Shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday, the 5-year-old mare
Easily Spotted, 5-year-old mare, became the first horse to set foot on the racetrack in at 8 a.m. Tuesday for the 2011 season. The striking chestnut, trained by Sharon Ross and ridden by Tricia Nix, was one of 230 horses on the grounds as trainers began to gear-up their charges for Emerald Downs’ 82-day meeting that begins Friday, April 15.
Defending Longacres Mile champion Noosa Beach also made an early appearance with A.L. Gutierrez up, and trainer Doris Harwood said the 2010 Horse of the Meeting is ready to go.
“He’s delighted to be back,” Harwood said of the 5-year-old Harbor the Gold gelding. “He jumped out of the horse trailer and is ready to go.”
Winner of a single-season record five stakes last year, Noosa Beach is 10-for-16 lifetime with $366,770 in earnings. The Washington-bred is the obvious early favorite for the 2011 Longacres Mile, but Harwood said the plan is to take it one race at a time. She’ll leave the speculation to her husband, Jeff, who also owns Noosa Beach.
Trainer Howard Belvoir, meanwhile, had two Longacres Mile winners on the track Tuesday. Assessment, the 2009 winner, and Wasserman, the 2008 champion, both took light spins around the oval under jockey Jennifer Whitaker.
Assessment (32-9-4-4-$437,022) recovered nicely from ankle surgery and turned in a good 2010 campaign—winning the Governor’s Handicap in a thriller over Noosa Beach and finishing third to Noosa Beach and Jersey Town in The Mile. The now 7-year-old gelding has been off since finishing fifth in the Grade III B. C. Premiers last October.
Wasserman (57-10-12-7-$538,789) is the track’s all-time leading earner with $514,722, and the 9-year-old looks to rebound from a winless 2010 that included a second to Noosa Beach in the Muckleshoot Tribal Classic.
Ten-time training champion Tim McCanna also was on hand for opening day. The track’s all-time leader with 770 wins, McCanna has 21 horses on the grounds and expects to be up to 40 by the end of the week. McCanna also plans to keep a string at Golden Gate Fields, where he has won with 7-of-26 starters at the current meet.
Charles Essex, Chris Stenslie, Terry Gillihan, Tom Wenzel, Bonnie Jenne, Richard Wright were other familiar faces on hand for the first day of training.
Bret Anderson, director of racing, said he hopes to have over 1,000 horses stabled at Emerald Downs by opening day.
Training hours are 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. daily.
Duane Hamamura
A standing-room only crowd crammed into the White River Buddhist Temple, Saturday, Feb. 4 in remembrance of industry icon Duane Hamamura, who died of heart failure last month. Joe Withee gave the eulogy of his longtime friend and colleague, and pointed out the generosity of a humble man.
Hamamura’s sister, Joyce, said that the entire archive of Hamamura’s thoroughbred videos and photographs would be donated to Emerald Downs, where Duane had been a fixture since the track’s opening in 1996.
Another tribute to Hamamura will be held this spring at the WTBOA Sales Pavilion, and Emerald Downs will name a feature race in his honor.
Odds and Ends
Vicky Baze began the week needing eight wins to become only the fourth female rider with 2,000 career wins. She currently ranks 12th with 29 wins at Turf Paradise…2008 Federal Way Handicap winner Startjumpin Marnie is on quite a roll for co-owner George Todaro of Seattle. The 6-year-old mare scored by 1-½ lengths in Sunday’s $40,000 Super Bowl Party Handicap on the turf at Santa Anita. By the same sire (Jump Start) as 2009 Longacres Mile winner Assessment, Startjumpin Marnie has won three straight in Southern California and is 8-for-16 lifetime…Chickasaw Park broke a nine-race skid with a one-length victory in a $4,000 claiming race Feb. 2 at Portland Meadows. The 9-year-old Washington-bred by Delineator has 13 career wins (12 at EmD) and $196,271 in earnings…Trainers Junior Coffey and Blaine Wright combined for a $122.40 exacta with second-time starters Carnival Candyman ($44.40) and Skyribbon in Sunday’s fourth at Golden Gate…Sunday’s late double at Golden Gate also had some local intrigue as Bud Klokstad won the seventh with Windy Sails ($10.20)—his fifth win at the meet with a Washington-bred by Private Gold—and 2010 Emerald Downs Top Claimer Classielyte finished third in the nightcap…Racing for the first time since a sixth-place finish in the 2010 Longacres Mile, Gallant Son rallied to finish second in a $68,000 classified allowance on the hillside turf course Feb. 4 at Santa Anita. It was a fine comeback for the 5-year-old horse, winner of last year’s Grade III Inglewood Handicap, and trainer Frank Lucarelli said Gallant Son would be pointed to the $300,000 Kilroe Mile (GI) on March 5 at Santa Anita…Lucarelli said Posse Power (11-3-4-3-$127,190) is nearing a return to action at Golden Gate. One of the top sophomores last year at Emerald Downs, the 4-year-old son of Posse has been off since finishing third in last year’s Emerald Derby…Another Lucarelli stakes winner, 4-year-old Feeling Fancy (9-4-0-0-$66,273) figures to be a contender in the local filly and mare stakes division this year…Hamamura’s final race as an owner was a second-place by Iseeisayyoupay at 45-to-1 odds in the Feb. 1 opener at Turf Paradise. Owned in partnership with Kari Toye, Iseeisayyoupay paid $37.20 to place…Atta Boy Roy (23-10-6-0-$479,696) returned to the worktab Saturday at Turf Paradise, drilling three furlongs in a bullet :35 1/5 for trainer Valorie Lund. It was the 6-year-old ridgling’s first work since a 10th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last November…Friday’s third at Golden Gate for fillies and mares features John & Janene Maryanski’s Gadget Queen (36-10-11-4-$394,710) and Sue & Tim Spooner’s Crocodile Tuff (16-2-5-3-$80,549). Gadget Queen, eligible to be claimed for $50,000, is 4-2-0 in eight starts on the Tapeta surface while Crocodile Tuff is stakes-placed twice at EmD including a runner-up to Clair Annette in last year’s King County Handicap.
