Reed Palmer Photography

Who's Kooki?

  Going into the September 9 series Belvoir, Hall of Famer Jim Penney and Doris Harwood (who would later would end up in another tie with Penney after the fifth race) were tied with five WA Cup wins each, but after the first race - the $40,000 Muckleshoot Classic Stakes, that margin would change in Penney's favor when MOH Stables' consistent Kooky Saluki defeated 2012 Longacres Mile consolation purse winner Couldabenthewhisky by three-quarters of a length.

  Three of the four runners entering the gate in the 1 1/16-mile Classic were stakes winners in 2011, but were having a tougher go of it this year. Kooky Saluki, who had finished sixth (38 1/2 lengths behind winner Jebrica) in the Emerald Downs Derby, had steadily improved this season, with a trio of wins under his chestnut belt.

  Our Eagle Boy, winner of the 2011 Chinook Pass Stakes, broke first and led for the first three-quarters with fractions of :24.47 , :47.90 and 1:10.97. Kooky Saluki, ridden by Javier Matias stalked the frontrunner from the outside. As they entered the stretch, Friendship Stable, Frank McDonald and Stan and Craig Fredrickson's Couldabenthewhisky (Harbor the Gold-Bahati) joined the fray but could not get the lead over the tenacious Kooky Saluki, who finished three-quarters of a length over that runner with R and R Warren LLC's Jebrica (Liberty Gold-Peaceful Wings) only a nose back in third. Our Eagle Boy finished another three-quarters of a length behind in fourth. Final time was 1:41.51 for the race's 70th running.

  We always thought (Kooky Saluki) would be a useful horse, and we expected him to improve at a route of ground," said Penney. "To win a stakes like this, that's the top end of our expectations."

  Kooky Saluki is the first stakes winner for KOMO-4 news anchor Dan Lewis, who had purchased him for $6,000 at the 2009 WTBOA summer sale from the Blue Ribbon Farm consignment. Bred by Renee Larrabee of Clarkston, Kooki Saluki is the 12th stakes winner sired by the late Tribunal and the second for Just an Angel, a daughter of Demons Begone whose four offspring won a total of ten races during the 2012 Emerald meet. Unraced at two, Kooky Saluki improved his record to 5-2-1 from 13 starts and has earned $71,046.

  "It's the biggest race I've ever won and the first stakes I've ever won, and I've owned horses for about ten or 12 years, "said an elated Lewis.

Final 15

 Who holds the record for largest winning margin in an Emerald stakes race? Well before, the 2012 Chinook Pass Stakes went off that answer would have been the tie between Fast Parade and Knight Raider, who each had 13-length tallies. But in a sterling performance, Karl Kreig's homebred pride and joy Makors Finale sprinted clear from the gate to lead the field at every call and carry rider Rocco Bowen to a 15-length victory.

 It was a photo finish for second as Brotherton Racing Group One's Faster Than Duke (Katowice-Just Tickled) nosed out Helen L. Mahre's Tough Road Ahead (Cahill Road-Miatough) in the five-horse field.

  "We knew we'd be on the lead," said Bowen. "Tom (Wenzel) told me not to change a thing with his running style. At the head of the lane, I just opened my hands, didn't even touch him, and he just exploded. It was a thrilling race."

  The shortest priced winner among this year's WA Cup races at .40-to-one, Makors Finale, who also won the Emerald Derby, Coca-Cola Handicap and Auburn Stakes, finalized his three-year-old championship of the meet with his fourth win in five starts. The Tom Wenzel trainee, who improved his lifetime record to 6-4-0 from 12 starts, finished the mile race in 1:34.75. The son of Washington champion Makors Mark, who the colt strongly resembles, has earned $154,770. Wenzel, the leading stakes-winning trainer at the meet, has now notched five WA Cup winners on his belt.

Reed Palmer Photography

Making Music

  After a near miss in the WTBOA Lads Stakes, Music of My Soul, though still a maiden, was not to be denied in the $35,000 Dennis Dodge Stakes. Swag Stables' unbeaten Mike Man's Gold went into the race as the even-money favorite among the five juvenile colts and geldings, but after pressing the early pace, the son of Liberty Gold-Chedoodle gave way in the drive. Meanwhile, Music to My Soul, partnered by Leslie Mawing, was right off the pace set by early leader Cariboo Road. By the time they hit the half-mile marker Music of My Soul had his head in front and from there quickly drew off to a 3 3/4 length win in 1:09.25. Debra Larson and Shadley Reichert's Northwest Stallion Slewdledo Stakes winner Master's Bluff (Raise the Bluff-Last S A) came on for second, 1 3 /4 lengths the better of Mike Man's Gold in the show spot.

