9/21/2025

(Auburn, WA) This is our final story on the 2025 live season. But there may be a few more stories coming focused on specific topics that we’ll try to keep you  all apprised of. These are all the final numbers that ESN collected and some may be a touch off here or there but overall the numbers are very close to what we are reporting.

There are some stats that we like to keep that aren’t generally included in other stat keeping entities such as both high and low pays of each bet for the season, top races won by the most lengths and the closest finishes of the year, how many races were started with the number of starters, track condition. We break down the standings between standings by wins and standings by earnings and break out the Stakes stats.

This was an outstanding year where the race days were down 5 from last year but yet the handles was up 35.6 percent with more than 66-million wagered. On track wagering jumped 18% and on track attendance topped 4,000 per day a 10% increase.

Number of starting horses from the gates was up nearly 1 going from 6.45 in 2024 to 7.35 in 2025. The increased horse population helped make that handle jump with many races cards that were attractive to bettors all over the world.

There are still many challenges to address and work will continue to try and increase purses and number of race days but it’s a slow process and not an easy problem to fix overnight as the entire industry seems to be looking for ways to cut instead of expand. 

A Few recommendations for 2026

This is the part I get to tell those in charge what to do and they listen to me because I have ALL the answers! HAHA, everyone who has put on events where the public attends is bombarded by “good ideas” all the time. However, track president Phil Ziegler has an open door policy and is always open to listening. Many times new ideas have been thought of, tried and failed so don’t take anything personal if you have an idea you think is good ay have already proved to be disastrous.

Here are my suggestions for 2026 by category:

Betting

I’d like to see an end to the rolling Daily Double and a slight shift in the Pick 3. I don’t believe it would take one cent away from the handle by ending it. I like lot’s of betting options but there can be too many which waters down some of the other pools. This year Emerald chose the pick 3 to off promote with the least take-out of any bet. First, I am not sure how much offering a “low” take out is attractive to bettors. Those who are betting thousands likely but for small time bettors I don’t know that it actually attracts new bettors to a wager they’ve never bet before.

The Daily Double is still very well know as it has entered the language on it’s on and is used to reference many things so even non-wagering people know or get the concept thanks to horse racing and Jeopardy.

So I am not suggesting to end the Daily Double but rather feature it. I’d offer the Daily Double in it’s traditional 1st and 2nd races and offer it on the final 2 races of the day. Then I’d move the first pick 3 of the day to start in the 2nd race. Why? because now neither bet will be offered on the same races and those that want to bet the daily doubles will get more of a pool and the same for the pick 3’s. 

Further, I’d make the daily double bets at least a minimum of $2 and I’d frankly like to see it go to $3. I also don’t think I am opposed to making the pic k 3 a $1 minimum bet. In fact when the pick 3’s were first introduced the minimum wager was $3. Isolate those two bets from running over the top of each other and increase the minimum and I think you would see these two bets get pretty popular again.

In my opinion, with the the 50-cent pick 4 and pick 5 and 20-cent pick 6 (Which I love the 20-cent Jackpot pick 6!) along with 50-cent trifecta and dime superfecta bets there are enough small stakes bets for folks that don’t want to bet more than a dollar. Make the DD and the Pick 3 relevant again and reduce the watering down of these pools.

Betting Information

This is a big one and I have a crazy idea. The track and us regular bettors need help. We need help in educating new people in how to bet and how to operate the SAM self serve betting terminals. Please Emerald Downs invest in some signage and place them all over the betting lines that the SAM machines DO NOT TAKE CREDIT CARDS. Cash or voucher only. So many times we’re trying to get a bet in and the lines are filled with people trying to run their credit cards in the SAM machines because of the frequent player rewards card slot.

This should be an easy fix, direct them to the ATM to get cash and they can go to a teller for a voucher or feed it into the cash accepting SAM’s.

Betting Education

The next step is a little bit crazier. On big days there are so many bettors who are confused, they don’t know how to make a bet and the teller lines are a mile long. This idea is based on Country Clubs that get their club members to volunteer to work as course marshal’s in exchange for free golf or other non-paid rewards.

