9/17/2025

As we continue to wrap up the 2025 Emerald Downs season, it’s time to re-cap what the coaches did to get their athletes ready and how the owners did that support this great sport. The trainer’s race was in doubt all the way until the last two weeks. The owner’s most wins chase ended in a dead-heat. Let’s get the final numbers.

Standings are at the bottom of this post.

Trainers

Blaine Wright got off to a fast start and led for a good portion of the year. 2-time defending champ Justin Evans was back but didn’t have quite the number of runners in his barn as he did the last 2 years. Even if he did, there was an infusion of horses from Northern Cal that brought more competition to the fight this year.

Frank Lucarelli, Tom Wenzel and Jorge Rosales are others always near the top. But there was a return of the 2nd leading all-time trainer at Emerald Downs as Tim McCanna had more runners than he has had up here in quite some time. Isidro Tamaya was the top new trainer and was in the top 10 from start to finish. Howard Gibson had a big year making a drastic jump from last year.

Rigoberto “Jesse” Velasquez took a while to break the ice but once he did he finished strong, Charlie Essex had a good meet including a stakes win, Scott Tubbs and Joe Toye all had 10 or more wins.

Wenzel Dominates Stakes

It’s hard to be disappointed when you win 6 of the 20 stakes races and twice you had triple stake win days. That’s exactly what Tom Wenzel did with his smaller but powerful stable led by his main owner Dr George Todaro. Those 6 wins also pulled Wenzel into a tie with Doris Harwood for the most stakes wins in Emerald Downs history both with 67. Blaine Wright is just behind with 63 and Frank Lucarelli not far back with 59.

However, like all Head Coaches, Wenzel still wasn’t completely satisfied with the season. He also train’s Slew’s Tiz Whiz and is part of the ownership group, Slew’s Racing Crew. Slew won 2 Stakes races taking the Governor’s for a 4th straight time and winning the Classic on closing day. But his effort in the Longacres Mile where he looked to be primed to make his patented stretch run he just flattened out to finish off the board.

“Coach” Wenzel wasn’t sure why that happened and he came out of the race ok, clearly as he came back on closing day with another brilliant rail run to get up and win by a neck.

Nonetheless, Wenzel still hadn’t really let the overall season sink in just yet. Wenzel finished the season with a 19-11-17 record from 89 starts. Winning at 21% and placing in the top three 53% of the time.

30% of his overall starts were in stakes races with 27 and he finished 6-7-4 winning at 225 and a top 3 finish of 63%. He led all trainers in stakes earnings by nearly 100k with $279,875. He finished 7th in the trainer standings but was one of three trainers with more than 400k in overall earnings finishing the year with $474,664.

Wenzel won the training achievement award for winning 6 stakes races with 2 triple win days and winning his 4th Gottstein in the past 5 years.

Wenzel’s season was quite remarkable and he will no doubt be the one to beat in the big races again in 2026.

ESN talked with Tom Wenzel on Closing day

Rosales catches Fire

In the end, Jorge Rosales caught fire and pulled away winning his 2nd Training title at Emerald Downs. Rosales did it with several owners and played the claiming game to a tee. Rosales and his team found horses on a regular basis and were not afraid to run them where they could win and he did that better than anyone in 2025.

Rosales ended the season with 41 wins, 14 in front of a logjam for 2nd place. Overall he was 41-21-32 winning at a 22% clip and had a top 3 finish rate of 50%. Rosales started 187 runners which was 34 more than the next trainer to start horses, Frank Lucarelli.

Rosales’s focus was on claimers as he only started 3 in stakes races and had a 3rd place finish. He finished 5th in trainer earnings banking $363,785. Rosales first began training in 2018 after years being a jockey. Rosales rode for 9 years compiling a 185-209-252 from 2,208 mounts and earnings of $1.5-million. As a trainer he is in his 8th season and has started 1,613 with a career mark of 374-266-259 winning at a 23% rate and finishing in the top 3 at rate of 56%. He has $3,364,410 in earnings. Plus he can eat! So training has been a great place for Rosales to find himself.