  "I just wanted to let him show his talent and be competitive," said Mawing. "When we reached the stretch, I gave him a couple of taps and he spurted off."

  A striking full brother to multiple Washington champion Noosa Beach, Music of My Soul races for Ken and Marleen Alhadeff's Elttaes Stable and is conditioned by Doris Harwood, who among her many champion trainees rates Noosa Beach among the best. The Alhadeffs had purchased the son of Harbor the Gold-Julia Rose, by Basket Weave, for $82,000 at the 2011 WEBOA September sale from the consignment of his breeders, Pam and Neal Christopherson's Bar C Racing Stables Inc.

  "He's got big shoes to fill, but he looks the part," commented Harwood, who is known for her success with juveniles. Four of Harwood's record-tying six Washington Cup wins have come via the talented brothers and two wins were with Elttaes Stable runners.

Talk the Walk

  Six sophomore fillies were led to the gate for the $35,000 John and Kitty Fletcher Stakes. Squatting Dog Stable and Tim Harder's multiple stakes-placed Royal Moses (Cahill Road-Miss Wagon Lode) was horse of choice by the fans at 60 cents on the dollar, and while the chestnut filly would add her fourth stakes placement, it would not be in the coveted top spot. That honor would go to another chestnut miss, Will This One Stables' 2011 champion Talk to My Lawyer.

  Ridden by Jennifer Whitaker and trained by Chris Stenslie, Talk to My Lawyer raced second behind River of Aces for the first half-mile. As the two reached the three-eighths, Talk to My Lawyer engaged and passed her number one rival and then steadily drew away to take the mile race by 3 3 /4 lengths in a time of 1:36.33. Riverbend Stables' Sweet Saga (Slew's Saga-Cielo Dulce) was another 1 1/4 lengths back in third.
  "I sent her out to the front a little bit to see who would go with me," said Whitaker. "Then Eliska (Kubinova) sent (River of Aces), so I decided to sit back. She drifted out, and put herself in a good spot. She ran like a monster today."

  September must be Talk to My Lawyer's favorite month, as both her stakes tallies, highlighted by her Gottstein Futurity victory last year, have come in the ninth month. It was the third win overall for the daughter of champions Lawyer Ron and Infernal McGoon (by Wekiva Springs) and upped her earnings for partners Jody Peetz, Will Brewer, Mary Lou and Terry Griffin and Marcie Healey to $89,676. Talk to My Lawyer was bred by longtime Montana horseman Dale Mahlum.

Win Patrol

  The largest field of the WA Cup card came in the $35,000 Diane Kem Stakes for juvenile fillies. Only four of the nine entries had previously won, including Roveing Patrol who had become the first two-year-old Washington-bred winner of the meet on June 15. Despite the almost three-month layoff, Roveing Patrol, ridden by Leonel Camacho-Flores, sprinted to a clear lead and was never headed, winning her second outing by an impressive 8 1/2 lengths. The final time of 1:09.57 tied the stakes record. Kama'aina Thoroughbreds' Madame Pele (Salt Lake-Striking Scholar) finished next best and 2 3/4 lengths better than Vixen Queen Sandy Corp's Northwest Stallion Son of Briartic Stakes winner Valid Vixen Queen in third.

  "I had a lot of confidence in her, "said Camacho-Flores. "She's a good filly and she likes to race."

  What an amazing year it has been for 88-year-old horseman Don Munger and his wife Wanda. By the time the 2012 Emerald meet ran its course, the Enumclaw couple would be the leading owners by wins (20) and each of those wins would come courtesy of a runner they bred and which was sired by their home stallion Nacheezmo. The victory gave Nacheezmo his first stakes winner and it also marked the first stakes win at Emerald for the Mungers.

  Roveing Patrol, who has earned $22,175, is Munger-bred through and through. She is only the second winner among seven foals of racing age from four-race winner Gutty Gerdy, a daughter of Munger stallion Toooverprime (Ire) and both her second and third dams were also homebred offspring of Munger stallions Barbaric Spirit and Kaneohe Bay.

  After the race Roveing Patrol was purchased privately by J. Paul Reddam, who plans to start undefeated filly in the $400,000 Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1) at Keeneland on October 5.

