7/5/2026

(Auburn, WA) Sunday many fans were ready to get back to handicapping and horse racing after a day off for thje 4th of July holiday. There were 10 races on tap and the battle of the babies with the Emerald Downs annual Diaper Derby.

Diaper Derby Champion dialed in

Atharv Depa, a 9-month-old from Bothell, Wash., prevailed in the 5th Annual Diaper Derby between races Sunday at Emerald Downs.

Atharv dominated both of his heats, comfortably winning his qualifier before capturing the championship “Crawl Off” in a close finish, covering the approximately 20 feet in 14.52 seconds to win the title.

Often called the slowest race in sports, the Diaper Derby is an American tradition dating back to the 1930’s, with competitions commonly held at county fairs and halftime shows but rarely seen at a horse track. The rules are simple—the first baby to crawl to the finish line wins.

According to his father, Atharv is already more proficient at walking than crawling, but on Sunday he ditched his shoes.

“He prefers walking, but today he crawled,” said Dinesh Depa, a software engineer for Amazon. “We entered (the Diaper Derby) on-line three months ago, it looked like it might be fun.”

Competing on a specially designed racing mat, 12 babies raced in three qualifying heats with each winner advancing to the Crawl Off. Also winning qualifying heats were Sia Panach Goswami of Kent and Oushen Tran of Bothell.

But the final was all Atharv Depa, crawling straight as a string to capture the giant trophy presented to the winner.

Alas, it will be his only victory. The Diaper Derby is one race where the champion cannot defend his title.

Diaper Derby Championship

Race Day News and Notes

Karlo Lopez still out

Karlo Lopez has had a rough couple of weeks. He was involed in a spill on June 26 in the final race of the evening and suffered a concussion. After taking off the 27th and 28th he passed the concussion protocal and took rides on Friday, July 3rd. He rode just one race and then took off all hisa rides and was off on all his mounts today.

His agent, David Singer tells ESN that even though he passed the concussion issue, he had been dealing soreness in his shoulder and chest areas. Singer says on his first ride on Friday when the gates opened and his mount surged at the start he felt a sharp pain through his shoulder and into his chest area.

He is set for further evaluations this week but Singer believes he’s going to be out of action for a bit. We will keep up on Karlo’s progress a nd hope to see him back in the saddle as soon as possible.

Doubling Up

Sunday there were multiple doubles. 3 riders scored 2 wins as did 3 trainers. Kevin Orozco got it started with back-to-back wins in the 3rd and 4th races. Trainer Blaine Wright was next taking the 2nd and 6th races. Leading rider Silvio Amador also won back-to-back with wins in the 6th and 7th races.

Blake Nunnally and Jessie Velasquez were both next since Nunnally won both for Velasquez in the 1st and 8th races. And trainer Jorge Rosales wrapped up the day winning the featured 9th race and the finale.

The Betting Window

How to turn 1-5 into a 219-1 pay-off

There were a lot of favorites and maybe the lowest win pay of the year when 1-5 Lead the Charge dominated the field of 8 by 6 lengths. Lead the Charge paid $2.46 for the $2 win. So how can you make money on this race?

This is where playing the vertical bets gives you a chance to turn a big favorite into a decent pay-out. When you have a huge favorite even the 2nd and 3rd favorites are going to have decent odds. In this race the 2nd favorite was 6-1 and 3rd choice 9-1. In other words all the win odds get skewed so you can’t be scared off by big odds. A 20-1 shot in this race is likely a 10-1 or so when the betting isn’t so one sided.

In this race, 33-1 Raven Rendezvous ran 2nd by a neck over 2nd favorite 6-1 Annabelle’s Asset. Running 4th was 18-1 Silver Ice. Here are the results.

The $1 Exacta paid $16.18 or 15-1. The 50-cent Trifecta with the top 2 favorites in the top 3 paid $22.61 or 44-1 in odds terms. The 10-cent superfecta returned $22.09 or $220.90 on a $1 pay which is 219-1.

Do you have to gamble and take some chances and and spread your bet out. In a $1 superfecta bet, you could have bet the favorite with all with all with all for a cost of $210 and still made a profit of $11.90. Not the best way to try and turn a better profit.

Betting the single to 3 runners to take 2nd to All to All would cost $90, a good profit but you have to hit that 2nd place longshot. To reduce your risk even more you could go a single to 3 in 2nd, 4 in 3rd and all for 4th would cost $45 and giving you a $180 profit if you get that critical 2nd place longshot. Remember you can play any amount such as a 30-cent, 40-cent, $1.20 wherever your comfort zone is you an turn that favorite into a good return.

Another angle is the simple exacta. A $10 exacta of single to all would cost $70 and your return would have been $161.80 and a profit of $91.80. Meantime, a $70 win on the favorite would have gotten you $86.10 or a profit of just $16.10 risking the same amount for the same outcome is a $75 difference.

Pick 6 Carryover and Handle

The pick 6 was hit by multiple tickets that paid a nice $412 and there is a 4,852 carryover for Friday.