Rosales’s best horse he’s had was Take Charge Deputy. Take Charge Deputy finished 3rd in the Mt Rainier Stakes in  2020 and started in the Longacres Mile but finished off the board. Deputy then ran 3rd in the Bud Stakes in 2021. He won several stakes races at Portland Meadows including the Portland Mile Handicap with Jose Zunino in 2019. Deputy finished his career with a 14-8-7 record from 57 starts earning nearly 190k.

This past season Rosales claimed Fifty Cinco and then ran him in the Longacres Mile but finished off the board. Rosales’s most consistent runner was a nice little claimer Diamond Dee who was named our claimer of the meet for $8,000 or less. Diamond Dee ran 9 times, 2 at $8,000 and finshed off the board in both races. She started 7 races at 5k or less and never missed and was 3-2-2 over those 7 races.

Diamond Dee epitomizes the Rosales team. Hard-working grinders that represents 90% of this industry. Congratulations to Rosales and his whole team.

ESN talks with Trainer Champion Jorge Rosales

Triple Dead-heat for 3rd

The trainer’s race really was in doubt for most of the season and it showed with 2 mainstays and the 2-time defending champ all tying for 2nd with 27 wins. The defending Champ Justin Evans had his usual success but just didn’t have as many horses this season as in the past. Evans and his owners including the defending top owner Rakoczy Racing along with his in-house owners, Austin and Addison, his kids, were busy again at the claim box but Evans sent out some 2-year-olds that showed good promise, started Bearings who took 3rd in the Longacres Mile and just missed in the closing day Muckleshoot Tribal classic. Evans won at another incredible rate of 27% in the winner’s circle and 64% top 3.

And he has been the conditioner of one of the stories of the year, 11-year-old Surprsinglyperfect who was one of two horses to win 4 times this season and was named the top claimer of the meet. The old guy finished his season on closing day with another solid performance taking 3rd.

Former Champion trainer Blaine Wright started off hot and led for much of the season. Wright’s best day was the first Super Stakes Sunday winning 3 of the stakes races. He won the Auburn with Si That Tiger, the Hastings with Attracted and the Budweiser with Clovisconnection. He would get one more stakes win in the Irish Day with Si That Tiger. Si That Tiger wrapped up his season with a 2nd place finish in the Muckleshoot Derby.

Wright and his crew including assistant trainer Corey Delp were always in the mix sending out 132 starters and finishing with a 27-26-24 record winning at 20% and top 3 placing at a 58% rate. Wright did win the more important standings and that is earnings as he racked up $563,511. He was one of only two trainers over the 500k mark.

The 3rd to finish 2nd was Frank Lucarelli. Lucarelli with so many ownership groups from low claimers to winning 4 stakes races. Saleen G T took the Seattle Stakes on June 22nd the only stakes race Wright didn’t win that day. Lucarelli then swept the Lads and Lassies on Championship Sunday. Cantcatchthiscat took the Lads for his owner Margaret Root and Bewitching Joy stunned in the Lassies with a huge win for Cinco Vino Stables. Bewitching Joy would hand Lucarelli his 4th stakes win of the season on closing day with another big effort in the Juvenile filly stakes.

Lucarelli closed the season strong picking up wins on a regular basis from August through closing day. He ran the started the second most for the season with 153 starters and finished 27-30-18 winning at an 18% clip and finished in the top 3 49% of the time. He was only the 2nd trainer to eclipse 500k in earnings with $509,231.

5th place tie

Tim McCanna and Howie Gibson tied for 5th with 20 wins. For the veteran McCanna this was a return to the NW after racing with a large presence in Northern California. McCanna was knocking on the door of staying in the trainers race but still finished with a solid year winning 20 from 94 starters and was 20-19-16 and earning nearly a quarter of a million dollars. McCanna had just 3 stakes starters and had his best finish on closing day with Bobs Honey taking 2nd in the Juvenile Filly stakes.

