7/2/2025

(Auburn, WA) The 3rd of July is tomorrow and with that comes a tradition that began in 1998. Each year the Fireworks show gets bigger but the show at Emerald Downs is different from many of the big Fireworks shows. We’ll revisit the beginning of this tradition along with a few notes from last week and a preview of a heck of race card for July 3rd.

For more information on all the 3rd of July information click on this link.

Fireworks on the Track 1st!

Right now there are 10 races that begin at 5pm. A total of 86 starters before any scratches averaging 8.6 runners per race. There is 1 race of 7, 5 with 8 starters and then 9, 10 and 12 horses fields. This is the largest number of entries for one in I don’t know how long. Even with anticipated scratches the betting opportunities are going to be huge.

The feature race with the 9th race with a field of 10 older fillies and mares going 6-furlongs at an optional claiming tag of $40,000. The morning line favorite is 5-2 Fun Money with Kevin Krigger. Look for Fun Money to head to the lead as she set the fastest time of the season for 5 1/2-furlongs on May 25th going 1:01.84 winning by 8 3/4’s lengths.

The early 2nd choice is 7-2 Creme de Menthe with Isaias Enriquez riding and 9-2 Kristin Lee under Francisco Duran is the 3rd choice by odds-maker Vince Bruun.

Special 3rd Race

The 3rd race on July 3rd will be named in honor of Bonnie and Wally Jenne. The iconic husband and wife of NW racing will be honored after Bonnie passed away after a battle with cancer last Thursday. Her husband Wally passed in 2020 after complications due to covid. Eli Sports is currently working on a special story on Bonnie and Wally Jenne and will be out by early next week.

New Rider debuts on Thursday

Jockey agent Leo Rodriguez confirmed to Eli Sports on Sunday that he will be adding a 3rd rider to his stable of jockey’s when Adrian Castellanos takes his first rides at Emerald Downs on Thursday. Castellanos had been riding at Canterbury Downs in Minnesota when he decided to come west and join Rodriguez.

Rodriguez began his North America riding career in 2023 at Santa Anita. After struggling he shifted north to Golden Gate where he won his 1st race in the U-S aboard Que Sera Sir Ralph on June 10, 2023. He would mostly ride in Northern California through 2024. After Northern Cal shut down, he went back to Santa Anita and went back and forth to Turf Paradise and the Great Race Place.

After the Turf Paradise meet he gave Mountaineer a shot in West Virginia but quickly departed for Canterbury after only a few rides. He now comes back to the West Coast and has been named to ride 5 on July 3rd.

Rodriguez also represents Silvio Amador who is currently $th in the jockey standings but leads in the Stakes standings both in wins with 2 and money earned in Stakes with more than $57,000. Rodriguez also has Kevion Orozco’s book. Orozco is off to one of his best starts at Emerald Downs since his apprentice season, currently in 5th place in the standings with 13 wins.

Saddle Up!

3 riders stuck out huge last weekend all winning 3 races. Juan Gutierrez won 3 of 6 as did Pablo Castillo going 3 for 6 both winnng at 50%. Guti went 3-0-2 from his 6 rides for a top 3 finish of 83% while Castillo was 3-0-1 for a 67% trifecta finish. Castillo hadn’t won a race since opening day before winning one each day last weekend and comes into Thursday on a 3 day win streak. Gutierrez won on Saturday and was the only one to double on Sunday.

The 3rd rider, Julien Couton didn’t quite hit the percents of Guti and Castillo but was 3-1-0 from 8 mounts for a 38% win clip and 50% exacta finish.

Breakin’ Loose!

Veteran trainer Rigoberto Velasquez was on an 0-17 skid to begin the 2025 season when he popped for 2 wins on Saturday and backed it up with another double victory day on Sunday. Velasquez went from a 0% win rate to 17% with a 4-3-5 record from 23 starts after the weekend.

Jose Puentes ran up 3 wins last weekend after being stuck on 2 for quite some time. Puentes is now 10th in the trainer standings with a 5-8-5 record. There were several double winners over the weekend including Justin Evans, Tim McCanna and Howie Gibson.

Sarah Jennngs scored her 1st career win as a trainer and owner on Friday and veteran conditioner Sam Dronen recorded his 1sxt win of 2025 last weekend as well.

The Betting Window

There were big pays on Sunday with a new high pay-out for the pick 4. Over the first 4 races winners with odds of 8-1 to 11-1 to 10-1 and finishing with a 7-5 favorite returned $5,212.74 for the 50-cent bet.

