6/19/2025
(Auburn, WA) This week’s Track Wire is on the heels of a huge weekend of fun with the Indian Relays that brought out huge crowds all 3 days capped with a massive 10,000+ on Sunday for Father’s Day.
There were fast times on the track, we have updates on the standings a report from the Betting Window and the Claim Report.
Pistol Power returns
11-year-old Pistol Power returned to the track on Sunday exactly 1 year from the last time the Washington bred ran. Pistol Power ran once in 2024 after being off by almost a year prior in 2023. Clearly Pistol wasn’t 100% and some may ask why bring back an 11-year-old after a very successful career. Pistol Power was 15-10-12 from 57 lifetime starts earning more than 140k, so why bring him back?
Many won’t understand or believe this but thoroughbreds are born to run. It’s in their blood and when they can’t run it really is against their natural instincts.
The other reason I love seeing the old guy back is because there is no doubt that owner Lisa Baze and trainer Rigo Velasquez had any concern at all there is no way they would enter him in a race. I, 1-million percent trust their judgement and know there is no way they would risk Pistol Power’s health. You put Juan Gutierrez aboard and he definitely knows what to do if Pistol didn’t feel right.
That being said, the next question is can he still be competitive? In Sunday’s 3rd race, Pistol Power lined up in the 2 hole at 10-1 going 6-furlongs. He broke 6th of 7 and on the turn began to make up ground and was 4th entering the stretch.
The old guy kept running trying to catch the front runner and finished 3rd just 2-lengths behind the winner Bertacchi. Pistol Power again rewarded his longtime fans with a nice $5.48 show pay.
Pistol Power’s last win was May 20, 2023. He followed that up with a 2nd and another 2nd on June 24, 2023. That’s when Velasquez and Baze knew something wasn’t right and let him heal. They tried again last year with 1 race and he finished 7th. Again, off the track he went until last Sunday.
No he didn’t win. But he competed. He ran his hardest and was in the race. This is what he loves to do and what he was bred and born to do. It was a really special moment to get to see Pistol Power at least one more time and I hope he can run all season.
This $2,500 claimer has earned the right to leave the track for good on his terms and with Rigo and Lisa in his corner we know the right decision will be made when it’s the right time.
Pistol Power was bred by Donald Lawrence and is by War Power out of Pistol Packin’ Mama by Tribunal. He has a 26% lifetime win rate and cashed show tickets 66% of the time. Great job Pistol!
From the Saddle
12 different riders got into the winner’s circle this past week, an all-season high. Alex Cruz and Manny Americano both led the way with 4 wins each, Kevin Krigger had 3 while Carlos Montalvo, Juan Gutierrez, Julien Couton and Kiaman McGregor all doubled. David Haldar, Francisco Duran, Frank Alvarado, Kevin Orozco and Silvio Amador all singled.
Some of the highlights that stuck out was Kiaman McGregor not only got his 1st win of the season he also picked up #2. McGregor scored his 1st win on a little 23-1 shot, Betty Lute on Friday night. It also gave trainer Rosie Simkins her 1st win of the season. McGregor had 7 rides last weekend and finished 2-1-0-1 with an average 10-1 odds. His two wins were 23-1 and 6-1 and his 2nd place finish was 10-1.
The other riders with at least an average of 10-1 or more with a pair of wins were Carlos Montalvo at 16-1, Juan Gutierrez at 10-1 and Julien Couton 10-1. Both Gutierrez and Couton led the week in win percentage at 33% both going 2 wins from 6 rides.
Riders, with at least 4 mounts that led in top 3 finishes, was Isaias Enriquez. Enriquez scored 3 2nds and a show with an avrage of 8-1 odds. Enriquez’s pay-offs for the $2 place averaged $7.22 with a high of $8.29 and the show pays were $4.26 with a high of $4.72.
Francisco Duran was a close 2nd with a 1-2-0-0 record from 4 mounts sporting a 25% win rate and 75% exacta, trifecta and superfecta finish percent. His win pay was $41.60 while his average place pay out was $5.68 and show pay $4.55.
The Streaks
Both Kevin Krigger and Manny Americano kept their consecutive days with a win streak intact. Krigger is now at 13 days and Americano 12. Krigger was the closest to snapping the streak but in his last ride on Friday night he brought 1-2 odds on choice Sing a Happy Song home by just a head over A Rousing Babe and Francisco Duran. On Saturday he took care of business in the 1st race and then scored in the 7th on Sunday, both clear wins.
Americano got his Friday night win in the 4th race and doubled on Sunday winning the 1st race. But on Saturday he would take it all the way to the 8th and final race, also on the brink of snapping his streak. But Manny was aboard 1-5 favorite Toodle Loo and not only won easily but won by the widest margin of the meet so far at 11 1/4-lengths.