Reed Palmer Photography

See You Later

  The final stakes of the day was the $35,000 Belle Roberts Stakes, in its 45th renewal. Among the seven distaffers contesting the 1 1/16-mile race, Michael and Amy Feuerborn's five-year-old Sis's Sis (Cahill Road-Carni Gal) was the bettors' choice and set the first fractions of :23.39, :46.01 and 1:09.47. Just on her outside, Ron Crockett Inc.'s lightly raced Cielator was pressing the pace. As the mares drew into the stretch, Cielator, ridden by Leslie Mawing, started to draw away from the favorite and proved a handy 5 3/4-length winner. James Proffit and Zola Proffitt's Sweet Nellie Brown (Cape Canaveral-Brown), who had won the 2011 Belle Roberts, finished third, 7 3/4 lengths behind Sis's Sis.

  "This horse has a lot of class, a lot of talent and a big heart," said Mawing. "She's got some quirks, but she's a nice horse."

  Unraced at two and three, Cielator had broken her maiden in her first start, a maiden special weight race at Golden Gate Fields last April. The Junior Coffey trainee has now won three races with one second in five starts and earned $47,952. A daughter of Crockett-raced Delineator out of the Conquistador Cielo matron Cielo Otona, the fun-named Cielator was bred and consigned by Gerald and Gail Schneider's Riverbend Farm to the 2009 WTBOA sale where she was purchased by Crockett for $11,000.

  It marked the second time Crockett has won the former open stakes, as his Fappitass had taken the 1993 renewal by four lengths.

Balance

  After placing in both the Premio Esmeralda and WTBOA Lads stakes, Northwest Farms LLC's homebred two-year-old Finallygotabentley scored a 6 3/4-length win in a six-panel maiden special weight race on September 3. The Kentucky-bred son of Bernardini, who is trained by Tom Wenzel, is another talented runner from the family of stakes horses Taste the Passion, Shampoo, Seattle Sniper and Blueberry Smoothie. The new winner is out of 2007 Emerald Downs champion two-year-old filly Smarty Deb. Finallygotabentley's 1:08.87 time is the third fastest six furlong for a two-year-old in track history.

  Apprentice rider Eliska Kubinova surpassed Cassie Papineau's 2009 apprentice record after guiding Fist Full of Green to a gate-to-wire victory to score her 71st win on September 7. Kubinova, 23, finished her meet on September 16 with 75 wins. A native of the Czech Republic, Kubinova had ridden her first winner at Emerald Downs on September 10, 2011.

  Leslie Mawing rode his 2,000th lifetime winner aboard Grand Baylee on August 9. The 38-year-old South Africa native - who earned his first Emerald riding title with 129 wins last year -- had begun his riding career with a win aboard Magic Spoon at Les Bois Park on June 25, 1994.

  Juan Gutierrez rode his rode his 100th winner of the meet on Labor Day during a remarkable run for the 43-year-old rider which saw him record a 5-2-0 record from seven mounts.

  Other jockeys to score milestones include Jennifer Whitaker and Debbie Hoonan, who both hit the 400 win mark at Emerald in August.

  Note: A wrap-up of Emerald Downs 2012 meeting as well as results of the Gottstein Futurity and Barbara Shinpoch Stakes will appear in the next Gate-to-Wire. Also included in the next edition will be a report on the Pacific Northwest activity at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. 

  Through September 23, Gibson Thoroughbred Farm's Parker's Storm Cat continues his reign as Washington's 2012 leading sire having sired 20 winners from 45 starters who have earned $1,200,099 and which includes is a trio of stakes winners. Among them is Grade 2 stakes-placed Sloane Ranger, a six-year-old Pennsylvania-bred out of the You and I mare Toppenish, who scored his second stakes win of 2012 when he took the $75,500 Banjo Picker Sprint Stakes for statebred runners on September 9 at Parx Racing. Sloane Ranger next finished third in the $100,000 Changing Times Stakes at Penn National on September 22. He has now won three stakes and placed in five others, improved his record to 8-6-8 from 32 starts and his earnings to $519,369 for owner-breeder Vicky Showe.

  An Indian Charlie-sired yearling half-sister to Parker's Storm Cat, Oregon sire Matricule and top national sire Malibu Moon brought $650,000 at the recent Keeneland September yearling sale.

  El Dorado Farms LLC's Matty G, who also has three 2012 stakes winners, ranks in the number two spot with $716,689. The late El Dorado stallions Cahill Road ($475,261) and Tribunal ($324,564) follow next.

  Two Woodstead Farm stallions fill the next two slots. He's Tops' progeny have made $310,027 and the pensioned You and I ranks fifth with $304,185.