Bettors wagered the 2nd highest of the meet with $1,919,408 wagered on the 10-race card.

Feature Race 9th Race

Senor Tequilas (8-1) rallied down the stretch to edge past the big favorite Nightcap Recap with 50 yards remaining to take the $24,000 Muckleshoot Casino Resort Purse by a neck. The winner, who was last of the six runners down the backstretch, was handled by Adrian Castellanos for trainer Jorge Rosales.

The 3-year-old colt paid $18.46 to win and stopped the clock for 6 furlongs in 1:09.44

Nightcap Recap (6/5), making just his second career start, was up on a very quick pace (:21-4, :44-2) for trainer Kay Cooper before getting overhauled. Da Smoke checked in third after battling on the lead.

Senor Tequilas has now won two career races after snapping a six-race losing streak.

• $1.00 EXACTA 3-6 $30.80
• $0.50 TRIFECTA 3-6-1 $51.11
• $0.10 SUPERFECTA 3-6-1-2 $25.81
• $1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 8-3 $90.23
• $0.50 PICK 3 4-8-3 $105.52

Race Replay

The rest of Sunday’s races

1st Race

A field of 5 went a mile and 2nd favorite Pistol Power went to the lead and won every pole pulling away for an easy 4+ length vitory. Blake Nunnally guided the 12-year-old veteran to his 2nd win of the season for owner Lisa Baze and trainer Jessie Velasquez. Pistol Power is a Washington bred by War Power out od Pistolpackin’gal by Tribunal and was bred by Donald Lawence.

9-2 Royal Halo and Lenny Seecharan got the neck down in front of Bak to Liberty and Silvio Amador for 2nd, Tex Hanley ridden by Kevin Krigger took 4th.

• $1.00 EXACTA 4-3 $10.86
• $0.50 TRIFECTA 4-3-5 $13.50
• $0.10 SUPERFECTA 4-3-5-1 $2.94

Race Replay

2nd Race

5 runners went 6 furlongs and the front end is where you wanted to be and that’s where Swift Stephan found himself with Frank Alvarado pushing for the lead early. Swift Stephan set all the fractions going 22.39 and 45.55 and had plenty left to finish the job by 3/4 of a length in a final time 1:10.54. Swift Stephan races for William Hedrick and trained Blaine Wright.

Eddiecoyle and Alex Cruz had a big run and was making progess on Swift Stephan but ran out of time to get the place. Favorite Whiskeythenwine under Silvio Amdor ran an even 3rd with Jess In Time and Kevin Krigger rounded out the superfecta.

• $1.00 EXACTA 2-5 $12.51
• $0.50 TRIFECTA 2-5-3 $9.63
• $0.10 SUPERFECTA 2-5-3-4 $4.29
• $1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 4-2 $13.79

Race Replay

3rd Race

There was a field of 8 2-year-old first time starters. Mattie Goincoastal broke quickly for Kevin Orozco and all Mattie did was extend his lead blowing away the field by 6 lengths in a final time of 57.98. Mattie Goincoastal is owned by Ron and Nina Hagen and Gary Lusk and trained by Howie Gibson. Mattied Goincoastal is a Washington bred by Coast Guard out of Ms Moscow Mazttie by Matty G and was bred by Nina and Ron Hagen.

Pure Dynamite with Kevin Krigger battled well but settled for 2nd, 20-1 longshot Champagne Delight and Alex Cruz ran a solid career debut to take 3rd and Cantlay under Isaias Enriquez completed the top 4.

• $1.00 EXACTA 5-7 $37.39
• $0.50 TRIFECTA 5-7-6 $183.11
• $0.10 SUPERFECTA 5-7-6-3 $173.83
• $1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 2-5 $23.32
• $0.50 PICK 3 4-2-5 $36.21

Race Replay

4th Race

The front end was on fire and odds-on favorite Stratojet with Kevin Orozco streaked to the front and was chellenged early by Silicon Native and the duo set brisk early fractions going 21.91 and 44.91. But Stratojet had plenty for the stretch and hit another gear obliterating the field by 7 lengths in a final time of 56.87 for the 5 furlong sprint. Stratojet is owned by Michael Pagliarini, Bryson Cooper and Doug Stenberg and trained by Kay Cooper.

Stratojet is a Washington bred by Conveyance out of Belltown Beauty by Speightstown and was bred by Frederick and Debra Pabst.

One Phil with Alex Anaya was a clear 2nd, Three P’s under Frank Alvarado took 3rd and completing the superfecta was Melvin’s Lute with Lenny Seecharan.

