5/28/2025
(Auburn, WA) It was a big weekend of racing with an average of more than 8 horses per race and a total weekend handle of nearly 5-million dollars at $4,989,634. Saturday handled more than 1.6m, Sunday topped 1.8m and Monday had over 1.5m. This was an average of $1,663,211 per day. The per race average for the weekend just missed the 200k mark at $191,909.
Plenty to get to in this edition of “The Track Wire” so lets get to it!
Fun and Class
The crowds were again very good with it being a Family Fun weekend with plenty of free events for the kids in the park area. Kids got to ride ponies, get their face painted, make designs with sidewalk chalk or burn energy in the bounce house. All free! Emerald Downs will host several Family Fun days all season long go to their promotions page on this link for the full schedule.
On Sunday there was a very special singer for the National Anthem, Alfredo Carrillo. Carrillo is a world class tenor from Mexico, and he delivered a powerful National Anthem for Memorial Day.
Carrillo would come back later and entertain the Holiday crowd with another performance from the Winners Circle.
Alfredo Carrillo
Thundering Hooves
Another 3 days of fast-track conditions and on Sunday the track was tight, and times were fast. There were 2 new fast times for the season marks set. There haven’t been many 6 ½ furlong races, in fact I think this was only the 2nd race at that distance as the initial top time was 1:17.25 from May 11th by Acclaimed Preacher.
That time was shattered by Great King in the 4th race with Kevin Krigger riding. Great King was hooked the entire way and ran fractions of 22.01, 44.37 and the 6-furlong time in 1:08.82 to finish the 6 ½ in 1:15.38, nearly 2 seconds faster.
Three races later Krigger was aboard Club Mesquite and again was hooked the entire 1-mile trip and held off Rich Gold by a nose. Club Mesquite went 24.12, 47.19 and 1:10.94 then finished with a strong run to hold off Gold and stopped the clock at 1:15.50 topping the earlier fastest time of the meet 1:36.26 set by I’m Noble on May 18.
From the Saddle
Leading rider Kevin Krigger blistered the competition this week. Krigger rang up another 7 wins to lead all riders. But more remarkable, he’s 3rd in total mounts and just 2 from being 5th. Krigger this weekend went 7-3-2-1 from 16 mounts for an eye-popping 44% win rate, 75% top 3 finish and 81% of the time if you did not include him on your superfecta ticket you lost.
He also set 2 new fastest times and won 2 more races by more than 5 lengths, one by 8 ¾’s with Fun Money and 5 ¾’s with Howdoyoulikemenow. He also won by a nose with Club Mesquite and the other by a head on Club Mesquite. Both those runners set the new fast times for their distances as you can see above under Thundering Hooves. Krigger now has 4 of the top 5 biggest wins by lengths for the season. He now has 16 wins with a 5-win lead over Manny Americano and winning at a 31% clip for the season.
Americano also had a big week but still chalking up a bunch of place finishes. Americano won 5 races and placed 6 with 5 of those 2nd place finishes on Monday. He also had 4 shows and 3 4th place finishes. He rode the card on all 3 days for 26 mounts and had a win percent of 19%, top 3 at 58% and top 4 finish rate of 69%.
The 5-time defending riding Champ, Alex Cruz has been trying to gain ground and remains in the battle. He rode 19 times and finished 3-4-2-3. He doubled on Monday and his 2nd win of the day on Goin’ South was his 999th career win.
Cruz had 4 more chances to get #1,000 but he placed 2nd in 3 consecutive races and finished 4th in the Monday finale. Cruz is tied for 3rd with Kevin Orozco each with 8 wins and trailing Krigger by 8.
Speaking of Orozco, he came into Monday on a 7-day winning streak with at least 1 win on each of those days. He had two big chances on Monday with Precise Timing in the feature but after getting pinched at the start the former undefeated filly could not recover.
Orozco had another chance in the finale and ended up needing another 25 yards as he closed well with Diamond Dee but a tiring Don’t Tell Hydee had enough to hold off the late charge and Orozco was winless on the day for just the 2nd time this season and 1st since opening day. Orozco is off to a great start though with 8 wins through 9 days.
Francisco Monroy, new to the Auburn oval this year continues to impress and had 3 wins last weekend finishing with a 20% win rate and has 6 wins, tied for 6th. Another newbie continues to hit the board consistently. David Haldar scored a pair of wins from his 11 starts. After a hot start, Silvio Amador has cooled off a little bit but did score his 7th win of the year this past weekend.
And a pair of Emerald royalty and former jockey champs also got their first wins of the season. All-time leading rider at EmD, Juan Gutierrez won the Sunday 9th with Confidence Builder. Isaias Enriquez won 2 races on Monday taking the 3rd race and then winning the feature race with the talented Saleen G T in impressive fashion.
The Training Table
New vs old was on full display this past weekend with 2-time defending training Champ Justin Evans and rising star Howie Gibson both scoring 4 wins. Evans was doubly impressing with 4 wins and a place from 5 starts for an 80% win rate and a 100% exacta finish. Club Mesquite may have been his most impressive win as the odds on favorite set a new fastest time in the mile while running hooked and winning by a nose.