Gibson in 2024 finished in 28th place with just 4 wins from 43 starts and earned 72k. What a difference a year makes as Gibson found the winner’s circle on a regular basis early in the season. He would not double or triple his wins, how about 5x the wins with 20. Gibson finished 20-9-15 and tripled his earnings finishing with $227,265. He started 7 in stakes races and ended up with a 3rd place finish from Race a Roany in the Irish Day stakes.

Other Notable Seasons

Newcomer Isidro Tamayo fresh up from No Cal had a solid year with 14 wins while Scott Tubbs, Charlie Essex and Rigoberto Velasquez all tied for 9th with 11 wins and Joe Toye was the final trainer with double digit wins with 120.

Both Charlie Essex and Scott Tubbs picked up a stakes win. Essex won the Distaff on Longacres Mile day with 17-1 Stay Sassy who would finish the season taking 3rd in the Tribal Distaff on closing day.

Tubbs never got his picture taken in a Stakes race with Ima Margarita Girl but was awarded post race the victory in the Kent Stakes. Marg’ would finish 2nd in the Oaks on Mile day and just missed by a head on closing day in the Tribal Distaff.

Rigoberto “Jesse” Velasquez got off to a slow start and wouldn’t win a race until June 28th when he doubled. The dam had finally broken and he won another 2 races on June 29. Velasquez had a couple of double winners with Miss Dynamic who ran 5 times this year and finished with 2 wins, 2 places and a 4th. Miss Dynamic continues to be a star for Velasquez and owner breeder Antonio Mendoza.

The other horse is 11-year-old Pistol Power who won twice. He would have gotten a lot more attention but was overshadowed by the other 11-year-old on the grounds who had 4 wins in Surprsinglyperfect. But combined the two longtime veterans had 6 wins, a pretty incredible performance.

Joe Toye wasn’t happy with his win total this season getting 10 wins but his runners were hitting the board on a consistent basis. Toye a former training Champion just fell short in many races which led to a bit of frustration. Going along with his 10 wins was 18 places and 22 shows. With 104 starts his win rate was 10% but top 3 jumped to nearly 50%.

One of my favorite horses at the track is Toye’s Jin Tong and he certainly is talented but one of those who just can’t seem to get to the wire first. This year Jin Tong ran 4 times and was 0-2-1-1 and for his career he is 4-11-6-4 from 35 lifetime starts. That’s a win percent of 11% which jumps to 60% top 3 and 71% superfecta finish. Jin Tong was Toye’s season overall. But no doubt the Toye gang will be back and ready to turn those 2nd’s and 3rd’s into pictures in 2026.

Some of the other newcomers who made their presence known were Ian Jewell, Ruby Thomas and Simon Hobson. Jewell training exclusively for his ownership group WYN Racing Stables. Jewell started just 19 and won 6 races leading all trainers in win percent with at least 6 wins at 32%. Jewell’s season was complete opposite of Joe Toye, his was win or nothing with a 6-1-1 record for the season and his top 3 finish rate 42%.

Jewell did start 2 in the Longacres Mile and while one finished last, Moneyshot at 46-1 just missed 3rd place by a head taking 4th. Jewell had won 3 starts in a row at one point, getting his 1st win with Moneyshot on June 13, then won on June 14 with Let’s Go Champ and got his 3rd in a row on June 21st with Our Bloke. Let’s Go Champ and Our Bloke both were double winners.

Ruby Thomas shipped in from Northern Cal and she ended the year with a 6-4-5 mark from 27 starts. A nice 22% win rate and 56% top 3 finish. But the best story was on May 26 when her horse Ruby N Ray won. Ruby N Ray was named after her and Ruby’s late husband Ray. It was a special moment for Thomas and her son Jamey who is also a trainer to share that win. Pretty cool moment for the Thomas’s.

Simon Hobson and his wife Amy Hobson teamed up for a nice little year picking up 4 wins from 16 starts. Cheering for Layla was their stalwart wining twice, a show and and 4th place finish.

