of which were stakes. And Class Included's status wasn't going to change in the 1 1/8th mile Distaff, which was run August 19 as part of Longacres Mile undercard.

  Three other older fillies and mares, all of recognized stakes class, lined up at the gate with the Feuerborns' three-to-ten favorite. Bar C Racing Stables Inc. and Desert Rose Racing LLC's Carrabelle Harbor, after bobbling at the start, opened up a clear lead by the first quarter. At the half-mile post the four-year-old daughter of Harbor the Gold-Silver City Lilly still led the field by a half-length and then lengthened her margin to a length at the six-furlong marker. While this was going on at the front of the field, jockey Juan Gutierrez had Class Included just waiting to make her move from her regular place just off the leaders. After racing wide at the turn, Class Included took an easy lead in the stretch to draw off with a five-length victory in a time of 1:47.78. Carrabelle Harbor finished second, 5 3/4 lengths in front of Blue Ribbon Racing #2's Private Fortune (Private Gold-Shimmer of Silk), with Sweet Nellie Brown finishing fourth and last in the well spread out field.

  "She's a really nice filly, I feel like she's one of the best I've ridden in my life," said Gutierrez. "Today she pulled a little in the first part of the race, but then she relaxed on the backstretch and I could tell we were getting to the leaders. I was thinking 'I got it, I got it, I got it,' It's a pleasure to ride a filly like this because she does everything right."

  With her easy victory, Class Included - from the stable of Washington Hall of Fame trainer Jim Penney in his 44th Emerald stakes win -- clinched divisional honors at Emerald Downs for the second straight year. Class Included has now earned $292,573 for her Maple Valley-based owners and breeders.

 

Allowance Company

  Three allowance races would be the feature events on the stakes-less August 25-26 weekend of racing. For the first time in Emerald's history, a major stakes, in this case the $50,000 Barbara Shinpoch Stakes - the usual division deciding race for juvenile fillies -- failed to fill with only three entries.

  The first allowance test was enhanced by the WTBOA Sales Incentive Program and offered a $20,375 purse restricted to eligible WTBOA sale graduates. A field of eight went postward in the six-furlong test. Three of the entrants were maidens, including Glyn Kelly and Anne MacLennan's stakes-placed Cariboo Road, who had a second and third (in the Premio Esmeralda Stakes) in two

Cariboo Road wins WTBOA Sales Incentive Allowance and $1,000 bonus. Reed Palmer Photography

starts to his credit and went off as the one-to-two favorite. Ridden by Deborah Hoonan, Cariboo Road, who hails from Dan Markle's barn, led at every call to come home 3 1/4 lengths ahead of Northwest Stallion Slewdledo Stakes winner Master's Bluff.

  As an eligible sales horse breaking his maiden in the allowance test, Cariboo Road was awarded an additional $1,000 bonus.

  Cariboo Road, a Washington-bred son of Cahill Road, is the second foal out of the Tribunal mare Courtroom Charmer, a half-sister to 2000 Washington champion two-year-old filly Best Judgement. The new winner was bred in partnership by Ron Crockett and Terry and Mary Lou Griffin.

  Both of the other two allowances were allowance/optional claiming races for three-year-olds.

  The Saturday race, a 6 1/2-furlong allowance/$25,000 optional claiming race for male runners, was won by Jack and Ivor Jones homebred Edge Forward, a Kentucky-bred gelding by Honour and Glory out of Stevies Lil'wonder, by Smart Strike. Ridden by Leslie Mawing and trained by Doris Harwood, the now two-race winner is from the immediate family of the Jones' Washington champion distaffers Run Away Stevie and Point of Reference.