The 20-cent Jackpot Pick 6 paid more than 23k on June 21st but last Sunday also made a single ticket holder walk away with a boatload of cash. The 1 ticket holder strung together 6 winners begining with a 10-1 shot to a 7-5 in the 4th, then hit a 14-1 shot followed by 3 betting favorites of 3-2, 7-5 and 2-1 for a huge $16,333.94 pay day.

First 3 race Winners and Fast Times!

Two horses tallied their 3rd wins of the year on Saturday. The 11-year-old phenom Surprsinglyperfect did it first in the 3rd race while setting a new fastest time for the mile at 1:34.55 which would be short lived and broken on Sunday. What a dude set the new standard for 2025 going 1 mile when he clocked in the feature race at 1:33.85.

Chuckanut Bay would then join perfect as the only 3 race winners of 2025 so far. Chuckanut Bay blitzed the field in the feature setting a blazing new fastest time of the year for 6 1/2-furlongs of 1:14.05.

The 28th annual 3rd of July Fireworks Show

Details

The 3rd of July on Thursday is one of the most anticipated events of the Emerald Downs season. The 1st race post time is 5pm and the Fireworks show is set to begin at 10:10pm. Gates will open at 1pm and at 2 o’clock the track will be showing Moana on the massive big screen above the tote board.

Many folks like to arrive early to get their spots for the day as it will be a packed house. For all the details on what you can bring in, parking, events and times click on this link.

The History of July 3rd

The idea of doing a Fireworks show in 1998 came about during an off-season marketing retreat. We knew there would be several hurdles to clear if there was a chance to pull it off. 

The first issue is still the first issue and most important issue how to do this with all the horses on the backside. We worked with the horsemen to see if there was a way that they saw this could be done. We came up with several strategies to assist the trainers and any costs were picked up by the track.

We began the tradition of feeding the entire backside folks who had to work during the show to keep their horses safe. 

Why July 3rd?

The discussion over whether or not to do this on the 4th or the 3rd began because if you remember going back to the Longacres days we always ran on the 4th of July and there was the annual Independence Day Handicap. 

The reasoning for doing the Fireworks on the 3rd was for several reasons. One, there are already many large community fireworks shows and we would be competing with many of those existing shows that were well established.

One of the other reasons was because of the tradition of racing on the 4th. The idea was with a 1pm post time folks can come to the races and be home for family events. To add fireworks on the 4th would interfere with the long standing tradition of racing on the 4th of July.

Concern the Event would pay-off

To fire off a large fireworks show it isn’t a cheap endeavor. The question was if we don’t draw enough interest then this big investment would not pay off as we hoped it would. During a manager’s meeting when asked how many people we should expect for a July 3rd which was on a Friday night in 1998, and the figure 15,000 was stated, giggling and stunned looks and dismay was the answer. 

Adding Insurance to attracting a Big Crowd

In the 1990’s radio was still a huge part of the media landscape, there were no podcasts or playlists, hell there was no spotify or Apple music there wasn’t even Facebook. One of the many stations we worked with was a Country Station called Young Country on 96.5fm which is now I believe called Jack radio.

Young Country didn’t have as big an audience of the powerhouse KMPS or the other country station KRPM at the time but they had a very interactive radio audience. When Young Country hosted love events and did live remote broadcasts their listeners showed up in droves.

The radio station had some pull with country music and were able to get an up and coming country artist to perform on the stage in the Emerald Downs park. Their first target was this up and coming group of 3 ladies called the Dixie Chicks. This is when the Chicks were just starting out and having their first taste of success. The problem was we could not find a way to get them to their Colorado Springs concert event on the 4th of July in time so we missed out on the Dixie Chicks playing on our little park stage.

Young Country said they had another young lady who they think is going to be pretty good and we ended up with Jo Dee Messina. The date was booked and contracted by the end of January in 1998. About a month later, Messina’s “Bye Bye” went to #1 on the country charts in late winter of 1998. She then followed that up with another #1 smash, “I’m Alright” both prior to our July 3rd date. She would add a 3rd #1, “Stand Beside Me” all off her 2nd album titled, “I’m Alright”.

Needlesstosay, the 1st Fireworks show was huge with at least 15,000 in attendance and the entire park was shoulder to shoulder for Jo Dee Messina. There were and I am sure continued details to keep everyone on the same page when you put on huge events such as this.

It is exciting to see this event continue and has replaced the old traditions of racing around the 4th of July and Thursday night just might be the biggest one of them all.

If you’re coming tomorrow please remember there are a lot of moving parts to big events, no one is ever trying to make things difficult so please bring your patience and relax to enjoy one of the biggest and best events the hard working crew at Emerald Downs brings to our fans.

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