8/10/2025
(Auburn, Wa) The weekend prior to Mile week wrapped up under warm temperatures and blue skies. 9 races were on the card. Manny Americano continues to chip away at Kevin Krigger’s lead in the jockey race. Meantime, Jorge Rosales has surged to the lead in the trainer’s race.
The Numbers
There were 9 races and 69 starters for an average of 7.7 per race. This had been the first 3-day without a million dollar handle going into sunday. It would not be the 1st 3-day week without a Million+ handle as the bettors pushed $1,514,291 through the betting windows or $168,255 per race.
New Leader in the Trainer’s Race
Trainer Jorge Rosales has been busy at the claim window all season and he has had more starts than any other trainer and the wins are really starting to stack up and had 2 more wins on Sunday. It was the second day in a row Rosales doubled and finished the week with 4 wins. This pushes his total to 26 wins and 2 in front of Justin Evans’ 24, who was shut out over the weekend.
Rosales means business as he has started 141 runners this season nearly double of the 76 Evans has run. Only 2 other trainers have started more than 100, Frank Lucarelli with 110 and Blaine Wright at 103. Wright did get a win this weekend and is 3rd with 22 wins. Rosales, Evans and Wright are the only trainers with 20 or more wins. Lucarelli and Tim McCanna are at 19. McCanna got his 19th win in the 2nd race on Sunday.
Here are the current standings with a minimum of 10 wins:
1 Jorge Rosales 26
2 Justin Evans 24
3 Blaine Wright 22
4 Frank Lucarelli 19
4 Tim McCanna 19
6 Howie Gibson 17
7 Tom Wenzel 15
8 Isidro Tamyao 11
Other trainers with wins on Sunday
Plenty of veteran conditioners picked up wins on Sunday. Kay Cooper finished 1st and 2nd in the maiden filly and mare race in the 5th in dominating fashion. Fine By Me beat stablemate Empirical by 2 lengths who was 2 lengths in front of 3rd place Pearl Blue.
Vince Gibson continues to break out of his early season 2nd-itis with his 2nd win of the weekend in the 6th with Pineapple Express. This was Gibson’s 7th win of the year. Jose Puentes also got #7 with longshot Fast Chaz on Sunday, Sergio Perez earned win #6 and Jose Navarro won his 3rd race of the season in the finale.
One trainer got his 1st win at Emerald Downs in the feature race. Isauro Guillen has only 16 starts in his career as he began his training career last winter at Pleasanton. He picked up 3 wins during that run, 2 were from Sir Greyson including his 1st career win in start #4. His 3rd win at Pleasanton came from Max’s Maxine. Sir Greyson then handed Guillen his 1st Emerald win in his 5th start in Auburn on Sunday. Unfortunately for Guillen, Justin Evans saw the value in Sir Greyson and claimed him for $8,000.
Krigger still leading Jockey’s race, Americano closing the gap
Manny Americano wrapped up his best week for quite some time with 7 wins for the week and gained half of the 10 win deficit he was facing beginning the week to Kevin Krigger. Krigger ended up with 2 wins but is still in control with just 12 racing days left in the 2025 season.
Going into Longacres Mile weerkend Krigger leads Americano 59-54.
Race for 3rd place heating up
The 5 time defending jockey champ, Alex Cruz has not had the year he’s used to having at Emerald Downs and is in 3rd place with 27 wins. Silvio Amador and Kevin Orozco are both making a push for that 3rd spot. Amador and Orozco both tallied 3 wins each this weekend. Amador now has 25 wins just 2 behind Cruz and Orozco sits at 24. Cruz and Orozco will have an advantage going into the final 12 days. Amador had a 4th unofficial win this past weekend but was taken down in a DQ. Amador also got a 2 day suspension set to be served on the 22nd and 23rd so he has 10 days left to ride.
Castellanos heating up at the right time
Adrian Castellanos had a solid week with 3 wins and all at prices. Castellanos ended the week going 3-1-4-2 from 17 starts. This moves him into a tie for 8th place and he’s got some momentum built up heading for the homestretch of the season.
Longacres Mile Week
This coming weekend is a huge one for racing in the Northwest. On Saturday, the Washington State Thoroughbred Hall of Fame will welcome 4 new inductees including trainer Mark Glatt, owner Paskey Dedomenico, Breeders Ron and Nina Hagen and Longacres Mile Champion Wasserman.