Howie Gibson is from the long list and history of the Gibson family and cousin to longtime Emerald trainer Vince Gibson. Howie racked up 4 wins with a double on Saturday, and wins on the other 2 days. Howie is now 7-1-1 from 20 starts and is a win or nothing pace with a win percent of 35% and just a 45% top 3 finish.
We caught up with Howie and talked with him about his quick start as he is now tied for 2nd with Blaine Wright with both trailing Tim McCanna by 1.
Howie Gibson
Now on the old side, Tim McCanna and Frank Lucarelli, Luke is the all-time wins leader at Emerald Downs and McCanna #2. McCanna was 3-2-3 from 10 starts for a 30% win rate and 80% top 3 finish. He’s now 8-5-5 from 22 starters.
Lucarelli picked up 3 wins doubling on Monday including the big feature race by Saleen G T. Lucarelli also did it while on vacation in Italy begging the question from his owner’s of Saleen REV Racing if maybe Frank should stay in Italy and let his assistant Bartolo Villa handle the barn.
Lucarelli will no doubt be very happy with the results while taking the trip of a lifetime and will be back soon to pick up where Bartolo has left his barn. Lucarelli is now 5-2-4 and winnng at a 21% rate.
Lucarelli is tied for 4th with Evans and Isidro Tamayo. Tamayo was perfect winning 2 from 2 starters. Tamayo won the 2nd race on Saturday with Chaloneupformom and then took the 6th race on Monday with Brookys Gal.
Jorge Rosales got his 4th win and sits alone in 7th place. Joe Toye, Steve Bullock and Tena Birdwell all got their 2nd wins of the season.
First time winners this year included Miguel Hernandez, Victor Trujillo, Candelario Villamar and Liz Kowalski.
Special Winner!
There was one other 2nd time winner and that was Ruby Thomas. Ruby and her son Jamey came from Northern California and have their own barns. Ruby has been in the business for decades with her husband Ray Thomas. Ray had to retire in 2011 for health reasons.
ESN talked with Ruby about Ray and their marriage of 57 years. Ray Thomas passed away about 6 months ago and Ruby had taken over the barn back in 2011 when Ray had to step away.
One of their clients, Harris Farms, wanted to honor the Thomas’s and named one of their homebreds in 2022, Ruby N Ray. The 3-year-old gelding by Vronsky out of Ruby’s Gone Again by Lucky Pulpit made his debut on May 3rd and jockey David Haldar took him to the lead and at 14-1 just missed the upset win over odds-on Goin’ South by a neck.
Monday, Ruby Thomas entered Ruby N Ray for his 2nd career start in a 5 ½-furlong sprint. This time the public would not be fooled by betting down Ruby N Ray to 4-5. Haldar once again in the saddle went to the lead and led start to finish winning by a length.
Thomas says she was surprised when the owners named one of their horses in their honor and she was thrilled with his 1st race. Thomas says when he won on Monday it meant the world to her.
Thomas says when Ray could no longer train, she wasn’t about to give up on what they had built together. It may have been a simple 1st race claiming race to most but to Thomas this was a hug from her husband. This indeed was a very special win for Ruby and her family.
Ruby N Ray Winning
The Owner’s Box
9 days in and the owner’s standings are a traffic jam as we wait to see the first owner to get 3 wins. Right now, 11 owners have 2 wins with 55 getting to the Winners Circle 1 time.
Picking up their 2nd wins of the season include Cynthia and Fred Desimone, Rackozcy and Evans, Frankly Speaking, Chad and Josh, Harris Farms and Robert G. A. Jones.
Six owners are over the $20,000 mark in earnings and they include John and Janene Maryanski and Gerald and Gail Schneider, Peter Redekop, Rakoczy Racing and Justin Evans, Frankly Speaking, Chad and Josh and Harris Farms.
The Betting Window
Saturday Highlights
After the first 3 races where the favorites dominated with the 2 top favorites winning the 1st and 2nd races and the 2nd favorite winning the 3rd with the favorite finishing 2nd. The average $2 win for the first 3 races was $4.92 or 7-5 odds.
The last 5 races all paid between averaged $14.16 or 6-1 odds. Only the 6th race didn’t pay more than 5-1 at 5-2. However, in that 6th race 2 big bombs came rolling in to place 2nd and 3rd. 5-2 Wirewyre won it with 21-1 Tigersun taking 2nd and 77-1 Pakas Secret finishing 3rd. 19-1 Dekudylan was 4th.
This triggered big pays including a $16.72 and $10.40 place and show on Tigerson while Pakas Secret set a new high for the $2 show of $22.14. The 10-cent superfecta paid a whopping $2,064.24 or for the $1 $20,642.40 pay-off. The 50-cent Trifecta paid $1,004.06.
That 5-race run also ended up with the highest 50-cent Pick 5 pay of the year so far. Stringing together a 7-1 to 8-1 to 5-2 to 5-1 to a 7-1 paid $5,792.33.