Let’s state the E-B-E club, the Emerald Betting Education Club. Anyone who knows and understands how to operate the SAM machines can join the club. As a member you get a free annual admission pass, Free Racing Forms on Stakes racing days and a voucher for a burger or hot dog, fries and a drink on days you work. 

In exchange you volunteer to work a minimum of 10 to 15 hours over the course of the whole season and at least 2 hours each day you choose to work. We get these folks in brightly colored vests that say “Ask Me How to Bet!” The club members never work past the 4th race, by then those who need help will have gotten it. Depending on how many people would be willing to volunteer is how many you would need to work especially really big days. 

Let the experienced bettors mentor those trying to figure this game. As good as the handle was there were some days it could’ve been bigger with many people still in line when the gates opened. The single biggest basic in all of horse racing is for people to know how to bet and we need to create some kind of avenue to help them learn at a faster rate. This isn’t only for the track to figure in my view, it is a responsibility of all of us who love this sport. WE need to teach newbies and tell them why WE love this game.

Promotions

With all the promotional days at the track i think are great. I know some don’t like it and want just racing but look at other tracks that don’t do what Emerald does, their curling up into a ball and trying to survive.

The only thing I’d like to see is can we create some additional ways to create a rooting interest in the promotions? In other words, let’s take the Corgi’s. Can we have an entry box for each number of final entrants in the final heat. Let’s say 10 finalists.

Have 10 boxes from 1-10 and hand out entry blanks at the admission gates. Then all the fans can put their entry into their favorite number 1-10. You won’t know the finalists, it’s a straight guess but if you enter you will have a finalist in the Championship heat. This then creates everyone who picked #7 a rooting interest in the outcome of the Corgi Championship heat.

Then after the Corgi race you take the box of the winning number and draw enough winners to cover all the entries in the day’s feature race. So let’s say there were 7 entries in the feature race, you draw 7 winners. Each contestant then gets a $50 win bet on one of the horses in the race. No one can double up. You have a blind draw of the 7 winners to see who gets which number. That guarantees someone is going to cash a $50 win ticket. A bet most people still aren’t making at the track.

Or just a blind draw for prizes out of the box. Whatever, the idea is to create that rooting interest you have by betting $2 show on horse for everything that is being raced.

How about choosing won of the teams each day to win one of the Indian relay races? Each team would have an additional rooting interest from fans selecting their team on those days. I’d just like to see everything done come back to tie it in to what racing is from a fan’s perspective and that is having a rooting interest.

Final Thoughts

Here are my final thoughts for 2025 and looking ahead to 2026. There has never been a time that the NW horse racing family needs to come together and find our path forward. The negativity that comes flying out of some folks mouths really does nothing to help figure this pathway to a secure future. 

Oddly, securing the future of horse racing in Washington State has never been more probable than right now. This season proved it. With the collapse of other tracks refusing to change with the times and to do things they’ve never had to do before it is difficult to survive.  

Another issue is also very clear and that is Churchill, NYRA and Stronach couldn’t possibly care less about any racing west of the Mississippi. We are on our own. There are 5 tracks on the west coast and clearly one is on life support that is Los Alamitos. The family is very clear they have no interest in continuing to run the racetrack when Dr Ed Allred passes on. 

Turf Paradise just approved new leadership for the next 2 years in hopes they can either figure out how to build a new track or more likely purchase Turf Paradise and make the necessary improvements to return it to a showplace.

I think there’s a really good chance that over the next 5-10 years the West Coast could be down to Emerald, Turf Paradise and Del Mar. I don’t trust Stronach to ever do the right thing.

So what do we do? We need to understand that help from the State is going to be limited at best. The Muckleshoot Tribe has not only invested millions of dollars into Emerald Downs they remain steadfast in keeping it open. How do I know? Because if they didn’t want to we’d already be shut down. But they have stated the business must be able to pay it’s own bills.