When racing gets underway on Saturday two quarterhorse Stakes races will be contested in races 1 and 2. Qualifiers battled earlier this season to get into these races. Race 1 is the John Deere Emerald Downs Juvenile Challenge with 10 starters set to contest the 350 yards for the $30,000 purse.
Race 2 is the AQHA Emerald Downs Championship Challenge with a $40,000 purse. 10 runners are set to break from the starting gates going 400 yards.
Super Stakes Sunday #3 Longacres Mile Day!
The 3rd scheduled big stakes Sunday with 6 stakes races set to be contested will go on Sunday. The card will be drawn on Wednesday with a special news conference and public draw for the Mile at emerald Downs. The other 5 races will be the Emerald Distaff, Muckleshoot Derby, the Washington Oaks and the WTBOA Lads and Lassies Stakes. We’ll have a full report after the draw on Wednesday.
The big number of the day on Sunday was 1. 1 favorite won on Sunday leaving open the chance to win some good money. The largest $2 bet of the day was 23-1 Fast Chaz paying $49.28. 5 race winners paid more than $10 and the average $2 win returned $16.96 or nearly 7.5-1.
The Pick 3 paid an astounding average of $330.77 for the day. There were 4 pays in triple digits, the 1st one in the 3rd race returned $871, the 4th race paid $358, in the 8th race $235 and the final pick 3 was good for $690. The Daily Doubles were good as well with 2 of them more than $100. The races 1 thru 4 pick 4 returned $4,500 and the final pick 4 was good for more than $1,300.
The Pick 5 was actually a bit disappointing paying $3,700 considering in that sequence was 23-1 Fast Chaz and 7-1 Sir Greyson. There were some deep tickets with likely a heavy reliance on the lone favorite winning in that series, 6-5 Pinapple Express.
The Pick 6 paid 5 correct of $624 leaving $4,894 to carryover to next Friday.
Let’s get to the Sunday Races!
8th Race and Feature Race Elysian Brewing Purse
By Vince Bruun
Sir Greyson powered to the lead into the turn and drew away for a 5 ¼-length victory in Sunday’s feature Elysian Brewing Purse for 3-year-olds and up.
Ridden by Silvio Amador, Sir Greyson zipped six furlongs in 1:08.80 and paid $17.94 to win. Saddling his first Emerald Downs winner, Isauro Guillen is the trainer for owner Javier Guillen.
The younger brother of 2019 Del Mar Derby winner Nolde, Sir Greyson was winless in his first three tries at Emerald Downs but a drop in class did the trick Sunday. A 6-year-old by Quality Road-Sister Moon, Sir Greyson improved to 10 for 21 lifetime with earnings of $154,800.
Rollin Dice, the 4 to 5 favorite ridden by Manuel Americano, finished second while My Dominator finished third. Rounding out the full order of finish were Yes He Can, A View From Above, Blazing Peme, Roll Dem Bones, Stephen James and Roper.
Hey Batman and Always On Cay were scratched earlier in the day.
For Amador, it was his second straight big price on the card. In race seven, he rode Fast Chaz to a front-running $49.28 upset.
Claimed: The winner Sir Greyson and 2nd place Rollin Dice were both claimed for $8,000. Sir Greyson was taken by Austin Evans for trainer Justin Evans. Rollin Dice goes to the Jorge Rosales barn for owners Leeslye Morales and Victoria Reyes Mora.
Pay-Outs
11 Sir Greyson (Amador) $17.94 $5.86 $4.06
4 Rollin Dice (Americano) $3.10 $2.60
2 My Dominator (Couton) $5.14
$1 Ex 11-4 $25.55
$1 Tri 11-4-2 $179.94
$1 Super 11-4-2-3 $597.30
$1 DD 2-11 $274.38
50-cent Pick (3) 3-2-11 $235.34
Race Replay
The rest of the Saturday’s races.
1st Race
6 runners lined up for the 6 1/2-furlong run and the 2nd longest shot on the board 9-1 Don’t Have Another got a perfect ride from Adrian Castellanos closing from last and roaring past them all to win by a length in a final time of 1:16.75. Don’t Have Another gave trainer Jorge Rosales his 1st lead in the trainers standings by 1 over Justin Evans. Rosales trains for Kevin Chavarria.
7-1 Pedal to the Metal with Kiaman McGregor closed well to be 2nd, 1-1 favorite Nastika’s Secret and Manny Americano took 3rd by a nose with Pharoahs List and Silvio Amador finished 4th.
