Emerald Downs: Corgi Championship Sunday; Cato Now wins the Feature

6/28/2026

(Auburn, WA) It was Championship Sunday for the Corgi’s! 8 qualifying heats and the Championship Race. All our Corgi coverage will be up on a separate post by Monday with our video footage and interviews, pictures and results.

On the horse racing side there were 8 races on Sunday with the 7th, the Muckleshoot Casino Resort Purse had 8 starters. Let’s get to gthe Sunday horses!

From the Saddle

Frank Alvarado had his best day of the season winning 3 races. Alvarado won the 3rd on 2-year-old first time starter Diamond Dasher. He then scored on odds-on Tougherthantherest in the 5th and capped it with a tight win in the finale on Caviar Cowboy.

Talliyah Timentwa won the opener on Corgi Championship day her 2nd win of the season. Timentwa won her first ever race at Emerald Downs last week and earned Jockey of the Week honors. She received that award after her win on Sunday.

Kevin Orozco won for the 2nd straight day on another Kay Cooper trained entry. The top two riders traded punches with Kevin Krigger winning the 2nd race and Silvio Amador rolling home in the 7th.

And Blake Nunnally ended a frustrating day with three 2nd place finishes when he won the feature race on Now Cato.

Jockey Standings after Sunday (Standings ranked by money earned)

1	Silvio Ruiz Amador	145	30	33	22	$427,845	21%	85	59%
2	Kevin Krigger	110	28	33	10	$371,456	25%	71	65%
3	Adrian Castellanos	97	24	12	18	$274,658	25%	54	56%
4	Blake Nunnally	95	17	14	10	$191,752	18%	41	43%
5	Karlo Lopez	126	10	19	24	$191,458	8%	53	42%
6	Frank T. Alvarado	56	11	7	18	$172,615	20%	36	64%
7	Isaias D. Enriquez	35	8	5	9	$131,195	23%	22	63%
8	Alex M. Cruz	76	7	13	13	$127,269	9%	33	43%
9	Carlos Montalvo	26	5	4	4	$125,545	19%	13	50%
10	Kevin E. Orozco	51	7	5	9	$110,461	14%	21	41%
11	Lenny A. Seecharan	38	7	3	3	$64,488	18%	13	34%
12	Allyssa Morales	28	5	4	3	$58,791	18%	12	43%
13	Pablo E. Castillo	37	3	3	6	$52,265	8%	12	32%
14	Talliyah Timentwa	51	2	3	7	$46,684	4%	12	24%
15	Jose Elias Rodriguez	26	3	3	5	$45,190	12%	11	42%
16	Francisco Diaz-Lopez	9	2	3	2	$23,266	22%	7	78%

From the Barn

Big congratualtions to Gary E O Greiner for getting his first career win as a trainer in the 7th race when Vulin at 17-1 pulled off the upset. This was Greiner’s 11th start all at Emerald Downs and came into Sunday with an 0-2-2-3 top 4 finish or 70% superfecta rate. This was Vulin’s 3rd start after a 5th then 3rd place finish.

Blaine Wright was the only double winner while Howie Gibson and Tom Wenzel each had a victory. Other trainers included Kay Cooper with her 2nd win in as many days, Sergio Perez and Jessie Velasquez all scored wins.

Trainer Standings after Sunday (Standings ranked by money earned)

1	Tom Wenzel	34	—	11	4	12	$197,841	32%	27	—	—
2	Blaine D. Wright	46	—	10	10	10	$177,823	22%	30	—	—
3	Howard F. Gibson	38	—	12	5	5	$166,191	32%	22	—	—
4	Frank Lucarelli	50	—	10	6	13	$160,555	20%	29	—	—
5	Tim McCanna	31	—	14	5	3	$131,978	45%	22	—	—
6	Jorge Rosales	64	—	12	9	11	$125,652	19%	32	—	—
7	Charles Essex	27	—	4	9	4	$70,830	15%	17	—	—
8	Debbie Peery	24	—	5	5	3	$69,193	21%	13	—	—
9	Kay Penney Cooper	16	—	5	2	0	$64,730	31%	7	—	—
10	Steve Henson	17	—	3	2	2	$61,903	18%	7	—	—
11	Rigoberto Velasquez	26	—	7	2	6	$58,605	27%	15	—	—
12	Mark Cloutier	20	—	2	6	4	$56,177	10%	12	—	—
13	Alexis Silva-Martinez	30	—	5	4	4	$54,670	17%	13	—	—
14	Joe Toye	38	—	3	3	8	$52,503	8%	14	—	—
15	Sergio S. Perez	18	—	3	1	1	$48,628	17%	5	—	—
16	Jorge Maravilla	22	—	5	4	4	$47,742	23%	13	—	—
17	James L. Gilmour	21	—	4	5	2	$45,228	19%	11	—	—
18	Doug McPhee	12	—	2	2	3	$43,195	17%	7	—	—
19	Steve Bullock	13	—	2	6	2	$42,128	15%	10	—	—
20	David B. Martinez	28	—	2	6	6	$38,854	7%	14	—	—
21	Jose Puentes	18	—	4	4	4	$37,491	22%	12	—	—

The big Betting Window news all comes from the 7th race. 17-1 Vulin won and paid $36.84, $24.36 and 9.42. Those were good enough but 37-1 Nephele ran 2nd and paid a massive $45.28. Not only was that the top $2 place pay it also was the highest $2 pay for any win bet this season. Nephele also paid $15.04 which is the highest $2 show pay of the season.