Sunday Big Pays
Last year’s top $2 show bet was $14.36 and so when Pakas Secret on Saturday paid $22.14 we thought that it would likely be the high pay for the season and then it lasted all of 1 day. The high show pay was again eclipsed on Sunday when in the 5th race 60-1 El Goloso with David Haldar riding was a clear 3rd. They finished about 10-lengths behind the top two but were 7 1/2 lengths in front of the 4th place horse in a well strung out 10 horse field El Goloso paid a whopping $26.42 for the new season high.
The big pay did not trigger any other high pays in the trifecta or superfecta but did come close. A 5-1 won with a 2-1 second then El Goloso and the superfecta 4th place was 4-1. The 50-cent trifecta paid 352.62 abour 80-bucks shy of the $433.06 current high pay. The 10-cent superfecta paid $534.12, missing the top pay of $560.77 by about $25.
The second pick 4 of the day was short of the season high but paid a big $1,313.11 and the pick 5 wasn’t 5k but still rewarded bettors who solved the puzzle with a $1,633.87 pay-off. More than 20 winning tickets cashed in on connecting a 5-1 to 11-1 to 2-5 to 9-5 to 5-1. No question there were many singles in the middle race with 2-5 Club Mesquite winning. But even though 7-2 second favorite Rich Gold lost by just a nose had the bob gone the other way no doubt we would have had a much larger pay and likely a new high pay. The pool of more than $41,000 was by far the largest pick 5 pool of the season.
Low Pay
There were 4 new low pay-outs recorded and a 5th tying one on Sunday and all of them included 2-5 Club Mesquite. The new $2 win pay for the year is now $2.70, the $2 place was the guaranteed minimum $2.10 for the first $2.10 place pay of the year and the show also paid $2.10 where there have been multiple $2.10 pay-outs. The $1 exacta of Club Mesquite to Rich Gold set a new low pay of $3.03 and the 50-cent trifecta adding 3rd favorite 8-1 Benny Buckets paid $6.51.
Monday Memorial Day Pays
The public was pretty dialed in as the betting favorite won 6 of the 9 races and placed 2nd in one for 7 of 9 races in the top 2. This did not lead to epic pays but instead a lot of tickets were cashed. The 6 races that were won by the favorites averaged win odds at 3-2. The other 3 races didn’t really shoot through the roof either with only 1 race paying double digits at 9-2. For the day the 9 race $2 win average was 2-1. The Pick 5 did pay more than $500 and the 20-cent Jackpot Pick 6 had multiple winners returning $247.52 leaving a carryover to Saturday of $810.
The Claiming Report
Saturday, May 24
1st Race
K R Rules was claimed by William Jensen and Gary Olson for trainer Joe Toye for $5,000
6th Race
Caviar Cowboy gets tagged by new owners Tom Hughes and James Jackson for trainer Sam Dronen for $5,000
Pass the Crown heads to the Jennifer Nunnally barn for new owners Danna and Chase King at a cost of $5,000
8th Race
Ethan’s Girls get taken by Ed Laney for conditioner Scott Tubbs for $2,500
Hot Betty was claimed by Julio Garcia Ruiz and Elodio Madrigal and will be trained by Madrigal for $2,,500
Saturday Total: 5 claims totaling $20,000
Sunday, May 25
1st Race
Always a Diva was red tagged by the Grasshopper Stable and goes to Justin Evans for $10,000
3rd Race
Handr’dream goes to new owners Sheila Bambauer and Addison Evans and heads to the Justin Evans barn for $8,000
5th Race
Cause for Divorce was grabbed by new owner James Nunnally and trainer Alan Bozell takes over for $5,000
6th Race
Bango’s Heat has a new trainer Jorge Rosales for owners Kevin Chavarria, Ramon Chavarria-Delgado and Rosales Racing F1 for $5,000
Smilingatthemoon was claimed by Julie Hebdon and also heads to the Jorge Rosales barn for $5,000
7th Race
Club Mesquite was taken by new owners Sauvgeau Equestrian for trainer Candi Cryderman for $5,000
Rich Gold caught the eye of trainer Jaymie Pearman Cruz and she will co-own with Mark Freeman for $5,000
9th Race
Jazzy Love was taken by new owners Kevin Chavarria, Ramon Chavarria-Delgado and Rosales Racing F1 and will be trained by Jorge Rosales for $3,500
Ready to Gig was purchased by owner/trainer Robbie Baze for $3,500
Sunday Total: 9 claims totaling $50,000
Monday, May 26
4th Race
Goin’ South was claimed by Gate 2 Wire or Richard Freston for trainer Blaine Wright for $25,000
5th Race
Elwood Road was taken by new owners Austin Evans and Ty Leatherman and heads to the Justin Evans barn for $15,000
9th Race
Don’t Tell Hydee goes to owner/trainer Jennifer Nunnally for $5,000
Lucy Treasure was claimed by Austin Evans and Ty Leatherman for trainer Justin Evans at the 5k price
Purrfect Moon was red tagged by owner Rod Parkinson and goes to trainer Debbie Peery for $5,000
Monday Total: 5 claims totaling $55,000
Weekend Totals: 19 Claims totaling $125,000
