For the Reporter
Last Rose Stable’s Noosito heads a strong field of nine 3-year-olds and up entered in Saturday’s $21,000 allowance feature at Emerald Downs.
At six furlongs, the race is a prep for the $50,000 Governor’s Stakes next month and features Emerald Downs’ stakes winners Betrbegone, Prime Engine, Thetrailerguy and Noosito, while Kaabraaj, Spit and Shine, Trick or Retreat, Grinder Sparksaglo and Its Allabout Jerry also are entered.
Noosito is likely to be favored Saturday. A 5-year-old Washington-bred by Harbor the Gold-Julia Rose, Noosito was winless in five starts last year, but that is a misleading statistic. Twice he nearly upended Stryker Phd, missing by a neck in the Budweiser Handicap and three-quarters of a length in the Muckleshoot Tribal Classic, and Noosito also ran a solid fourth of 11 in the $200,000 Longacres Mile (Grade 3).
Noosito needn’t worry about Stryker Phd either Saturday or in the Governor’s Stakes, as the two-time defending Mile champ, as usual, won’t join the division until the one-mile Budweiser Stakes in June.
“Truly, we want to have a couple of good sprints before facing Stryker Phd,” trainer Doris Harwood said of Noosito. “I’m very pleased with how he’s coming up to this race, he’s trained very well.
“He’s a bigger horse this year, he’s grown since last season,” Harwood added. “We’re hoping for good things.”
Harwood, No. 1 all-time with 66 stakes wins at Emerald Downs, has overseen nine workouts this spring for Noosito, with all but one designated “breezing.”
Isaias Enriquez, who rode Noosito in his 2-year-old season of 2013, has the mount Saturday.
Stryker Phd has resumed galloping and is scheduled for a workout this weekend at Emerald Downs, weather permitting, according to trainer Sharon Ross.
Absolutely Cool, WTBOA Sprinter of the Year in 2013, 2014 and 2015, has shipped in from Turf Paradise and is on target for the May 22 Governor’s Stakes. A 9-year-old gelding, Absolutely Cool earned a 93 Beyer in a 1¼-length victory in 1:14.73 for 6 ½ furlongs in a $23,000 allowance on April 2.
Prime Engine, Thetrailerguy, Betrbegone and Its Allabout Jerry all make their first start vs. older horses.
Prime Engine has a chance to become the first horse to win the track’s biggest race for 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds and older horses. The Northern Afleet colt won the 2014 Gottstein Futurity and the 2015 Emerald Downs Derby, and needs a victory in the Longacres Mile to complete the trifecta.
Kaabraaj is the lone horse in the field with a 2016 race under his belt, a second to O B Harbor on Sunday, April 10, and earned a career-high 86 Beyer.
The field for Saturday’s $21,000 allowance feature for 3-year-olds and up: Betrbegone, Javier Matias, 120 pounds; Spit and Shine, Jose Zunino, 120; Trick Or Retreat, Erick Lopez, 120; Grinder Sparksaglo, Leslie Mawing, 120; Prime Engine, Joe Steiner, 120; Thetrailerguy, Rocco Bowen, 120; Noosito, Isaias Enriquez, 120; Its Allabout Jerry, Leonel Camacho-Flores, 120.
T-shirt giveaway
The first Fab Friday night — and traditional T-shirt giveaway — is Friday.
The first 5,000 paid admissions receive brand new “20 Years of Getting Lucky” t-shirts which are good for free admission all following Fridays in 2016.
Friday post time is 6:30 p.m., 15 minutes earlier than previous seasons.
Finish lines
Sunday’s nine-race card features a $21,000 allowance for older fillies and mares at 5½ furlongs: Ethan’s Baby, Guinevere’s Finale, Perhaps a Pie, Citizen Kitty, Estellara and Seeking the Light. … So far jockey Rocco Bowen is making good on his prediction to win 140 races this season at Emerald Downs. With nine wins in the first four days, Bowen is clicking at over two wins a day. … In addition to saddling Thetrailerguy in the feature race, trainer Monique Snowden celebrates her 37th birthday Saturday. … Forbidden Kee, winner of the first race on opening day, bids to become a two-time winner in Sunday’s sixth race for $4,000 fillies and mares. … Pecos Breeze, another winner opening weekend, also seeks a second victory at the meet in Saturday’s seventh race for $7,500 claiming 3-year-olds. … Fooled Again, winner of the 2015 Auburn Handicap, returns to Emerald Downs in Saturday’s sixth race for $15,000 claimers at 6½ furlongs. … In fact, with Betrbegone, Prime Engine and Thetrailerguy entered in the day’s $21,000 allowance feature, all four of last year’s stakes winners in the 3-year-old colt and gelding division are in action Saturday. … Friday’s feature is a $20,000 claimer for fillies and mares and includes a pair of multiple winners from 2015 trained by Candi Tollett, Quibble and Dance With Effie. … Washington Racing Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze will be sidelined three or four weeks after breaking a collarbone last week at Golden Gate Fields. Baze, 57, has 12,812 career wins. … Sun Downs in Kennewick begins its 29th annual season Saturday at 2 p.m. The six-day meet runs through May 8. Connie Doll, Kassie Guglielmino, Jake Samuels and Robert Burney are some of the familiar faces in the jockey colony.
