AUBURN, Wash. – Escalante, ridden by a red-hot Gallyn Mitchell, turned back D Devil in the stretch and notched a 1 ½-length victory Thursday in the $11,550 Stanislaw Ashbaugh Purse at Emerald Downs.

With Mitchell aboard for his third winner of the night, Escalante ran one mile in 1:38 3/5 and paid $7.20, $3.60 and $2.80. Frank Lucarelli is the trainer for Bob Wells’ Hedgewood Stable. It was the 1,100th win at Emerald Downs for the track’s all-time leading jockey, and the 2,366th of his career.

Escalante, as usual, went straight to the lead, and the veteran gelding knows where to take it from there—straight to the winner’s circle. Loose on the lead, Escalante set fractions of :24, :47 3/5, 1:12 1/5 and 1:25 1/5, straightened into the stretch with a 1-½ length lead over D Devil, and gamely held to the wire.

D Devil, a 12-1 shot with Joe Crispin riding, offered a strong bid in mid-stretch, but couldn’t get past the winner and settled for second place. D Devil paid $9.60 and $4. Plain James, ridden by Deborah Hoonan-Trujillo, was three lengths farther back in third and paid $3.40.

A 7-year-old Pennsylvania-bred by Honor Grades, Escalante has a 9-11-6 mark from 51 starts with earnings of $130,466. Eight of the wins have come at Emerald Downs, almost all on the front end.

“He’s a good two-turn horse,” Mitchell said of Escalante. “He’s always good for a couple of wins every year, he really tries.

NOTES: Ricky Frazier rode two winners and leads Mitchell 60-41 in the standings. Juan Gutierrez, back in action after missing a day, is third with 35 wins…Apprentice Cassie Papineau also doubled and is fourth with 31 wins…Tim McCanna saddled three winners and opened a 29-22 lead on Howard Belvoir in the trainers’ standings. Vann Belvoir, who had back-to-back winners with Little Blast ($9.60) and Perhaps Perhaps ($7.20), is third with 19 wins…Racing continues Friday with first post at 6 p.m.