Heavily favored Rossi Reserve wore down long shot Giacomina in deep stretch and notched a one–length victory Friday in the $10,900 Microsoft Purse for 3-year-old fillies at Emerald Downs.
With the meet’s leading rider Leslie Mawing aboard, Rossi Reserve ran six furlongs in 1:10.86 on a fast track and paid $3.40, $2.60 and $2.20. Tom Wenzel is the winning trainer for Northwest Farms of Yakima.
Giacomina, ridden by Javier Matias, nearly stole the race on the lead, but was collared late and settled for second place. The 19-1 long shot paid $11.40 and $6.40.
Pokomoko, the 9-2 second choice ridden by Joe Crispin, rallied belatedly inside for third and paid $3.20. She’s Only a Dream completed the order of finish.
Giacomina sprinted clear immediately, set fractions of :22.46, :45.38 and :57.78, and led by four lengths into the stretch. Rossi Reserve, however, proved too much, angling out with a furlong to run and closing strongly to nail Giacomina in the final strides.
“Once we started rolling, I knew I had a lot of horse under me,” said Mawing, whose two winners Friday upped his total to 40 through 29 days of racing.
A Kentucky-bred by Eddington-Strong Credentials, Rossi Reserve has two wins at the meet sandwiched around a fifth-place effort in the May 29 Seattle Handicap. Her overall mark is 7-3-0-1 with $28,750 in purse earnings.
The initial Pick $0.50 Pick 5— winning numbers 9-1-(3, 5)-(2, 5)-3—paid $555.30 for tickets with five winners.
NOTES: Miss Marly B ($12.80) prevailed in the opener to give owner-trainer Eric Jensen his first victory at Emerald Downs since 1998, the year the Jensen-trained Mishill won four stakes and honors as Top 3-Year-Old Filly.
New Arrival Time finished second in the opener for her fifth straight runner-up finish at the meet. The Matty G filly has finished second in maiden claiming races April 22, May 6, May 20 and June 3.
Razor-sharp Go With Gusto ($4.40) won his third straight race in Friday’s sixth under Joe Crispin. Trained by Roy Lumm for Blue Diamond Stable and Ken Cook, Go With Gusto joined Touch of Elegance and Untilifindyou as three-time winners at the meet…Crispin and Lumm also clicked in the nightcap with Pure Silver ($9.40).
It was the second double in three racing days for Lumm, who also had two wins last Saturday…The jockey/trainer combination of Javier Matias and Howard Belvoir also won two races and Belvoir took a 21-19 lead over his son, Vann Belvoir, in the trainers’ standings…Wenzel also saddled two winners.
Fifth race third-place finisher Our Marshall Cahill, ridden by Matt Hagerty, was disqualified and placed last for causing interference on the backstretch. Deborah Hoonan-Trujillo, riding Flying Jack, fell in the incident but both jockey and horse appeared to escape injury.
Live racing resumes Saturday with a 10-race card at 2:15 p.m.
