Two-time stakes winner and winter sale graduate You Me and Ema B has been retired from racing. Rated the top older filly at the 2011 Emerald Downs meet, "Ema" retires with a 4-0-2 record from seven starts and $85,665 in earnings. Bred by Jennifer Webber and Ken Jochimsen, the You and I-Carrie Ann, by Son of Briartic, mare raced for trainer Margo Lloyd's Monogram Racing Stable. After being out of action throughout 2012, You Me and Ema B made her final appearance in an Emerald allowance race this past April where she finished third to the good stakes distaffers Exclusive Diva and E Z Kitty.

   2012 Emerald Downs claimer of the meet Rocky's Quest took his seventh win and upped his earnings to $87,218 after the five-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding won a mile allowance/$32,000 optional (N) claiming race at Emerald Downs on June 30 for John and Janene Maryanski. The WTOBA sales graduate, as were his stakes-winning half-sisters Cherokee Echo and Notoriously, is trained by Blaine Wright and was bred by Northwest Farms LLC.

   Grade 1-placed Right to Vote, a four-year-old gelding by Political Force out of Washington-bred stakes winner and 1991 WTBOA weanling What a Knight, by Tough Knight, won the $60,325 Kelly's Landing Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 29 by five lengths. The half-brother to unbeaten Grade 2 winner What a Song has earned $233,864 in 12 starts.

   Six-year-old Gil, who was bred in Washington by Kelly Rogers and Candi Tollett and went through the 2008 sale, won an about 5 1/2-furlong allowance at Sunflower on June 29. The gelded son of CahillRoad-Follow My Moon, by Moon Up T.C. has won five races.

  Twice stakes-placed at Emerald Downs at two, Kama'aina Thoroughbreds' Madame Pele took a six-furlong maiden special weight race at Pleasanton by 1 1/4 lengths on June 29. A half-sister to twice 2013 stakes-placed Stryker Phd, Madame Pele has earned $38,865. A half-sibling (Hip 14) to the daughter of Salt Lake-Striking Scholar, by Smart Strike, is offered in the August 20 WTBOA sale, along with her dam (Hip 200), by Char Clark Thoroughbreds, who also bred Madame Pele.

   2011 Washington champion three-year-old filly Castinette Dancer added $5,229 to her earnings after finishing third to Mark Dedomenico LLC and North American Thoroughbred Horse Company's Evelyn's Dancer (how has now earned $326,525 with nine wins in 16 starts) in the Monashee Handicap held at Hastings Racecourse on July 1. Castinette Dancer, a daughter of Ministers Wild Cat-Premo Copy, by Supremo, has now made $194,130 and her half-sister by Demon Warlock is Hip 112 in the 2013 Washington sale. Another half-sister, Premo Jewel, won her second race at Emerald on July 4.

   Three-year-old Ancient Monarch, a gelded son of Dehere-Peresphonie, by Conquistador Cielo, who races for Edward and Theresa DeNike and was bred by Nina and Ron Hagen, won a mile and 70 yard maiden claiming race at Pleasanton by 2 1/2 lengths on June 28. The new winner's half-brother by Raise the Bluff sells as Hip 110 at the August sale.

   Vann Belvoir-owned and -trained Say Say wonher second race in California on June 30. The three-year-old Washington-bred filly, a daughter of El Dorado Farms stallion Private Gold out of Knight Weave, by Basket Weave - who was also bred by the Hagens - is a half-sister to Washington champion Knight Raider and has a yearling half-brother by Raise a Bluff selling as Hip 78 in the August WTBOA sale.

   On June 29 three-year-old Belt, son of Cahill Road-LA Mariah, by Country Light, who races for Ron Crockett Inc., won a maiden/$30,000 optional claiming (N) race by 5 1/4 lengths at Emerald Downs. His half-brother by Nationhood is consigned as Hip 79 by breeders Tom and Becky Birklid.

  The cover photo for the 2012 December stallion register issue of the Washington Thoroughbred was awarded third place, among 18 entries, in the Editorial Still Photograph (print or online) category at the annual American Horse Publications award dinner held during the AHP "Meet at the PeAk" conference held in June in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Among the comments the Kristy Batie photograph received was "Good exposure and cropping make for a stunning portrait." Washington Thoroughbred submitted two magazine covers (August and December) for consideration.
  Nationally recognized journalists Merri Melde and Tracy Gantz, whose works have appeared in our Washington trade journal, also received awards this year. Melde, who also has gained recognition as a talented photographer, was awarded an honorable mention among the 22 entrants in the Editorial Action Photograph (print or online) category for her photo in the article "Trail and Endurance" which appeared in the July 2012 The Horse: Your Guide to Equine Health Care. Gantz, whose husband -- Spokane native Jon White -- has also contributed many noteworthy stories to Washington Thoroughbred, earned second place among 12 submissions in the Freelance Writer Equine-Related Journalism (print or online) for her story on Riva Ridge, titled "Meadow Stable's Other Horse" which appeared in the 2012 Kentucky Derby magazine.

   A total of 104 AHP members submitted a total of 758 entries which were reviewed by 27 professional judges who gave 177 awards.

 

Reed Palmer Photo

Shopping Go Brách (Shopping Forever!)

  Stopshoppingdebbie was ridden to her new stakes record mark of 1:34.74 by Rocco Bowen, who was also aboard for her first stakes win.

   "The breeding says it all," said Bowen. "These kinds of horses are so classy. She's the kind of horse that runs push button."

