For the Reporter
Calculated Chaos, winning for the second time in a week, drew away for a 3¼-length victory Sunday in the $18,800 feature race for 3-year-olds and up at Emerald Downs.
Ridden by Juan Gutierrez at 124 pounds, Calculated Chaos ran 5½ furlongs in 1:03.11 and paid $9.60, $3.60 and $2.20. Jeff Metz is the winning trainer for owners Hilton Stables and Gary McNeil, who made a quick return on investment, having claimed Calculated Chaos for $12,500 last week.
A 5-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by Notional, Calculated Chaos is the meet’s first two-time winner, and has an overall mark of 3-2-3 in 17 starts with earnings of $48,475.
Breaking from the inside post-position, Calculated Chaos led through fractions of :22.41, :45.45 and :56.98, kicked three lengths clear into the lane, and held off Mr. Top Kat and Perfect Night for the victory.
Mr. Top Kat, the 1-to-2 betting favorite ridden by Leonel Camacho-Flores, rallied from last and edged Perfect Night by a head for second. Mr. Top Kat paid $2.10 and $2.10. Perfect Night, with Jennifer Whitaker riding, paid $2.20 to show.
Songandabullet and St Nicholas Becky completed the order of finish.
Pick 5 a hot topic
Buoyed by a two-day carryover, the $0.50 Pick 5 handled an additional $50,056 Sunday at Emerald Downs, which was easily a meet-high. The winning sequence – 6-5-2-1-3 – paid $1,046.95 for tickets that tabbed all five winners.
Winning horses in the Pick 5 sequence:
Race 5, Niftys Tee Time, $5.80
Race 6, Epic Electorate, $8.20
Race 7, Dynamo Dixie, $17.80
Race 8, Calculated Chaos, $9.60
Race 9, Bwana Be Gone, $6
Notes
Julien Couton rode two more winners Sunday – giving him six for the week – and leads Juan Gutierrez 10-8 atop the jockeys’ standings. . . . Jeff Metz leads the trainers with eight wins and is 5-0-2 in seven starts with Gutierrez. . . . 91-year-old owner/trainer Don Munger notched his first win of 2015 as Pakokohe and jockey Natasha Coddington raced to a $47.20 upset in race four for maiden 3-year-olds and up. Congrats to Nick Rousso of Daily Racing Form who tabbed the 22-to-1 winner in his Sunday handicap. . . . Trainer Blaine Wright is 4-1-1 in his last six starts, including wins Sunday by Three Point Luke ($4.60) in race two and Dynamo Dixie ($17.80) in race seven. . .Tim McCanna broke into the win column when Bwana Be Gone ($6) prevailed in Sunday’s finale. The track’s all-time leader with 896 wins, McCanna had been 0-for-11 before the 6-year-old clicked under Diego Sanchez in the nightcap. . . . Live racing resumes Friday at 6:45 p.m. . . . Stakes action begins Sunday, May 10, with the $50,000 Hastings Handicap for fillies and mares at six furlongs.