Manny did win 4 and Krigger won 1 race each day which ties them atop the jockey standings each with 26 wins. Krigger is leading all riders in win percent at 27% and in earnings. Alex Cruz is in 3rd 11 wins back with 15 while Kevion Orozco continues to have a great season himself with 12 wins in 4th place and the other rider in double figs wins is Silvio Amador with 11 in 5th place.
From the Barn
There were 12 riders to get wins last weekend but 14 trainers got their picture taken as well led by the 2-time defending champ Justin Evans and the veteran Tom Wenzel each with 3 victories.
There were 6 with double wins including Howie Gibson, Jorge Rosales and Blaine Wright. This further tightens the trainer standings with Evans still leading with 11 wins and a massive 48% win rate. He also leads in top 3 finishes at 83%.
There is now a 3-way tie for 2nd with Tim McCanna, Blaine Wright and Howie Gibson all with 10 wins. McCanna is winning at a 29% rate and top 3 placing 71% of the time. Wright is at a 22% win clip and 62% in the top 3 while Gibson is a little more all or nothing firing at a 31% win rate but just 44% in the top 3.
Jorge Rosales got 2 wins and moved into 5th place with 9 wins. Frank Lucarelli had 1 win to push his total to good for 6th place, Isidro Tamayo was blanked this past weekend but holds onto 7th place with 7 wins and with the 3 wins for Wenzel he jumps up into the top 10 with 6 wins in 8th place.
Daily Double
There were 3 trainers to double in a single card with Justin Evans on Saturday bookending the card with wins in the 1st with Just a Diva at 3-1 and last race with 1-5 Toodle Loo. Tom Wenzel scored a pair on Sunday with wins in the 2nd when Silvery Orb scored at 2-1 and then in the 4th with 5-1 Jullian in Paris.
David Martinez also doubled on Sunday and tried his hardest to snap off the Pick 6 with the 2 longest odds winners of the day in the 6th and 6-1 Cape Blossom and in the finale with 19-1 Chelan Summer. Martinez now has 3 wins on the year, tied for 11th.
Double Winners and First Time Winners
There were three trainers picking up their 1st wins of the season and two of them doubled over the weekend. New to Emerald Downs is Ian Jewell. Jewell scored his 1st win ever at Emerald Downs on Friday night taking the 4th race with 2-1 Moneyshot. Moneyshot also set the new fast time for 6 1/2 furlongs for the season. That got Jewell on the board. He liked it so much he repeated on Saturday again in the 4th race with 6-1 let’s Go Champ. Jewell is now 2-1-1 from 5 starts with a 40% win rate and 80% top 3 finish.
The other Friday to Saturday winner was longtime NW conditioner Rosie Simkins. Rosie stirred things up on Friday when 23-1 Betty Lute refused to give up the lead in the 5th race and stunned the field of 8 with a $49.92 $2 win pay. She wheeled right back in the 3rd on Saturday with Little Boy Lute at 6-1 also in front running style. Both Lutes were sired by Lutes Gift from Horse Haven Farms.
Pirone in the Winner’s Circle!
Mary Pirone which is a true feel-good story with her 1st win since 2022 on Friday. Over the past 4 seasons Pirone has had just 4 horses and started 29 times. Her last win was 9/11/2022 when Gold Rose won at 6-1 in a 5-horse field by a neck with Jose Zunino riding. She also won with Stephen James in 2022 on Sept 2nd.
Since 2022 coming into Friday night Pirone had 28 starts with a 2-3-4-4 record or 46% top 4 finish rate. Pirone and the Win for Fun Stable picked up Royal Halo and sent him out Friday night with Carlos Montalvo aboard. Montalvo came from dead last and passed all 6 in front of him and Royal Halo for the win by a neck.
This was the 1,007th day since her last victory and her record is now 3-3-4-4 since 2022 from 29 starts which is a 10% win rate and 48% top 3. The emotions were true for Pirone and her crew and owners in the winner’s circle. Just a great win for a great lady and her crew, congratulations Mary!
From the Owner’s Box
Through 17 days of racing still no owner has doubled on a single race day. There was one stable with 2 wins for the weekend and that was the WYN Racing Stables who own the 2 horses trainer Ian Jewell handles. There was one other owner who was part of 2 wins, Horse Haven Creek Farms owns part of Betty Lute with John Kvinsland and co-owns Little Boy Lute with Barking Dogs stable.