   Now unbeaten in three starts, Stopshoppingdebbie has earned $64,818. A Kentucky-bred homebred for Paxton, Stopshoppingdebbie, who is out of Paxton's good stakes mare and stakes producer Taste the Passion, is one of three stakes winners from the first crop of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, whose Palace Malice won the Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 8.

  The auspicious victory marked the fifth (which includes the Northwest Farms and Debbie Paxton raced Elusive Noise) Irish Day win for Jerre Paxton's Northwest Farms LLC and the third - all with Northwest Farm race fillies - for trainer Wenzel. Each number marks a continuing record in the stakes.

Reed Palmer Photo

   Glyn Kelly and Anne MacLennan's Cariboo Road finished a half-length behind the winner after rallying from some 15 lengths back, but then there's the rest of the story. Due to the fact that the gelding "threw his head towards the gate crew man at the break and appeared to be held" when the starter hit the bell, the stewards ruled that Cariboo Road "was a non-starter for wagering purposes" because he did not have a fair start from the gate. While some of the bettors might be upset with the ruling (a state regulation), Cariboo Road's owners got to keep the $10,000 second place money and the placement and money will appear in all Equibase official records. A son of Cahill Road-Courtroom Charmer, it marked the gelding's second stakes placement after running third in the 2012 Premio Esmeralda Stakes.

   Three-time Texas stakes winner Worldventurer (Wimbledon-Better Than Most), in his first start at Emerald, finished another 2 3/4 lengths back in third, while even-money race favorite Carving weakened to finish last.

   "We just passed the torch," said winning trainer Doris Harwood, in her 57th stakes victory at the Auburn track. The track's all-time leading stakes conditioner was alluding to the retirement of Music of My Soul's full brother, two-time state horse of the year Noosa Beach, the track's all-time leader with 11 stakes wins, including a victory in the 2010 Longacres Mile (G3), who officially retired in a special ceremony on July 3.

   Music of My Soul is the fourth Coca-Cola Handicap (from 1996-2011 run as the Pepsi-Cola Handicap) winner for Harwood in the race's18 runnings. Three of those victories have come with sons of Harbor the Gold, which now includes the champion full brothers Noosa Beach and Music of My Soul on its roster.

   Both Music of My Soul, with a record of 3-2-0 from seven starts and earnings of $98,832, and Cariboo Road, who has earned $59,834, are products of the 2010 WTBOA Sales program.

Reed Palmer Photo

   Frazier and Noosa Beach, who had teamed to win the 2010 Longacres Mile (G3), were once again reunited for a brief parade before the grandstand.

   A native of Hot Springs, Arkansas, Frazier had 866 of his 3,490 winning rides at the Auburn oval, where he ranks third all-time in the local standings. Frazier was also aboard Flamethrowintexan for his 2006 Mile win.

   Bred by trainer Doris Harwood and her husband Jeff, Noosa Beach won a record 11 stakes in Jeff's colors during his four-year career. The son of Harbor the Gold-Julia Rose, by Basket Weave, compiled a 13-4-1 record in 20 starts with earnings of $465,305. In addition to his two horse of the year titles, the full brother to 2012 Washington champion two-year-old Music of My Soul, was state champion two- and three-year-old, twice champion handicap horse and champion sprinter.

Gemstones

  Sharon Radke's Polish Dollar, who is three-for-four in 2013, won his 13 race at Emerald when the seven-year-old Washington-bred gelding won a 6 1/2-furlong allowance on June 23. The Bob Meeking trainee, a son of Polish Gift bred by Brad Varner, has earned $93,317.

   Burban, a five-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Speightstown, added her second stakes victory on June 22 when she won the $65.111 Roxelana Stakes at Churchill Downs by 3 1/4 lengths, Burban, who improved her record to 5-2-0 from nine starts and has earned $277,736, is the first foal out of Washington-bred Horse B With You, a stakes-winning, graded stakes-placed daughter of Slewdledo.

   On his return from Royal Ascot, where he was invited to meet Queen Elizabeth after his win with No Nay Never, trainer Wesley Ward-owned and -trained Sweetmarys Success, a two-year-old daughter of Teuflesberg, won the $91,000 J JS'dream Stakes at Calder on June 22to give the Florida-bred two wins in two starts.

Bobby V., a three-year-old son of Pleasantly Perfect, improved his record to 2-1-0 from three starts after winning a six-furlong allowance race at Penn National on June 23. He is the fourth winner from five foals out of 2001 Washington plater of the year Jazznwithwindy, a daughter of Jazzing Around who won 18 races and earned $391,739.

   London Lane, who earned his first stakes and graded win in the $300,000 Colonial Turf Stakes (G3) run at Colonial Downs on June 22 is yet another direct female descendent of Washington broodmare of the year and Reine-des-Course Beadah, as the six-year-old $322,270 earning son of Langfuhr's third dam is Grade 1 winner Afifa, a daughter of Dewan out of Beadah's Washington horse of the year daughter Hooplah.

   Five-year-old Herbie D, a son of Orchid's Devil out of the Katowice mare Chilli Chines added a win in the Lieutenant Governor's Handicap at Hastings on July 1 and has won eight of 11 outings and earned $200,428.

   Mark Dedomenico LLC, John Carver and trainer Jerry Hollemdorfer's first-time starter Elusive Plains, a four-year-old gelded son of Elusive Quality-Great Plains Lady, by Peaks and Valleys, took a six-panel maiden special weight race a Pleasanton on June 30.