• $1.00 EXACTA 1-8 $6.61
• $0.50 TRIFECTA 1-8-3 $81.30
• $0.10 SUPERFECTA 1-8-3-2 $67.00
• $1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 5-1 $26.75
• $0.50 PICK 3 2-5-1 $43.29
• $0.50 PICK 4 4 OF 4 4-2-5-1 $94.62

Race Replay

5th Race

If the front end was the place to be, then toting less weight could be a good advantage. At the Cross and Oneonta both had apprentice riders aboard and both had several pounds weight break from all the others. At the Cross was sent by Pablo Castillo and Oneonta had Talliyah Timentwa aboard and bot broke quickly and they stayed there for all 6 furlongs. At the top of the stretch At the Cross stared to pull away and would win clear in a 1:11.08 final time. At the Cross is owned by Joe Gibson and Terri Eaton and trained by Eaton.

Oneonta was a clear 2nd, favorite Giant Impact and Adrian Castellanos closed to be 3rd and Just Gotta Shine with Javier Matias got up for 4th.

• $1.00 EXACTA 4-6 $31.69
• $0.50 TRIFECTA 4-6-5 $25.03
• $0.10 SUPERFECTA 4-6-5-1 $12.80
• $1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 1-4 $12.48
• $0.50 PICK 3 5-1-4 $68.59

Race Replay

6th Race

1-5 Lead the Charge finally got it done and the public figured this was the day paying just $2.46 on the $2 win. Silvio Amador read the track and it has been favoring front speed all day. Lead the Charge strolled to a huge win in a final time of 1:09.90. Lead the Charge is owned by John and Janene Maryanski and Gerald and Gail Schneider and trained by Blaine Wright.

Longshot Raven Rendezvous got a rail skimming run from Kevin Orozco to get up for 2nd at 33-1, Annabelle’s Asset closed for 3rd under Adrian Castellanos with Silver Ice and Alex Cruz took 4th.

• $1.00 EXACTA 1-2 $16.18
• $0.50 TRIFECTA 1-2-6 $22.61
• $0.10 SUPERFECTA 1-2-6-9 $22.09
• $1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 4-1 $7.58
• $0.50 PICK 3 1-4-1 $7.89

Race Replay

7th Race

Front speed continued as 4 of the 7 broke well with Kir Royale taking the early led but right there on the rail was Annika’s Song and Silvio Amador did not want to give Kir Royale and easy lead and did not. Turning for home Annika’s Song kicked it into another gear and pulled away from the entire field to win easily in a time of 1:10.71 for 6 furlongs. Annika’s Song races for Roy and Dixie Jacobson and trained by Mark Cloutier.

Kinky Moon with Frank Alvarado closed well to be 2nd, Cut N Curl piloted by Pablo Castillo flattened out late for 3rd and grabbing 4th was Bumping River under Francisco Diaz Lopez.

• $1.00 EXACTA 4-3 $5.25
• $0.50 TRIFECTA 4-3-1 $8.28
• $0.10 SUPERFECTA 4-3-1-7 $10.95
• $1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 1-4 $3.11
• $0.50 PICK 3 4-1-4 $6.91
• $0.50 PICK 4 4 OF 4 1-4-1,4-4 $14.64

Race Replay

8th Race

A big field of 10 going a mile and the first race a front speed runner didn’t hold on to win. No Ordinary Tiger tried to steal it on thje engine but ran out of steam at the top of the stretch. Taking the first shot was House of Lords as Blake Nunnally let fly and was able to hold off the deeper closers to win. House of Lords is owned by Rancho Viejo and Jerry Carmody and trained by Jessie Velasquez.

Brother O’Brien came flying late under Kevin Krigger but ran out of dirt finishing a strong 2nd, Jullian in Paris and Silvio Amador ran hard again to take 3rd and Background ran another solid race and finished 4th with Isaias Enriquez in the saddle.

• $1.00 EXACTA 8-9 $39.90
• $0.50 TRIFECTA 8-9-5 $97.24
• $0.10 SUPERFECTA 8-9-5-3 $40.03
• $1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 4-8 $20.36
• $0.50 PICK 3 1-4-8 $18.77

Race Replay

10th Race

El Joy with Kevin Krigger went back to the playp-book for most of the day and went straight to the front and would not be caught. El Joy races for Taboada Racing Stables and trained by Jorge Rosales. The final time was 1:37.51.

Dekudylan closed well for Alex Cruz to get the place money, Five Twenty Sunset and Silvio Amador made a nice move on the turn but evened out for 3rd, Stepehen James took 4th ridden by Lenny Seecharan and Gordy’s Boy with Pablo Castillo capped off the Super High 5.

• $1.00 EXACTA 4-6 $17.81
• $0.50 TRIFECTA 4-6-8 $28.51
• $0.10 SUPERFECTA 4-6-8-2 $30.18
• $0.50 SUPERHIGHFIVE 4-6-8-2-5 $568.78
• $1.00 DAILY DOUBLE 3-4 $44.31
• $0.50 PICK 3 8-3-4 $230.33
• $0.50 PICK 4 4 OF 4 4-8-3-4 $576.38
• $0.50 PICK 5 5 OF 5 1,4-4-8-3-4 $754.83
• $0.10 PICK 6 6 OF 6 4-1,4-4-8-3-4 $412.73
• – PICK 6 CarryOver $4,852.25

Race Replay

www.elisportsnetwork.com