  A Grade 3-winning, Grade 1-placed winner of $598,963, Liberty Gold entered stud in 2002. He is one of 90 stakes winners sired by leading sire Crafty Prospector and is out of a stakes-winning, multiple stakes-producing Restless Colony, daughter of champion and leading sire Pleasant Colony.

  Among Liberty Gold's five other stakes winners is two-time 2012 juvenile stakes winner Mike Man's Gold. His other 2012 stakes horses are Jebrica, Taking Liberties and Thirteengoldhearts.

  2010 WTBOA sale filly Gotaminute, a Washington-bred daughter of Matty G out of stakes winner and 1996 Washington sale graduate Deputy Belle, by Silver Deputy, won a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race by two lengths at Portland Meadows on September 2. Bred and consigned by Griffin Place LLLC, Gotaminute races for Elite Racing and is trained by Jonathan Nance.

  In just her second start, 2011 September sale graduate Finding More scored a nearly two-length win in a $62,500 maiden claiming race run at Woodbine on September 8. The Washington-bred two-year-old is the first winner for Allaire Farms' stallion Trickey Trevor. Bred and consigned by Debbie and Rick Pabst's Blue Ribbon Farm, the new winner is out of the Green Dancer mare Greenmountain Girl. Finding More, who is named after one of race caller Trevor Denman's trademark phrases, has earned $21,333 for Kentucky horseman Dan Kenny.

  2004 summer graduate West Walker earned his fifth stakes placement after running second in the Bob Beale Memorial Tulameen Cup Stakes - a race he won in 2009 - at Sunflower on September 9. The gelded son of Skywalker out of Washington champion Mahaska, by Just the Time, was bred in Washington by John and Doris Konecny, has won nine of his 40 starts and earned $34,756.

  $203,827 Washington-bred stakes winner Complete Approval (a daughter of With Approval-Bullion, by Ack Ack, bred by George Dill), who was an RNA at the 1997 WTBOA September Yearling Sale, is the dam of two-year-old Discreet Date, a Arizona-bred daughter of Tribal Rule. Discreet Date won her first start, a five-furlong maiden special weight race at Albuquerque on September 13.

  Bobby V, a two-year-old colt by Pleasantly Perfect, won his first start, a six-furlong maiden special weight race at Delaware Park, on September 23. The new Pennsylvania-bred winner is out of 1995 WTBOA December sale yearling and $391,739 earner Jazznwithwindy, a daughter of Jazzing Around who was named 2001 Washington plater of the year and was bred by Carey and Sue Walt. 

  The Jockey Club estimates that the number of live foals reported so far is approximately 85 percent complete. The reporting of live foals of 2012 is down 4.5 percent from last year at this time when The Jockey Club had received reports for 23,558 live foals of 2011.

  "The data shows the decline in breeding activity in recent years continued in the 2011 breeding season," said Matt Iuliano, The Jockey Club's executive vice president and executive director. "The rate of decline for live foals reported for 2012 foals of 4.5 percent compares to a decline of 13.5 percent reported a year ago and 14.2 percent of two years ago, so the downward trend appears to be subsiding."

  The 2012 registered foal crop projection of 24,700 takes into account that not all live foals become registered. In addition to the 22,500 live foals of 2012 reported, The Jockey Club had also received 3,056 No Foal Reports for the 2012 foaling season.

  The number of stallions declined 9.8 percent from the 2,904 reported for 2010 at this time last year, while the number of mares bred decreased 9.8 percent from the 44,184 reported for 2010.

  The 2011 breeding statistics are available alphabetically by stallion name through the Publications and Resources link on The Jockey Club homepage at jockeyclub.com.

  Iuliano stated that the breeding statistics are not a measurement of the live foals born in each state or province, but are a count of live foals by conception area, regardless of where the foals were born. He also reiterated that the statistics should not be taken to represent the final fertility record of any single stallion or conception area.

  Kentucky annually leads all states and provinces in terms of Thoroughbred breeding activity. Kentucky-based stallions accounted for 40 percent of the mares reported bred in North America in 2011 and 48.7 percent of the live foals reported for 2012.

  The 15,918 mares reported bred to 257 Kentucky stallions in 2011 have produced 10,960 live foals, a 0.9 percent decrease on the 11,065 Kentucky-sired live foals of 2011 reported at this time last year. The number of mares reported bred to Kentucky stallions in 2011 declined 8.5 percent against the 17,401 reported for 2010 at this time last year.