Pay-Outs
5 Don’t Have Another (Castellanos) $21.74 $7.36 $3.34
2 Pedal to the Metal (McGregor) $5.10 $3.02
3 Nastika’s Secret (Americano) $2.62
$1 Ex 5-2 $54.66
$1 Tri 5-2-3 $122.38
$1 Super 5-2-3-6 $406.70
Race Replay
2nd Race
Adrian Castellanos doubled for the 2nd time this week and scored his 5th win on 10-1 Princess Payton for owner/trainer Sergio Perez. Castellanos sat in 3rd early ther duo made their move at the quarter pole and drew off to win by nearly 2 lengths in a time of 1:10.60 for 6-furlongs.
7-2 Hey Barmaid led through0ut with Alex Cruz aboard but couldn’t hold off the winner and did well to hold 2nd. 3-1 Stay N Lov under Kevin Orozco had an even effort taking 3rd but showed some courage fending off race favorite Thirsty Nic and Manny Americano for 3rd by a nose.
Pay-Outs
3 Princess Payton (Castellanos) $22.80 $7.02 $3.64
1 Hey Barmaid (Cruz) $5.56 $3.38
4 Stay N Lov (Orozco) $2.98
$1 Ex 3-1 $51.91
$1 Tri 3-1-4 $214.46
$1 Super 3-1-4-7 $651.30
$1 DD
Race Replay
3rd Race
10 2-year-olds went 5-furlongs in the 3rd and 1st time starter Bob’s Honey with Kevin Krigger broke well was never far behind took control at the top of the stretch and pulled away for a comfortable win in a time of 58.19. Favorite Lotsa Kitty and Julien Couton were a clear 2nd followed by 21-1 More Trouble with Kevin Krigger while Sparkley Barkley under Manny Americano finished 4th.
Bob’s Honey races for Robert G. A. Jones and trained by Tim McCanna.
Pay-Outs
7 Bob’s Honey (Krigger) $9.38 $4.94 $3.96
2 Lotsa Kitty (Couton) $3.54 $2.70
1 More Trouble (Castellanos) $6.30
$1 Ex 7-2 $16.56
$1 Tri 7-2-1 $111.68
$1 Super 7-2-1-6 $554.90
$1 DD 3-7 $70.01
50-cent Pick (3) 5-3-7 $871.67
Race Replay
4th Race
The pick 4 was going to pay well no matter what with the two favorites returning $2,200 so when 5-1 Caly Bali blew the field away with a strong front running ride from Manny Americano, the winning ticket holders cashed in for $4,500+. Caly Bali owned by Emily Majkrzak and Tanner Victory was trained by Jorge Rosales.
Deux Meres and Carlos Montalvo got up for 2nd by a neck as they all trailed the winner by more than 5 lengths. 9-2 Dynamic Plan ran 3rd with Lonchpin’s Lockett and Kiaman McGregor taking 4th.
Claimed: Dynamic Plan was claimed for $2,500 by Robbie Baze and Nina Segger and will be trained by Baze.
Pay-Outs
1 Caly Bali (Americano) $12.00 $5.32 $3.64
7 Deux Meres (Montalvo) $4.20 $2.86
3 Dynamic Plan (Alvarado) $3.78
$1 Ex 1-7 $27.18
$1 Tri 1-7-3 $245.02
$1 Super 1-7-3-4 $1,044.00
$1 DD 7-1 $46.72
50-cent Pick (3) 3-7-1 $358.72
50-cent Pick (4) 5-3-7-1 $4,504.94
Race Replay
5th Race
7 went 6-furlongs midway through the card and it came down to a match race between a pair of Kay Cooper trained and Where We At owned runners and a pair olf Kevin’s in the saddle. Betting favorite Empirical and Kevin Krigger led early while 2nd choice Fine By Me and Kevin Orozco sat in 3rd. Turnng for home the pair were haed and head but Fine By Me had the momentum and slowly eased away for a 2 length win in a time of 1:09.92. Empirical was well clear in 2nd.
Pearl Blue and Manny Americano was next in 3rd with Free to Be under Carlos Montalvo completing the top 4 finish. The Kay Cooper exacta didn’t fool too many returning $6.42.