Many folks know they have put in more than a Million dollars a year to boost purses for quite a few years now but what many don’t know is the cost they took on when they first purchased the property and then when they bought out Northwest Racing Associates led by Ron Crockett. There was still quite a debt owed on the construction of the track from 1996 and the tribe paid it off when they took over. So they have indeed invested a tremendous amount into Emerald Downs.

There are some proposals that have been floating around to help the industry and some of those ideas are still out there. Unfortunately when it comes to getting help from the State timing is everything. I happen to believe there is a pathway, we just haven’t found it yet. I think and feel after this season though, we have opened the eyes of some we need on our side and we have to keep grinding this out.

I look at this way, in the year 2055, it will be the 59th year of racing at Emerald Downs which would equal the life span of Longacres. Right now is the most critical time in all of racing history in Washington state. I’d love for those coming generations of horsemen and women and fans to be able to look back and know without this ragtag group of people at this moment in time chose to fight and win instead of doing the easy thing and quit. 

We’re in it together folks, we are all we have. We must stay together and keep moving forward and most of all believe in our sport and each other.

Ok, the rest of the 5,000 words I just wrote are in the form of numbers and stats and is for those who love numbers and want to dive into all the different numbers that this great sport provides. Please enjoy my fellow stat geeks! And I’ll see you all next year!

The Numbers

Handle

The Betting Window
Highs and Lows Pay-outs

Fields and Track Condition

Biggest wins by lengths

Closest Finishes

Fastest Times

Horse Wins

Horses Wins
4-Creative Om
4-Suprsinglyperfect
3-Aloha Breeze**
3-Artemus Gordon
3-Bewitching Joy**
3-Blazing Peme
3-Cap It Daddy
3-Chuckanut Bay
3-Diamond Dee
3-Don’t Have Another
3-Eyelight
3-Fast Chaz
3-Fifty Cinco
3-Grazed n’ Confused
3-Grease Missle
3-It’s Saul Right
3-Libby’s Gambit
3-Lula Bella
3-Mashhad Flats
3-Move Over (GB)
3-Poker Alice
3-Si That Tiger**
3-Slew’s Tiz Whiz**
3-Thirsty Nic
3-What a Dude
2-Adios Jojo
2-After My Own Heart
2-Always on Cay
2-Attracted*
2-Autism Inspiration
2-Beer Begone
2-Benny Buckets
2-Bob’s Vai
2-Brookys Gal
2-Candy’s Wildcat
2-Cantcatchthiscat*
2-Chatty Leroybrown*
2-Cheering for Layla
2-Chokechery Shari
2-Clubhouse Drama
2-Club Mesquite
2-Coastal Girl
2-Company’s Dream
2-Confidence Builder
2-Don’t Hit Me Bash
2-Dynamic Dee Dee
2-Executive Chef
2-Falling Leaves*
2-First Endeavor
2-Five Twenty Sunset
2-Fun Money
2-Good Lovin
2-Goin’ South
2-Gold Coast Girl
2-Golden Affair
2-Greatful Attitude
2-Jullian in Paris
2-Lapush
2-Let’s Go Champ
2-Light the Beam
2-Listentothemusic
2-Lucy L
2-Lusma
2-Miss Dynamic
2-Moonlight Grey
2-Nan Elizabeth
2-Our Bloke
2-Pistol Power
2-Pop Chart
2-Prancin Lady
2-Precedent Luke
2-Princess Payton
2-Prisoner
2-Rebel Gal
2-Right Hand Ryder
2-Rollin Dice
2-Roper
2-Royal Halo
2-Roy Hobbs
2-Saleen G T*
2-Shelby Gold
2-Silvery Orb
2-Smilingatthemoon
2-Solo Un Beso
2-Spectacular Tiger
2-Stay N Lov
2-Stay Sassy*
2-Summers Choice
2-Swift Caro
2-Tiz Grazen
2-Travel the Map
2-Yes He Can

Standings

Jockey

Jockeys by Earnings

Trainer

Trainers by earnings

Owners

Owners by earnings 60k+

Breeders

Stakes Results and Stats