A mong the top 10 conception areas for live foals of 2012, only Florida stallions produced more live foals in 2012 than in 2011 as reported at this time last year.

Washington and Oregon Stats

I n Washington in 2011, 40 stallions covered 419 mares, down 15.5 percent from the 2010 figure of 496 mares covered by 57 stallions. For the last three years Washington has held steady with 1.1 percent of the North American number of mares bred. Twenty years ago that figure was 3.8 percent.

  In Oregon in 2011, 25 stallions were bred to 129 mares, which is down 7.2 percent from 2010 when 236 mares were covered by 24 stallions. After three years at half of one percent of the North American total of mares bred, Oregon mares bred statistics rose slightly to 0.6 percent last year. 

Tyler Baze Back in the Saddle

  2000 Eclipse Award winning apprentice and Washington native Tyler Baze, who last rode August 31, 2011, at Del Mar, had his license to ride reinstated by Los Alamitos stewards on September 22, 2012. He began working horses the following day, but is not expected to ride any race mounts until October at Santa Anita. His reinstatement was made under conditions which will require daily alcohol testing and other restrictions. Baze, who has won 1,809 races, had his license revoked last fall after failing to follow stewards' orders regarding alcohol issues.

Kentucky Photo Opp

  Washington photographer John Kaiser will be traveling to Kentucky in early October (Oct. 3-9). If you have a mare located back there and would be interested in having him photograph her and/or the stallion she was bred to, please contact John at 425-501-1502 or e-mail him at j.kaiser16@gmail.com. He is also interested in contact(s) at Calumet Farm.

News Bytes  

  Three-year-old Arky Pearl recorded his fourth win in the Sandy Downs IdaBet.com Thoroughbred Derby at Sandy Downs on September 23. The Arkansas-bred son of Primary Suspect is out of Venetian Peach, a daughter of former Washington stallion Desert Wine.

  Three-year-old Migiwewin, a Washington-bred daughter of Lucky Acres' Flying With Eagles, won a six-furlong maiden special weight race with an easy16-length score at Portland Meadows on September 21. Bred by David and Anne Hamilton's Anishinabe Dream Horses out of their homebred stakes-winning Basket Weave mare Manoomin, the new winner races for David and trainer Kathy Schenk.

  2011 Washington most improved plater of the year Chuluki Sunrise - in her first start in three months - finished second in a five-panel allowance/$50,000 optional claiming race at Santa Rosa on August 12. In her next start, the six-year-old daughter of Russellthemussell-Kalowna Sunrise, by Aloha Prospector, who was bred by Russell Moore's Seawind Stables LLC, won an allowance/$40,000 optional claiming race at Fairplex on September 9 by 1 1/4 lengths and improved her record to 10-5-5 from 32 starts. She has earned $151,524. On September 21, Chuluki Sunrise's three-year-old Washington-bred half-sister by Matty G took a 5 1/2-furlong $25,000 maiden claiming race at Stockton for her owner/breeder Seawind Stables LLC. The new winner is trained by Ryan Kenney.

  2010 Washington-bred stakes winner Mack's Gold Bullet, a son of El Dorado Farms LLC's Private Gold out of Mackenzie Grey, by Maria's Mon, came home with his fourth win when the four-year-old gelding owned by Horseplayers Racing Club, Tom Lanbro and trainer Vann Belvoir, won an about four-furlong claiming race at Fairplex Park on September 20. Bred by Ron A. McCormick and his Pay Dirt Racing, Mack's Gold Bullet has earned $67,693.

  Nine-year-old Awesome Gem, the richest horse to ever race in Washington, was retired from racing in late September due to a filling in a front leg according to owner West Point Thoroughbreds. Trained throughout his career by Craig Dollase, the gelded son of Awesome Again-Piano, by Pentelicus, raced 52 times earning $2,881,370 with a record of 11-15-7. Among the Grade 1 winner's many stakes-placements were a win, second and third in three Longacres Miles (G3).

  Four-year-old Naples Bay, a daughter of Giant's Causeway out of Washington-bred stakes winner Cappucino Bay won the mile Noble Damsel Stakes on September 15 by 1 1/2 lengths at Belmont Park. Naples Bay, her half-brothers $5.7-million Grade 1 stakes winner and major sire Medaglia d'Oro and $344,285 stakes-placed Expresso Bay, as well as Cappucino Bay and her Washington champion half-brother Maharesred, were all bred by Montanans Al and Joyce Bell. It was Naples Bay's fourth win in ten starts and upped her earnings to $210,170 for the $350,000 2008 Keeneland November weanling