Pay-Outs
1 Fine By Me (Orozco) $6.46 $2.90 $2.10
5 Empirical (Krigger) $2.98 $2.30
6 Pearl Blue (Americano) $2.72
$1 Ex 1-5 $6.42
$1 Tri 1-5-6 $18.68
$1 Super 1-5-6-3 $57.40
$1 DD 1-1 $21.24
50-cent Pick (3) 7-1-1 $61.29
Race Replay
6th Race
6-5 betting choice Pineapple Cruise was sent hard to front and quickly pulled away by 4 lengths with sizizling fractions of 21.59 and 44.40. Jockey Manny Americano knew how full the gas tank was cuz the P-Cruise just kept opening up to win by nearly 7 lengths in a final 6-furlong clocking of 1:10.54. 5-2 Big Catty under Kevin Krigger closed from last to get 2nd, Shadowed Thoughts and Kevin Orozco just missed 2nd by a neck and held 3rd by a nose over Grazed N Confused and Silvio Amador.
Pineapple Cruise races for White Diamond Syndicate, Gary Crandall and Tom Breyer and trained by Vince Gibson.
Claimed: Shadowed Thoughts was red tagged for $2,500 by Hon Cheung Kum and Kim Tsang and goes to trainer Serjio Garcia.
Pay-Outs
3 Pineapple Cruise (Americano) $4.44 $3.08 $2.46
6 Big Catty (Krigger) $3.48 $2.62
5 Shadowed Thoughts (Orozco) $3.28
$1 Ex 3-6 $6.93
$1 Tri 3-6-5 $26.58
$1 Super 3-6-5-7 $66.20
$1 DD 1-3 $7.74
50-cent Pick (3) 1-1-3 $25.51
Race Replay
7th Race
Uncontested front speed is always dangerous at the Auburn oval no matter what the odds. Silvio Amador broke from the 2 hole in the 1-mile 7th race on 23-1 Fast Chaz and was on the lead to begin with edging to a 1 1/2 length lead at the half in 45.23 and a 2 length advantage after 6-furlongs going 1:10.27. Amador checked Chaz’s gas tank and didn’t need a pit stop as he measured it perfectly holding off 8-5 favorite Artermus Gordon and Manny Americano by a neck in a final time of 1:38.43. 5-1 Club Mesquite with Alex Cruz and 5-1 Dangerous Game and Kevin Orozco finished the top 4 order.
Fast Chaz is owned by Hon Cheung Kum and Luciano Medina and trained by Jose Puentes.
Claimed: A pair of runners were tagged for $5,000. Club Mesquite goes to Lusk Racing and Alexis Silva-Martinez and will be trained by Silva-Martinez. Dangerous Game was picked up by owner/trainer Candelario Villamar.
Pay-Outs
2 Fast Chaz (Amador) $49.28 $16.30 $7.06
6 Artemus Gordon (Americano) $5.30 $3.06
5 Club Mesquite (Cruz) $3.20
$1 Ex 2-6 $93.13
$1 Tri 2-6-5 $446.60
$1 Super 2-6-5-4 $645.60
$1 DD 3-2 $56.45
50-cent Pick (3) 1-3-2 $72.29
Race Replay
9th Race
In the get-away race of the week 3-1 Company Girl got away from the other 7 in the 6-furlong dash winning by 5 lengths in front running style handing Kevin Orozco his 2nd win of the day. Company Girl races for Big Bill and Company and Constance Woerman and trained by Jose Navarro. Company Girl is a Washington bred by Barkley out of Our Silver Lining by Packy and was bred by Bill Nicklos and Constance Woerman.
7-1 West Side Okie and Manny Americano ran 2nd, Sapello Sweetee and Adrian Castellanos took 3rd, La’ Momina with David Haldar ran 4th with favorite Arya’s Ride and Kevin Krigger completing the Super High 5.
Claimed: Arya’s Ride was claimed by Les Hunsucker, Troy Thomas and Jamey Thomas and will be trained by Jamey Thomas.
Pay-Outs
5 Company Girl (Orozco) $8.62 $4.90 $3.86
1 West Side Okie (Americano) $7.80 $5.56
8 Sapello Sweetee (Casgtellanos) $5.68
$1 Ex 5-1 $23.79
$1 Tri 5-1-8 $121.44
$1 Super 5-1-8-2 $1,984.30
50-cent Super High Five 5-1-8-2-3 no winner carryover $2,673
$1 DD 11-5 $50.62
50-cent Pick (3) 2-11-5 $690.60
50-cent Pick (4) 3/4-2-11-5 $1,375.88
50-cent Pick (5) 1-3/4-2-11-5 $3,700.71
20-cent Pick (6) 1-1-3/4-2-11-5 (5 correct) $624.50 Carryover $4,894
Race Replay