Veteran NW Trainers 

Some of the well known NW trainers maybe didn’t have their best year but with increased competition these conditioners continued to grind away the only way they know how.

Let’s start with Kay Cooper and her husband and assistant trainer Bryson Cooper. They had a case of 2nd-itis with 5 wins and 11 2nds along with a pair of shows from 49 starts for a 10% win rate and earning more than 130k. Last year their Precise Timing was Horse of the Meet. This year Precise timing didn’t get on track but the Cooper’s unveiled 3 maiden special weight winners including Kir Royale, Fine By Me and Mimi Kai. The Cooper’s will also be looking to turn those 2nd’s into win photo’s next season.

Vince Gibson went 8-12-7 from 80 starts also hitting a 10% win rate. Gibson’s success was well spread out as he did not have a single double winner on the season. Gibson is another who will be working to turn those 2nd place finishes into wins in 2026.

And Candi Cryderman also ran into the same issue with a lot more 2nds than wins going 6-11-9 from 55 starts for an 11% win rate but jumping to 47% top 3. Cryderman trains nearly 100% for owner John Parker who also split his barn keeping a large number back east. Cryderman also did not double any winners. The Parker/Cryderman team just had one runner in a stakes race, lonesome Boy ran a solid 4th in the Budweiser. Cryderman picked up more than 90k in earnings for the season.

Owners tied for 1st

Winning races for owners was a lot more difficult in 2025 than 2024. A couple of reasons, one more horses with more owners this year and more different combinations of owners. If an owner or ownership group picked up just one new addition or dropped one those ownership groups are different. Wins are measured by exact ownership so a person may be a sole owner on one horse and 50% owner with another. In that case they each are separate owners and even though that person may have 2 wins personally, it will be counted under each individual owner.

That being said, last year the Rakoczy Racing and Justin Evans group were the leading owners with 17 wins. John Parker and Miguel H racing each had 12 wins and Alex and Vincent Ortega had 9 wins. All of them would have won this year.

Dual Champs

Topping the owner standings was Dr George Todaro and the group of Ramon Chavarria-Delgado, Kevin Chavarria and Rosales Racing F1 each with 8 wins.

Todaro also led in total earnings with $276,430, stakes wins with 4 and stakes earnings with $201,725. Todaro’s powerful stable under trainer Tom Wenzel and barn manager Bob Cappelletti sent out multiple winners starting with the Horse of the meeting Aloha Breeze who won 2 stakes races. Other stakes winners included the fast Falling Leaves and Robin Racer who won the Gottstein.

Todaro had an impressive 17 top 4 finishes in stakes races alone. Todaro also got wins this year from Maximum Sparkle, Lloyds Logic and Jullien in Paris. 2025 overall has been Todaro’s best year in racing going back to 2000. This is the 3rd time he has eclipsed the 400k mark, hitting 442k in 2007, 430k last year and so far this year he’s at $495,335 setting himself up to top half a million dollars for the first time with pretty much starts down south this Fall.

Pretty magical year for Todaro’s team.

For the Chavarria-Delgado, Chavarria, Rosales crew they did it the blue collar way claiming runners and placing them where they could win not being discouraged if they lost them to another owner. This trio was one of the reason’s Rosales was able to pull away and win the Trainer’s title. 

This group wouldn’t get their 1sxt win until June 22nd with Bob’s Vai

. They would pick up some pretty good runners along the way including Grazed and Confused who won twice along with Right Hand Ryder. Their final win to give them the lead was on August 31 with Pharoahs List. They didn’t run any over the final weekend but started both Pharoah and Always on Cay on the 7th and 8th at Grants Pass. Had they started them one more time at Emerald they may have come away with the owners championship for themselves.

Todaro tied them on the final day with 2 wins. Todaro finished with an 8-8-7 record from 46 starts winning at a 17% rate and placing in the top 3 50% of the time. The Chavarria-Delgado, Chavarria, Rosales team were 8-2-6 from 27 starts with a winning percent of 30% and 59% top 3. They also finished 15th in earnings, just shy of 70k.