The $1 exacta of the 17-1 to 37-1 paid a whopping $230.20. The 50-cent trifecta was good for $941.43 and the 10-cent superfecta returned $407.31 or $4,073.10 for the $1 bet.

It didn’t kick-up the pick’s as much as you would think with the final pick 3 paying $152, the final pick 4 $243 and the pick 5 $1,015.11. It did throw off the pick 6 where just 5 of 6 got you $47 and a carryover to next Friday of $1,502.

Earlier on the card in the 3rd, Diamond Dasher scored an easy win at 13-1 paying $28.76 on the win. The 13-1 to 5-1 to 4-1 trifecta paid well at $326.80, add a 9-1 4th place finisher and the 10-cent superfecta returned $154.32.

6th Race Feature Race

Now Cato lived up to betting favoritism Sunday at Emerald Downs, holding off Somekindaoutlaw for a three-quarter-length victory in the featured $25,000 Noble Protection Group Purse for 3-year-olds.

Perfectly handled by Blake Nunnally, Now Cato ran six furlongs in 1:09.24 and paying $4.88 as the prohibitive choice. Sergio Perez is the winning trainer for owner Hector Ramiro Preciado.

Beaten less than four lengths in the Auburn Stakes seven days ago, Now Cato used his class edge to advantage Sunday, setting splits of :21.84, :44.23, and :56.26 enroute to his second win from seven career starts. A California-bred by Conquest Fahrenheit, Now Cato earned $14,250 to boost his life total to $29,550.

Somekindaoutlaw, ridden by Silvio Amador, raced closest to the winner throughout and was gaining ground late. Owned and trained by Doug McPhee, the runner-up now has a wind a second from two career starts.

Glorious Run finished third while Behind the Chair, Coastal Journey, and Fred Mo completed the order of finish.

1st:	4	Now Cato	$4.88	$2.78	$2.32
2nd:	5	Somekindaoutlaw		$3.58	$3.02
3rd:	1	Glorious Run			$3.04
4th:	6	Behind The Chair

$1.00 EXACTA 4-5 $8.88
$0.50 TRIFECTA 4-5-1 $9.87
$0.10 SUPERFECTA 4-5-1-6 $6.31
$1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 5-4 $5.23
$0.50 PICK 3 5-5-4 $11.16
$0.50 PICK 4 4 OF 4 10-5-5-4 $208.48

Race Replay

The rest of Sunday’s Races

1st Race

A field of 5 went 6 furlongs and betting favorite Oneonta broke quickly under apprentice Talliyah Timentwa and never looked back. Oneonta set fractions of 21.97 and 45.19 then held off 2-1 second choice My Sweet Forza with Blake Nunnally by a 1/2 length for the win in a final time of 1:11.12. All About Babes and Javier Matias finished 3rd while RD Stimulus and Alex Anaya took 4th.

Oneonta is owned by Chad and Josh and trained by Howie Gibson. Oneonta is a Washington bred by Accelerate out of Madam Marini by Marino Marini and was bred by Chad Christensen.

1st:	1	Oneonta	$4.64	$3.06	$2.28
2nd:	2	My Sweet Forza		$3.46	$2.12
3rd:	3	All About Babes			$2.28
4th:	5	R D Stimulus

$1.00 EXACTA 1-2 $4.96
$0.50 TRIFECTA 1-2-3 $4.10
$0.10 SUPERFECTA 1-2-3-5 $1.95

Race Replay

2nd Race

Odds-on favorite Mr Executive was patient running behind the front speed of Louis the First and Convey to Me. Turning for home the rail opened up and Kevin Krigger sent Mr Executive through and ground down Louie the First for the win covering the 6 furlongs in 1:09.72. Mr Executive races for Rally Cap Stable and trained by Blaine Wright. Mr Execuitve is a Washington bred by Grazen out of Charmer Lo by Girolamo and was bred by Ron Crockett Inc and Mr and Mrs William Griffin.

Louie the First and Blake Nunnally ran 2nd, Convey to Me pilolted by Silvio Amador a close up 3rd while Simonsito under Alex Anaya finished 4th.

1st:	2	Mr. Executive	$3.28	$2.10	$2.10
2nd:	3	Louie The First		$2.28	$2.10
3rd:	4	Convey To Me			$2.14
4th:	5	Simonsito

$1.00 EXACTA 2-3 $2.13
$0.50 TRIFECTA 2-3-4 $1.32
$0.10 SUPERFECTA 2-3-4-5 $0.57
$1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 1-2 $3.48

Race Replay

3rd Race

A field of 10 first time starting 2-yuear-olds went 5 furlongs. Diamond Dasher with Frank Alvarado broke quickly from the 10 hole and led start to finish. Diamond Dasher stopped the clock in 57.31 winning by 5 lengths. Diamond Dasher races for George Todaro and trained by Tom Wenzel.