No owner has more than 3 wins with a total of 9 at the top of the owners’ standings. Picking up their 3rd wins this past weekend included John and Janene Maryanski and Gerald and Gail Schneider who own El Bromista, Mike Hill who owns Slew O Mischief, George Todaro with Jullian in Paris and Bob’s Vai handed Robert G. A. Jones his 3rd win
Several owners got their first wins of the year and they include HX3 Inc, Win For Fun, Todd Cady and Jeffrey Lambert, Round Table Stable, Rodney Orr, James Carlin, Victor Trujillo, Oak Crest Farm, Swag Stables, Grasshopper Stable, Jorge Maravilla and Alonso Angel Sr, Mischief Racing and Justin Evans, Paul Miller and Jeff Plotkin.
The Betting Window
Pick 6 Carryover
The 20-cent Jackpot Pick 6 is starting to get really interesting. The Pick 6 rolled over all 3 days without a single ticket winner to claim the whole pot. Each day there were multiple winning 6 of 6 tickets and all paid well. On Friday each winner got $1,578.72 on Saturday, it paid $1,184.89 and on Sunday it returned $1,309.18 for each ticket. The carryover into Friday night is now $15,054.
The interesting thing about the Sunday pick 6 is you would have thought there would have been 1 winner with all 6. The sequence started off with a 5-1 winner and was the 5th favorite of 8 runners. The 2nd leg went to the odds-on choice and likely a single for many players. In the 3rd leg there was 7 horses and two were 5-2 and then the two at 6-1. One of the 6-1 shot won it meaning you had to go deep likely in this one. The 4th leg was a 1-1 favorite but with 8 horses may have been tough to single but likely many did just that. The 6-5 favorite won the feature race but was just a slight favorite over the other 6-5 shot in the race.
Finally in the final race there was a 6-5 favorite and 8-5 2nd choice. 9-2 was the 3rd choice then a bevy of longshots of 15-1, 19-1, 21-1, 38-1 and 44-1. The 19-1, Chelan Summer paid $41.60 to win. Bettors had to stretch out in this one. So, to see one person do it would not really have surprised me much but multiple 6-win tickets does surprise me.
I would have predicted 1 winner or multiple 5 wins so congrats on the handicappers that pulled out all 6 wins on Sunday. Their skillful handicapping is now our chance to cash in. This is the exact reason why going back to the 20-cent pick 6 was a great move by Emerald.
Show is better than Place
Speaking of Chelan Summer, one of the stranger pay outs that happens every once in a while, popped up with the $41.60 win pay the $2 place returned only $6.34. That may be due to the 6-5 favorite running 2nd but that paid $2.94 which means there was more than usual place money bet on the 19-1 shot.
To further confuse the pays Chelan Summer paid more to show at $6.96 with both favorites finishing 2nd and 3rd and paying $2.24 and $2.34. My guess is the 19-1 win odds clearly is on track with nearly 5- show pay-off with the 2 favorites also hitting the board. I would have expected at least a 7-1 place return around $16 but instead got 2-1. Someone had a hunch Chelan Summer was going to run well but laid off the win bet and piled up the place money. Unfortunately, they should have spread it over the w-p-s betting and would have done a lot better.
Claim Report
Friday, June 13
3rd Race
Candy’s Wildcat heads to the Candi Cryderman barn for new owner John Parker for $8,000
6th Race
Sing a Happy Song was red tagged by trainer Joe Toye for owners Rage #2939 and Rusty George Warwick for $15,000
Claim Total: $23,000
Saturday, June 14
3rd Race
Dominate was taken by Jaqueline Smith and goes to trainer Michael Bullene for $10,000
5th Race
Red Leader was claimed by new owners Chad and Josh for trainer Howie Gibson at $25,000
8th Race
Cantputapriceonfun was claimed by Michael Radovich and will be handled by trainer Howie Gibson for $5,000
Toodle Loo was tagged for $5,000 by the Emerald Racing Club for trainer Scott Tubbs
Claim Total: $45,000
Sunday, June 15
1st Race
Union Harbor goes to Rosales Racing F1, Ramon Chavarria-Delgado & Kevin Chavarria will be trained by Jorge Rosales for $2,500
Crystalized Secret was taken by Dawn Spillman for $2,500 and also heads to trainer Jorge Rosales
3rd Race
El Berrinches was claimed by Jose Puentes and Maria Valenzuela and Puentes will train for $2,500
Precedent Luke is now in the Serjio Garcia barn and owned by Garcia and Kim Tsang for $2,500
4th Race
Jullian in Paris was taken by new owner Two Putts for the Win, Gary & Maureen Hallett & Paisano Stables for $8,000
5th Race
She’s a Bossy Girl was red tagged by the Horseplayers Racing Club and will be trained by Scott Tubbs for $3,500
7th Race
Bob’s Vai was claimed by Rosales Racing F1, Ramon Chavarria-Delgado & Kevin Chavarria will be trained by Jorge Rosales for $5,000
Claim Total: $26,500
Weekend Total: $94,500
Season Total
# of Claims: 92
Total: $683,750
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