Log jam for 3rd

5 owners would tie for 2nd all with 7 wins. This really showed how the wins were really spread out this season. John and Janene along with Gerald and Gail Schneider finished with a 7-3-6 record from 18 starts winning 39% and a blazing 89% top 3. This group also won 2 stakes with their star Si That Tiger. They were 2nd in earnings overall and only 1 of 2 owners with more than 100k in earnings at $170,650. They were also second in stakes earnings with 87k.

Last year’s Champs Rakoczy racing and Justin Evans sent almost half as many runners to the starting gates this season with 20 starts compared to 39 last year. They were still in the running to the end and had their superstar 11-year-old Surprsinglyperfect won for a 5th time on closing day in 2025 they would have tied and defended their title. This was still quite a year for this group finishing with a 7-4-6 record winning at 35% and a top 3 rate of 85%.

Miguel H Racing is Miguel Hernandez who is also his own trainer. In his 2nd season in Auburn, Miguel was always someone you had to take into consideration. He went 7-5-5 as an owner from 24 starts. That’s a 29% win rate and 71% in the trifecta. Hernandez earned $83,197 in 2025.

Sergio Perez is a grinder starting 63 and finishing with a 7-6-4 record. Perez was not afraid to enter his horses and ran in quantities. Perez finished with $77,678 in the bank.

Eliana Thompson was another important owner for Jorge Rosales helping him win the trainer’s title and just one short of tying for the owner’s championship. She is the owner of Diamond Dee who won 3 times and was our $8,000 or less claimer of the meet. She was 7-8-4 from 36 starts in 2025 and if she could have gotten one of those 2nd’s into the win column she would have shared top ownership honors.

Story of the Year

Finally, we think our story of the year is one of sadness, love, hope and passion. In June longtime trainer and everyone’s friend Bonnie Jenne passed away after a battle with cancer. She was 76. Bonnie was the Friendship Stable with her daughter Kandie and owned horses in partnership with the Q Stable of Doug and Nancy McPhee and Craig Frederickson.

After her passing, the owners agreed on a split of the horses and they went their own ways. The McPhee’s decided that Doug would return to training and took over his own small stable. 

Before moving forward, I should say that Bonnie’s longtime husband Wally passed a few years prior and one of the things they loved more than anything was a big Fireworks show. 

It’s hard to believe that what then happened was a mere coincidence. July 3rd everyone knows of the big Fireworks show that Emerald Downs fires off. Prior to the Fireworks they ran 10 races and in the 10th race Guard Your Spot was set to run and was 9-1 with Silvio Amador aboard. The owners were now the Q Stable and his 1st official start since 1996 trainer Doug McPhee would be standing in the winner’s circle.

Guard Your Spot, won by 5 3/4 lengths. Bonnie and Wally were married for 53 years and Wally passed away 5 years ago. It was the last race prior to the Fireworks show and in the 3rd race was the special tribute to the Jenne’s with the Wally and Bonnie Memorial purse. 

When the gates flung open, Amador went straight to the lead and never looked back with a dominating win for Bonnie. McPhee was overcome with emotion still trying to understand what had just happened. Literally his 1st start in nearly 30 years, he said this just doesn’t happen by itself.

McPhee would then keep going and ended up with a 3-3-2 record and banked more than $77,000. That’s because McPhee also won a stakes race on Longacres Mile day with 8-1 He’s Not Talking in the Muckleshoot Derby. Just a year prior, Bonnie won the Derby in 2024 with Miss Dynamic. A race she coveted and had always wanted to win. So it seems more than a coincidence that McPhee would win the Derby with He’s Not Talking.

McPhee and the Q stable would be one of 14 owners to win a Stakes in 2025 and one of 9 trainers to get a stakes win. Everyone can believe how they choose but that’s a lot of coincidences to have lined up perfectly or maybe that was Bonnie and Wally letting us know they’re still with us. 

Link to our story on Bonnie Jenne “The Beaming Light that is Bonnie Jenne”

Standings

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