5-1 Harbor of Hope with Isiais Enriqauez pressed Diamond Dasher but leveled out in the stretch but ran a solid 2nd in his 1st career start. Todaro and Wenzel had another starter in the this one, Ziwhat who was in the 1 hole. Adrian Castellanos had him close but got checked on the far turn and lost all chance of winning but rallied well to get 3rd. Epic in Time under apprentice Pablo Castillo closed well to be 4th.

1st:	10	Diamond Dasher	$28.76	$10.90	$6.22
2nd:	8	Harbor Of Hope		$6.36	$4.52
3rd:	1	Ziwhat			$4.28
4th:	4	Epic In Time

$1.00 EXACTA 10-8 $90.08
$0.50 TRIFECTA 10-8-1 $326.80
$0.10 SUPERFECTA 10-8-1-4 $154.32
$1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 2-10 $25.16
$0.50 PICK 3 1-2-10 $22.36

Race Replay

4th Race

1st time starter Cross the Country was placed near the lead by Kevin Orozco and Orozco knew how much horse he had as he made the move to the lead near the quarter pole to draw clear for the career debut win. Cross the Country is owned by Mr and Mrs Frederick Pabst and trained by Kay Cooper. The Pabst’s also bred Cross the Country by Conveyance out of Peacdeful Nation by Nationhood.

Favorite Native Empress and Kevin Krigger ran on well to be 2nd, She’s a Rare Beauty under Silvio Amador ran 3rd and completing the superfecta was Our Hula Girl and Adrian Castellanos.

1st:	5	Cross The Country	$8.90	$4.22	$2.96
2nd:	2	Native Empress		$2.34	$2.10
3rd:	3	Shes A Rare Beauty			$2.80
4th:	4	Our Hula Girl

$1.00 EXACTA 5-2 $8.51
$0.50 TRIFECTA 5-2-3 $15.33
$0.10 SUPERFECTA 5-2-3-4 $8.01
$1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 10-5 $57.36
$0.50 PICK 3 2-10-5 $63.72
$0.50 PICK 4 4 OF 4 1-2-10-5 $94.52

Race Replay

5th Race

Toughthantherest and Frank Alvarado challenged the early speed of Conrad Meadows and then held off multiple challngers to get the win at 5 1/2 furlongs in a time of 1:03.08. Tougherthantherest races for Dale Varbel and trained by Blaine Wright.

17-1 Rhodium Runner and Blake Nunnally ran a big 2nd, Elevado under Lennhy Seechran took the show and Conrad Meadows with Francisco Diaz Lopez held well for 4th.

1st:	5	Tougherthantherest	$3.26	$2.44	$2.18
2nd:	6	Rhodium Runner		$7.96	$3.92
3rd:	2	Elevado			$4.06
4th:	1	Conrad Meadows

$1.00 EXACTA 5-6 $12.05
$0.50 TRIFECTA 5-6-2 $54.63
$0.10 SUPERFECTA 5-6-2-1 $31.40
$1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 5-5 $10.13
$0.50 PICK 3 10-5-5 $69.02

Race Replay

7th Race

The 7th race blew up the tote board when 17-1 Vulin with Silvio Amador edged out 37-1 Nephele and Alex Cruz as both caught 9-2 Bangie Go under Blake Nunnally in the final strides. 1-5 favorite Greatful Attitude pressured the pace with Adrian Castellanos and held 4th.

Vulin is owned by Griselda Aguayo and trained by Gary E. O. Greiner, his 1st win as a trainer comes with his 11th career start.

1st:	4	Vulin	$36.82	$24.36	$9.42
2nd:	6	Nephele		$45.28	$15.04
3rd:	8	Bangie Go			$4.80
4th:	2	Greatful Attitude

$1.00 EXACTA 4-6 $230.20
$0.50 TRIFECTA 4-6-8 $941.43
$0.10 SUPERFECTA 4-6-8-2 $407.31
$1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 4-4 $39.82
$0.50 PICK 3 5-4-4 $62.14

Race Replay

8th Race

15-1 Draw Nigh with apprentice Pablo Castillo dueled with odds on favorite Got Your Six and Taliyah Timentwa to the stretch when Draw Nigh shook the favorite but then had to take on Shiny Orb and Adrian Castellanos on the rail and a closing Cavier Cowboy and Frank Alvarado on the outside.

With less than 50 yards to go, Cavier Cowboy and Shiny Orb surged by Draw Nigh with the Cowboy getting a neck win over Shiny Orb who was a length in front of Draw Nigh. Got Your Six held 4th and Prime Number with apprentice Addison Pifer completing the Super High 5.

Caviar Cowboy races for Tom Hughes and trained by Jessie Velasquez.

1st:	2	Caviar Cowboy	$8.20	$3.78	$3.66
2nd:	3	Shiny Orb		$3.42	$3.08
3rd:	5	Draw Nigh			$5.46
4th:	1	Got Your Six
5th:	6	Prime Number